NEWS: Monitor Audio launches IMS-4 music streamer

Did they mention a likely price at all? My guess is a bit more than I (rightly or wrongly) would expect it to be.
 
Anybody had any experience with this streamer? Looking for a comparison v Bluesound Node
 
Celtek

What would you like to know?

I have one here in our demo room.

Functionally - exactly the same through BluOS.
You see 4 x zones which you can select your optical, coax or BluOS streamer via.
There is a shared analog input across the lot.
Only supports wired ethernet (so your AP's need to be in the same network to discover it).

We use the IMS-4 in installs for multi-zone audio streaming :)
Easy to integrate (as is the Node) into control systems and the app is super intuitive.
Sonic performance wise - 24-bit 192Khz and MQA supported - it's hard to distinguish the DAC.
Like for like into the same amp, you'd struggle to tell the difference in our experience.

Let me know if I can help further!


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I am surprised that anyone thinks it is still worth while to do multi-zone by requiring a bunch of audio cable to be routed around a building.

These days I might have thought ethernet with per-room DACs would be far more installation friendly as more likely that may already exist, or at least it is just one cable (+mains).

I am sure this is a great unit, but I could never see myself running audio cables around the various rooms whether they be line level or speaker level audio. Line level may suffer from loss over a long run, speaker level end up being heavy to minimise resistance over a long run etc, and then there is concerns of avoiding runs along with mains cables etc.
 
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looks bloody horrible

I don't think your meant to have it on display :)

I can see how this would be perfect for a commercial install like a shop, restaurant, bar or office where you'd want multiple independent zones, all with separate volume levels and possible music, but still wanted to wire all the speakers back to a single rack that also contained your amps. It would also work great in that kind of environment when using active speakers.

Or even in a home with lots of fixed in-ceiling or on-wall speakers, where by nature everything has to be wired back to a central location anyway. Even if that was just at the per floor level.

I think that if you have a more traditional HiFI setups at home with free standing speakers along with a multichannel AV setup for TV/Movies then as Khazul suggest's it's probably easier to just wire ethernet to each room and put a separate endpoint or streamer in each. This product seems heavily geared towards the install market which is no bad thing.
 

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