JUNE 2017
KLIPSCH
STREAM WIRELESS MULTI-ROOM AUDIO
REVIEW / KLIPSCH / STREAM WIRELESS MULTI-ROOM AUDIO
KLIPSCH
STREAM WIRELESS MULTI-ROOM AUDIO
“Klipsch, a brand renowned for its horn loaded speakers”
Let’s face it, Sonos had a good run. It must
The Klipsch Stream range consists of two
have been a solid ten plus years before any
compact speakers (the RW-1 and The Three),
real competition was offered up in the multi-
two Soundbar models (RSB-8 and RSB-
room audio market.
14), the Gate (Wireless Preamp) and the
Nowadays, if a brand doesn’t have a wireless
Powergate (Wireless Stereo Amplifier).
audio offering in their product portfolio then
For the purpose of this review and an
they’re likely missing out on a big slice of
introduction to Klipsch’s range I have focused
the pie.
on the Gate and the RW-1 Speaker which
Klipsch, a brand renowned for its horn
retail for $349 and $499 respectively.
loaded speakers, is the latest to break into
The Gate acts as a wireless hub for all
the wireless multi-room segment that is still
your locally stored music as well as any
dominated by Sonos. But more recently, the
music services you may be subscribed to
category includes rivals in the form of Denon’s
(supporting the majors including Spotify,
HEOS, Bluesound and Yamaha’s MusicCast.
Deezer, Pandora and Tidal) while the RW-1 is a two-way compact speaker.
In Control As I mention in every review
recall being less than impressed,
service you subscribe to. For
regarding a wireless multi-room
primarily due to instability, as well
example, with Tidal this is
product, the accompanying
as frequent dropouts.
particularly important as it means
control app is what effectively makes or breaks a streaming and multi-room system.
Fortunately, it seems now though that the app has improved since I last used it. While it’s
You can offer stellar performance
certainly not up there with the
sonically, but if the controller
likes of Sonos, Bluesound or the
isn’t up to snuff, everything else
most recent favourite of mine,
seemingly falls apart.
Roon Essentials, it is in the very
Klipsch Stream uses a stylised
Switching zones and grouping
popularity DTS Play-Fi open
proved to be a little bit more
platform controller.
complex than I like, but I did
experiences with DTS Play-Fi
CD quality or heavily compressed MP3. On one occasion, the streaming audio quality had lapsed back to ‘Normal’ (low quality MP3 option) on its own.
least, functional.
variation of the growing in
For full disclosure, my initial
the difference between hearing
find that once the zones were grouped, playback was stable.
has not been overly positive. I
One other point to consider
have used it with Polk Audio and
is that there are more settings
Paradigm wireless products and
located within the actual music
Setup After unboxing and starting
Upon connecting to my local
is not supported. It’s only for
the setup process, my first
network, I was notified to update
charging portable devices and
observation with the Gate is that
the player which only took about
firmware updates.
there is no digital connectivity at
ten minutes.
all. There’s just a single analog in and analog out via 3.5mm sockets, so for those of you looking to utilise your external DAC in a HiFi application, you had best look elsewhere. After rummaging around, I finally found a Wireworld Luna 3.5mm to RCA stereo to connect the Gate to my Vincent SV-237 amplifier. It seems an Ethernet connection too has been omitted in the design brief, instead opting for Wi-Fi connectivity exclusively.
While the Gate was relatively
Once complete I logged into my
simply to set up, the RW-1 was a
Tidal account while the Play-Fi
somewhat different experience.
app was quickly able to locate the music stored locally on my NAS drive.
On my first connection attempt, it dropped out forcing me to restart the setup procedure. This
Like the Gate, the RW-1 Speaker
happened despite the RW-1
features a 3.5mm analog input
being placed within three meters
but with the added bonus of an
of my router.
ethernet connection for those that have the ability to use the (preferred) physical connection. There is also a USB socket on the back, but playback via USB
The second attempt yielded the expected result and like the Gate, prompted an update. Once that completed, I was ready to go.
“if the controller isn’t up to snuff, everything else seemingly falls apart”
“the overall tonal balance of the RW-1, it would be on the warmer side of neutral; nice bottom end, with a rounded off top�
Listening – Gate Considering its $349 RRP price, a whole
There is far more going on in this track and
$200 cheaper than Sonos’ Connect, the Gate
it was evident that it was just a little much
performed admirably.
for the Gate to comfortably break down
At the other end of the scale and compared
and portray.
to ELAC’s Discovery, the Gate offered
Upon extended listening it became clear that
noticeably less depth and a far narrower
there wasn’t as much midrange presence
sound field. The Discovery however retails for
when compared to my typical source,
$1799, just over five times the price, so that
a MacBook Pro running Audirvana and
wasn’t unexpected.
connected via USB.
Hitting up my own ‘High Fidelity’ playlist
Again, that isn’t to say it didn’t sound
streamed via Tidal, Noah Gundersen’s ‘Day
listenable, and I am judging Klipsch’s Stream
Is Gone’ sounded good, but didn’t have the
from a HiFi perspective. BYO amplifier
intimate, stripped back nature to it that I am
or powered speakers and the Gate is an
used to.
affordable option to add music streaming to
It was a touch more congested, highlighting
the mix.
less separation in the instrumentation, but it
Given the Gate’s limitation to analog only
wasn’t by any means bad sounding.
connectivity, Klipsch needed to include a
Listening to FKA Twigs’ ‘Two Weeks’ pinpointed a little more of that congestion in the mix.
reasonable quality in-built DAC and while certainly not class leading, it certainly gets the job done.
Listening – RW-1 At no fault of the speaker, the RW-1 and
This track features very intimate piano and
I didn’t get off to the best of starts. As
vocals. It’s a go-to track of mine when testing
mentioned previously, Tidal had defaulted to
traditional hi-fi systems. On a great system, it
the ‘Normal’ quality setting in the Play-Fi app
offers wonderful depth and the vocals carry
and what I’d heard through the RW-1 didn’t
amazing body to them.
seem deserving of the $499 price tag.
Translated though the RW-1 speaker, the
After discovering the issue and setting the
experience wasn’t quite the same, but
quality back to ‘Hi-Fi’, the difference was
ultimately, I wasn’t expecting it to be.
quite significant. The RW-1 began delivering substantially better sound.
If I were to describe the overall tonal balance of the RW-1, it would be on the warmer side
Take Maggie Rogers’ track ‘Alaska’ for
of neutral; nice bottom end, with a rounded
example, the RW-1 had a nice, full-bodied
off top.
sound and had a taste of the airy beauty that I’ve come to love about that track.
I could see the RW-1 being a good option for a bedroom speaker, which is essentially
I had the RW-1 positioned on my bedside
the way I utilised it. I would of course suggest
table, roughly 20 - 30cm or so from the
something more substantial as a primary
corner walls which helped to reinforce the
speaker system.
bass response. Playing back Vienna Teng’s ‘Say Uncle’ was enlightening.
In Comparison For now, the industry standard
almost directly against the
improved and is functional, it’s
for wireless multi-room is still of
Sonos Play 3 ($499 vs $449
still playing catch up. It’s just
course Sonos.
respectively).
not as intuitive or as slick as
As mentioned before, the Gate
Although the Play 3 has the
falls well below the price of the
advantage of an extra driver,
Connect ($349 vs $549) and its
I would suggest that the
performance is very good for the
sound between the two, while
The key advantage of Play-Fi
relatively low investment.
different in the way they present
however is flexibility.
Where Sonos pulls ahead is with the option of digital outputs which allows an easy way for owners to improve the sound
themselves, offers similar performance for the money. In my opinion the Play 3 errs on the side of a more neutral sound.
the Sonos app, or Bluesound’s interface which received another interface update this week.
You are able to mix and match with other brands such as Paradigm, Polk, Definitive Technology and any others that
with an external DAC. Which
Where Sonos comes out on
use Play-Fi as a control interface,
is course the way many HiFi
top though is with their control
which means you’re not locked
enthusiasts are utilising Sonos
app. There is no doubt that their
exclusively into any one brand,
products.
controller is up there as being
like you are with Sonos.
As for the wireless speaker, the Klipsch RW-1 is competing
amongst the best and while the Play-Fi app has certainly
Conclusion Wireless multi-room audio is the future and that cannot be denied. With the Stream range of products, Klipsch have made a reasonably successful first entry into this category. The Gate offers a decent sounding, cost effective access point to the world of music streaming, even if it’s connectivity is somewhat limited. The RW-1 is a solid little complimentary speaker for those looking to build their system around the Play-Fi or Klipsch Stream platforms. As a whole, they are a budget conscious entry points into the world of wireless multi-room audio and worth considering if shopping at that end of the market.
WORDS: Tarkan Ceviker