StereoNET: Klipsch Stream Review

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