Klipsch 1063275 Gate Playfi Gateway Wireless Multi–Room Hub,Black

1 review for Klipsch 1063275 Gate Playfi Gateway Wireless Multi–Room Hub,Black

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   – December 3, 2024 Miss Mabel Fay

   After reading the reviews here I ordred two Gates, one to connect my home theater and one to connect a Paradigm Active A2 speaker in my kitchen. First I downloaded the Klipsch app to my fire tablet. Next I turned the device on, opened the app ab=nd tapped “setup system”. The app asked for my wifi software, and boom, I got connected. I did find it helpful to hold down the wifi connect button on the device for 10 seconds to help the app connect to the device. Next while the device was near my wireless router I was prompted to update the software. Once updated I selected my music services, entered my passwords and was ready to play tunes. I took the 3.5 mm cable and connected right into the Paradigm speaker which has it own amp built in, set up the “zone” as kitchen, hit play and couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This was a nice, clean, high end sound. Good bass and nice clear resolution.Next I repeated the above steps and connected my second device to the home theater. In a direct A/B comparison with the Gate and the streamer that is part of my Marantz 7702 processor it was very close. The Marantz took the edge but the fact that a $25 streamer could sound this close to a $2000 processor is amazing.Now I read the reviews about the software but my experience was I love it. In my office I use a BlueSound Node and the Bluos software. I like the Playfi software better because I can flip back and forth between the music service player and the playfi controls by hitting a little icon. I individual volume sliders for each zone. i like that I can group zones together as pre-sets. Count me a Klipsch/DTS Play-Fi fan and I have already order more Play-Fi products to connect my entire home.UPDATE: After the Gate broke in a couple days I did some critical listening in my media room in 2 channel “pure direct” mode. I was surprised at what I was hearing. This sounded like an analog source more than a digital source. Then I remembered, this is from Klipsch and maybe they voiced it to sound like vinyl. The music is sooo relaxed when you play it through the Gate it just flows.Out of curiosity I took the Gate from the kitchen into my office system two have a A/B comparison with the Bluesound Node. I only listened to HIFI tracks, not MQA to make it a fair comparison. The Node is a great product and I have enjoyed it for over a year.I preferred the Gate, so much so that the only reason I am keeping the Node is for MQA. The Gate seemed to capture music that the Node left out. The bass seemed fuller and smoother through the Gate, in the Node it was a little more “boomy”. You could hear the inhalations and and breathing between phrases in soft jazz singers through the Gate, it seemed this subtle information was left out through the Node. After listening to the Gate I feel like I really want to compare a lot more music but I think this is a sleeper product that was tripped up by the software. Klipsch released this product in 2016 and that version of the software was not ready for primetime. The 2019 version has gone through multiple updates since then and I liked it as much as Bluos for navigating music playlists and better than Bluos for controlling my whole house system. The Gate has a “critical listening” mode you need to engage for listening to hirez and I found I preferred that mode for Tidal HIFI tracks as well. When you use that mode you are limited to streaming to one device.Update on the Gate- I hooked up the analog outs on my Sony Blueray player to the line in on the Gate and was able to stream CD’s thoughout the house! I tried both redbook and 24/96 and it worked great. No need to run speaker wires and multi channel amps. I have just added DTS Play Fi components throughout the various rooms in my home and it just works. I have also streamed Quboz in Hirez and it works great too. The added benefit is with Play-Fi components you can have hirez streaming in any room you want.To listen in Hirez you have to engage “critical listening” mode and can only stream in hirez to one zone at a time. So far I have a Gate installed in my main home theater, to an active (powered) speaker in the kitchen, and just ordered another one for the HT in the man cave.The Play Fi software is working great. I can start playing tunes in one room and then add rooms by just tapping on them in the app. When I bought the most recent Gate I added a 4 year warranty for an extra $2 . It doesn’t get more cheerful than having music playing throughout the house and having it under total control from a kindle tablet. Cheers!