Sennheiser Sonite R (Exclusive to Costco 2025 ) Review

@JohnSmith said:

as I want to try them at 100% target

This doesn’t need REM, but yes it’s common for them to set them to 80 or 90% for first time users, and other a few weeks or months they’ll increase to 100%, so yes if you can handle the gain at 100 then you make sure it’s done.

@tenkan said:

This doesn’t need REM

I took this statement out of context but I think the point is that REM isn’t needed for demos. Can you get an acceptable fitting without REM?

Let me share my experience with Costco and REM and hopefully you can read between the lines. REM was used on my initial fitting. I sat in front of a speaker listening to short phrases in German. Several weeks later, I came back to the store for my second fitting. I was looking forward to some improvements.

The “fitter” downloaded the configuration from my HA’s and made some drastic changes to Program Options like feedback manager to Strong, Speech Boost and Impulse Manager both to Strong. Adaptation control was turned off after I complained about painfully loud levels in my right ear. The changes were saved back to my HA’s. I don’t believe they were saved to a database file in my account.

When I got back home, my HA’s were working horribly and much worse than before the second session.

I don’t know if the REM settings survived. I don’t believe he called up my account where I think REM is stored and I suspect that REM isn’t saved in the HA’s.

After Noalink arrived, I downloaded the Costco fitting from my HA’s and went to work trying to makes things better with a new Target 11.1 fitting session of my own.

I started with Audiogram Direct and thought I was seeing the REM in RECD and REUG. I later realized that these settings came from the Target software and may be based on my age and gender not an actual ear measurement.

Forgive me for my rambling, but unlike most professionals, I believe that Audiogram direct is more accurate than external measuring equipment because the measurements are generated using the the actual system.

In my opinion, as a new hearing aid user, the HA’s are working much better now. I tend to keep the global GAIN LEVEL on the comfort side.

So, the question is, using Audiogram Direct and the estimated (average) RECD and REUG values viable or have I overlooked something?

@MidairView said:

So, the question is, using Audiogram Direct and the estimated (average) RECD and REUG values viable or have I overlooked something?

@MidairView said:

Can you get an acceptable fitting without REM?

Absolutely you can, It’s what 90% of DIY projects are all doing, so long as your happy with the results then you’re good to go.

Thank you tenkan!

Coincidentally, my wife just ordered a pair of Sonite R’s and will be picking them up in a week.

The initial fitting includes REM. If all she needs is a gain setting or program option change, and I get into her HA’s with Target (like I did with mine) will REM be deleted, and If so, is there any to save it first?

I really don’t want to open up a can of worms when she goes back for her 2-week fitting.

I happened to notice that Costco is using Target 11.0 and I’m using 11.1.

Calls use a different program. Shouldn’t be a problem.

WH

You have raised a good question. When talking on the phone the mic on the aids work. When watching TV the mic is off ( best option by far)

Im not sure what happens but it all works fine.

How are you going with them ?

Thanks for the info you have provided. I couldn’t get in till Dec 12 for my appointment and just doing a lot of research to set my expectations. If bluetooth were the number one priority I’d go with the Sennheiser because I just got a new phone a few months ago and don’t want to have to get a more expensive one to work with LE Audio. I’m going in with the following requirements in order to decide 1) Hearing people in a crowd especially my wife. 2) lessen the ringing in my ears (I know this may not happen from what I read or may work for a while) 3) Bluetooth streaming including answering calls. So if one an two are basically the same for me on my choices and Sennheiser is in the running I will likely choose Sennheiser. In my research part of it is setting my expectations and part of that is knowing the hearing aids streaming are not going to sound like ear buds or headphones listening to music, it makes sense because they are focused on hearing people talking. So the streaming works for me when I take my walks listening to audiobooks giving me the ability to still hear someone when I’m out. When I want to listen to music I understand I may need to use over the ear headphones or just swap the HA out for ear buds and that is fine. I did have my hearing tested at Sam’s Club a couple of months ago and it indicated a mild loss at high end which is in frequency of my ringing in my ears. I can’t seem to find th sonogram but remember what it showed. My reason for switching to Costco over Sams is price, more options and where we moved to Costco and Sams are about the the same distance where before Costco was much farther away. So we dropped Sams and got a Costco membership. I’ll send an update after making choice and had a chance to wear for some time.

Thanks for the advice, fortunately I work from home so not in a crowd situation all the time so hopefully it will be easier to adjust. This is the one thing I did see a lot of comments you need to get used to them. Just out of curiosity if I have them deactivate the mic can I use the app to turn it back on? Just curious because if I’m watching TV alone having them off is fine but if I’m watching with my wife I might want to have it on.

Yes, I stumbled on a thread of people wearing headphones over hearing aids and understand the issues. Likely I’ll wear earbuds like I do today to hear music and use the hearing aids when streaming audiobooks, podcasts and phone calls. I’m trying to set realistic expectations. Still at the end of the day hearing people at the table in a restaurant or a meeting is my ultimate goal other benefits are just a bonus to me.

Double tap your ear and they go into normal hearing mode out from streaming. Double tap again and you are back in full streaming mode.
I normally hear my wife and then tap to hear what she is saying.
Not sure if you can be in dual mode using the app though.

Thank you so much for sharing this! It dawned on me that when I wear ear buds the left one often has to be pushed back in especially when I wearing them snowblowing/shoveling snow or mowing the lawn and I don’t have that issue with the right ear. I suspect he canal in the left ear is slightly larger and the design of Sennheiser tips were vented disks and the fitter thought the itching could be movement but it might be something else time will tell.

My first impressions of the Sennheiser Sonite R

I apologize it’s going to be a little long because I want to give a little background. I have tinnitus and have for more than 40 years. I often wear earbuds when doing chores, taking walks or when I’m in the office because of the open environment. I think I damaged my hearing when mowing on a riding mower with earbuds in turned up to hear the music. It probably already had some minimal loss but guessing that increased it. My sonogram shows mild to moderate loss at high pitches. Note when I was a teenager in the town I grew up there were sensors to trip the stoplight that were sonic and high pitched and they drove me nuts when sitting right by them. My dad thought I was crazy but he lost his high pitch hearing from being a navigator in bomber for 20 years starting in WWII. Also I was one those that had one of the first walkmans and used it a lot while studying because of the tinnitus. I have a Moto G Power phone that I just got this past summer so it won’t answer calls except with aids using traditional Bluetooth. I had my appt about a week and half ago with Costco and the sonogram was pretty close to what Sams club did in September. They first tried Soundgear hearing aid they are the only Costco in Indiana that has them right now. It was comfortable in my ear and seemed pretty good except that when I did hear myself it was when I spoke sounds like s’s and it sounded tinny and annoy and not consistent so not sure if my mind would block it since it’s not consistent. Although the fitter thought my phone would work fine he quickly found out the mic doesn’t work with that phone as any of us know that have been researching. Next up was Sennheiser, he agreed that folks have shared the Jabra can sound tinny to some. After trying and walking around some decided to go the Sennheiser.

I picked up the Sennheiser Sonite R Saturday and wore them for about 11 hours that day. During the final programming for me there was a series of tones going up in pitch and I was shocked when I heard some high pitches I didn’t remember hearing for years. The other thing I noticed was hearing the gravel under my shows the various clicks and clacks like turning on the turn signal seemed much louder than I remembered for a long time. I also noticed how loud my keyboard sounds now. Listening to music in the car I noticed particularly some of the female singer voices seemed a little richer, I was quite pleased with that. Went to late lunch with my wife and daughter at Chili’s and played with the restaurant setting and noticed the improvement with it blocking the mics behind me. However I’d like to say I could hear my wife and daughter without issue but I do hope this improves. When I tried increasing the mic it seemed like the ringing got louder too so I think it’s part of the adjustment time I need to go thru. Phone calls and Microsoft Teams calls have been wonderful! When I was in the grocery yesterday I was in an aisle that was mostly empty and the tinnitus was annoying so I streamed some music at low volume got some release. It was suggested during the investigation I did to have the mics turned off when I asked the fitter about this he did say they could but he already had the mics turned down as normal procedure because of other people having that issue so I left that alone and it was fine for me. Honestly when I stream and wearing earbuds in the past I often wore only one earbud so I could hear if someone said something or walked up beside me so I may be fine with this.

Overall I’m happy still the hearing in a crowd is a wait and see. It’s like the tinnitus for me if I focus on my hearing it’s there if I don’t I often don’t hear it so I think I just need to play around a little more and then leave it alone for awhile and see how it goes. On Jan 3^rd is a follow up so I’ll probably post again after that.

Hi.

New to the Forum, but my journey so far

I started with a pair of Phonak Audéo I50-R aids about 3 years ago, through a “pay as you hear” programme in NZ (NZ $89 per month). First time Aids user, they worked well but the programme changes that they would do were a little annoying at times but they did change my daily life for the better.

I moved to Oz and after about 6 months one failed so I looked for a replacement. I went for the Costco Phillips Hearlink 9050. They promised a lot but I found them very fatiguing to wear due to a very cluttered high end. I suspect that they have a lower sample rate than my old Phonaks. this is easy to test if you whistle while wearing them and listen to the sampling by-products.

I ordered a pair of the Jabra’s from Costco and returned the Philips within the 6 months. I was thinking of getting the Sonites at that time but was told that the Jabra aids were more advanced so I went that way.

3 months into the Jabras and I am not happy. The Bluetooth is patchy, never remembering levels and the noise reduction keeps getting tripped and muting just the left ear. Overall, they are good in noise but all the other annoyances (and Auracast has never actually worked with the Auracast sender I put on the TV), are pushing me to switch to the Sonites and take them for a spin.

From what I have read here, I think this might be the way to go.

ps. I am a Broadcast Media Architect so I am a bit fussy when it comes to digital audio and the like

Welcome to the forum @darrenb seems to me that none of your HAs have been set up to your liking (you’ll never really get them to so long as someone else is doing it for you, as obviously they can’t possibly know how you like to hear, this is the main problem with the clinic setting them up) so with your background you need to stop mucking around and get into DIY projects, very easy to do and everything is available, cheers