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Phonakk Audeo Infinio Sphere vs Starkey Omega AI 24 in live a live music situation

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I am a professional musician (piano) and I just bought a pair of the Starkey Omega 24’s.

Overall, they sound wonderful, but they do that thing that I hate when you are in a room listening to an acoustic instrument - they make the music sound digital and compressed. Listening to a piano in a room with a lot of reverb is maddening.

The Phonaks that I had before these (Kirkland KS10’s) Starkeys were great at keeping the sound natural, smooth, and sounding analog. Reading online, I have read that Phonaks generally do this better as a rule, but I’m not sure if this is true for the latest generation.

I am still on my trial of the Starkeys, so I can trade them in.
I want to know if those of you with the Phonak Audeo Infinio Sphere’s have this issue and/or would I be better trading in the Starkey’s for the Spheres.

Any input or insight would be greatly appreciated.

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Edited

You may want to ask about a music program that shuts off features that corrupt music. are focused first on speech recognition. Music is an afterthought. There are ways around it. Ask your audiologist.

WH

I ordered Spheres last week just after they announced the 2.0 firmware upgrade which is suppose to be amazing. FYI for you they talk about natural music sound. Last week I went for dinner and sat directly in front of the band. That night I was testing I90’s and the sound was totally live natural so imagine what the Sphere’s can do. As soon as I get them I will share my detailed testing. This 2.0 releases has 5 new benefits delivered by the Deepsonic AI chip. A few users have said the advancement is transformational. I also tested Oticon Intent. very clear, but streaming and voice in noise was ok, not ideal. Music was pretty natural, but The Sphere according to reviews with the new software are am must try. AAPR United Healthcare sells them for 50% discount to plan holders. there good deals out there too.

Any updates on this? Would love to hear your experience. Considering trading in my Starkey Omegas for the Phonaks, but I am not sure it is the right thing to do.

Thank you Whitehat, for being so obtusely helpful. I read that entire thread already and doesn’t seem to have been actively and specifically disgused as you seem to insinuate - hence the reason I posted my question.

Perhaps you should read that thread again and graciously provide where, in that thread, my concern is directly discussed.

181 posts. Latest post a couple hours ago. Links to online videos. Reviews by several members of the differences. But hey? You can believe what you want.

WH

@Ayrow said:

the music sound digital and compressed. Listening to a piano in a room with a lot of reverb is maddening.

So this is a programming issue, you’ll need your Audiologist to be on top of their game to help set them up, here’s some info you can ask them to check, but as WH has stated just having a dedicated music program to switch to is usually enough.

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