Need some advice!

If Costco is available in your area, the Sennheiser Sonite R is, in essence, the latest Phonak model for $1,599 (without the special Spheric chip). It would be helpful if you posted your latest audiogram. Stay away from Sams Club.

@rwin1592 said:

Time to replace my very old Phonak aids that never really did much anyway!

One thing you need to find out is why they “never really did much.” Did you shelve them because you couldn’t get used to them, or did you wear them but not find them beneficial in certain situations? Did you go back to get them reprogrammed and what did the AuD said? The magic of a hearing aid is all about the programming, much more than anything else.

As others have mentioned, Costco is the ideal starting point. If you have the answers to those questions, the fitting process can be enhanced. In Costco, you will be able to try different models and choose your preferred one for $1600.

I wish I knew more about this. How did you find out that the Sonite Rise is equivalent to the Infinio Ultra?

@hearingMac said:

Costco versions are often purpose-built/stripped/older-platform products. Same parent company and similar fitting ecosystem doesn’t mean same current flagship hardware or feature set.

No this isn’t true at all, please share your source of information for this statement.

Fair point — I should have worded that more carefully. I’m not claiming every Costco hearing aid is stripped down or older-platform. My point was that with Costco/big-box versions generally, the brand name alone doesn’t prove the product is identical to the current flagship sold through other channels. I’ve seen that with other consumer products where similar branding does not mean identical model, hardware, or feature set.

So I’m not saying the Sonite Rise definitely is or is not equivalent to the Infinio Ultra. I’m asking how that equivalence was determined.

That’s interesting. I’ve been wearing the Sphere i90 for quite a while now. One thing I’d add is that the Sphere mode isn’t something I find myself using all the time. In my experience it only engages under certain conditions, and when it does I sometimes find the processing a bit artificial sounding, even though it can be very effective in difficult noise situations.

That makes the Rise comparison more interesting to me. Have you compared the Rise directly against a non-Sphere Infinio or a Sphere i90? If so, what differences did you notice in everyday listening, particularly speech in noise?

I hope all this debating on Costco hearing aids helps the OP.

The only comparison I have made between the Rise & the non-sphere Infinio Ultra i90R is looking at the specifications.
i did trial the Infinio Sphere last year & my memory is telling me the Sonite Rise has similar performance apart from the Sphere mode - which I recall could sound a bit ‘artificial’ at times due to heavy noise processing but it did help with speech understanding in extreme noise..

Lots of mentions of Costco. Have set up appointment for next week. Thanks.

Glad to help. Hope it goes well for you at Costco.

Just remember not all hearing aid specialists have the same amount talent.

So if you live in a area with multiple Costcos in driving distance, you have the option of going to a different Costco to see if the specialists are better at this Costco then the one you just used at the other location.

The person adjusting your hearing aids can make a world of difference in making you a happy hearing aid user.

@user990 said:

you don’t think you will be using Auracast, or have lost a large amount of your low frequency range.

Why is a Phonak / Sennheiser not appropriate for severe low frequency loss ? I’ve never heard this before .

The published fitting ranges from Phonak do show the Infinios can handle severe low frequency loss (see below).

Why is the Starkey/Soundgear the only brand that can handle severe loss at low freq?