Starkey X series

The X Series WILL replace the S and the S Series iQ as now Starkey has moved to their iQ2 product line. The new products have a new case design and a “Sound Recover” feature if you will which transposes higher frequencies to mid range frequencies… It looks good. I have worked quite a bit with the Wi, and besides the inferior Surflink Remote and Media Device, the hearing instruments themselves are very very good.

I just spoke to one of my old contacts at Starkey, and the X is basically the same as the Wi, with a little bit better background noise reduction capability, and also the SoundRecover feature. The aid will be available starting next week august 29th.

Don’t worry about your wi series being ‘outdated’. Even if you did your best to purchase the newest hearing aid from a manufacturer, right at its time of release, you would still only have a few months before that model was outdated (maybe even less, as I am seeing new products released from various manufacturers at a very rapid rate). Plus, the margin of improvement from year to year is not huge. In fact, I’ve had people wearing the highest level technology from manufacturer A, and then I’ll fit them with the newest level of technology from the same manufacturer, (but 5 years newer) and i’d say about 25% can’t see any improvement at all. In my estimation and from the brief info that I’ve read, the X series aren’t anything particularly spectacular or ‘groundbreaking’.

Thanks! I feel a little better.

It’s just like anything else, it doesn’t stay new forever. New cars depreciate as soon as you drive them off the dealer’s lot.

I have 6 more days to own the latest and greatest Wi’s until the X Series arrives!

@MarkHill said:

Don’t worry about your wi series being ‘outdated’. Even if you did your best to purchase the newest hearing aid from a manufacturer, right at its time of release, you would still only have a few months before that model was outdated (maybe even less, as I am seeing new products released from various manufacturers at a very rapid rate). Plus, the margin of improvement from year to year is not huge. In fact, I’ve had people wearing the highest level technology from manufacturer A, and then I’ll fit them with the newest level of technology from the same manufacturer, (but 5 years newer) and i’d say about 25% can’t see any improvement at all. In my estimation and from the brief info that I’ve read, the X series aren’t anything particularly spectacular or ‘groundbreaking’.

I have severe hearing loss so I need to wear the Starkey that has AP (Absolute Power) RIC. My audi recommended Starkey Wi series AP but to my surprise he ordered the S series 5 for me to try first. When I asked him why he didn’t get the Wi series, he told me the S sereis 5 has same power and feature just like Wi series, but cheaper since it’s fall below the line of Wi series. Is this true? I am under tight budget right now but I also want to get the hearing aid that will last long. So now hearing that the new X series will come out soon to replace the S series, I am kind of concerned with the future of the S series if I decided to buy it. Should I go with Wi or X series? is the price difference between S series and Wi series and X series is big?
Really need your advise…thank you!

@HA_rep said:

Wi Series hearing aids will in no way be outdated. Starting 8/29 any new wi series orders will have updated signal processing in the form of a new compression algorithm, voice iQ 2, and Spectral iQ. Specitral iQ is NOT a frequency compression algorithm but rather moves high frequency cues into an area that will be audible to the pt. In doing so it maintains a higher frequency bandwidth when compared to the competition.

The X series family of products has all of the same features minus the wireless antenna.

HearingAidGirl, why do you think the remote and media device are subpar?

My statement of fact that the Surflink Media device is subpar is based on observation and personal experience. I will say that with the RIC AP (power) molds, the Surflink is a fair to good performer. If it is paired with open fit aids, it stinks. No bass, super tinny. The aids often drop signal in one ear and the aids must be turned on and off for it to pick back up. I think with a little tweaking though, the product will be quite good.

@MarkHill said:

I believe the feature you are talking about is equivalent to Phonak’s SoundRecover. Any idea on why it has taken Starkey so long to come out with this feature? And I don’t want to hear the “Well, we wanted to give TRUE soundrecover”, because that wasn’t an adequate reason for being so late with streaming.

The Spectral IQ is different from the SoundRecover system in that it does not use either of the two common methods of transposing high frequencies, and provides significantly better results for high frequency hearing loss that meet the criteria for fitting.

I disagree with your comments about wireless. As I’ve said before on this forum, Starkey did have a first generation product they joint developed with ReSound. But they didn’t like it and chose to come to market with second generation wireless technology, that gives vastly superior speech in noise hearing than first generation technology.

In technology terms, being first isn’t everything. Remember NTSC and PAL?

@DianeK1 said:

I just received my Wi’s a few months ago and already they’re no longer the latest and greatest? I’m still waiting for Starkey to come out with their new Bluetooth device; though I read somewhere that’s been postponed.

Is it possible for my Wi’s to be updated?

Maybe the SoundRecover feature won’t benefit me, since lower frequencies are my problem.

I agree with your observations on the SurfLink media.

…250/500/1K/2K/4K/8K
Right: 55/ 40/ 55/ 45/ 25/ 75
Left: 60/ 50/ 50/ 55/ 40/ 85

[FONT=Times New Roman]SRT: Right: 40dB Left: 40dB

Unaided Discrimination:
Right: 80% Level: 70dB
Left: 88% Level: 70dB

Moderate rising to mild at 4 kHz then dropping to severe sensorineural hearing loss for the right ear.

Left shows moderately-severe rising to mild at 4 kHz then sloping to severe sensorineural hearing loss[/FONT].

Actually, next time you go in for a service, you can get the firmware update for your hearing aids to take advantage of much of this new technology including Voice IQ2.

It’s one of the things that makes Starkey superior from many other aids; firmware updates.

@HearingAidGirl said:

My statement of fact that the Surflink Media device is subpar is based on observation and personal experience. I will say that with the RIC AP (power) molds, the Surflink is a fair to good performer. If it is paired with open fit aids, it stinks. No bass, super tinny. The aids often drop signal in one ear and the aids must be turned on and off for it to pick back up. I think with a little tweaking though, the product will be quite good.

I think part of the issue is that if you have open fit aids, they are not designed to be very bassy. They are in fact designed to let normal bass in through the open fit design, and then just enhance the high frequencies. So if you have a HF loss, I think you are far less likely to enjoy the Surflink than if you had a 50dB loss across the board, with custom ear pieces.

The drop signal can be due to environmental issues, and isn’t necessarily a product flaw. Starkey have a whole system of investigating issues like this now, and will work with patients pretty extensively if they are having that issue.

There are some FCC rule changes afoot that could make it easier for them. A bit of tweaking and some firmware updates and I think this product will be spiffy! But I do think that people with mild losses in the bass could still be disappointed, and that isn’t really a flaw in the design. Of course the new firmware would allow a specific memory to be set to the streamer, and perhaps it could be set up to be less tinny, as much as possible taking into account the acoustic constraints of that type of mold/bud.

ZCT, I agree, the product is almost there. Any wireless device, even Oticon and Phonak problems aren’t perfect 100% of the time – but my expectation is that they will be someday. I’m an obnoxious, type A PITA that expects perfection from herself and the equipment she uses. It’s a flaw.

@HearingAidGirl said:

My statement of fact that the Surflink Media device is subpar is based on observation and personal experience. I will say that with the RIC AP (power) molds, the Surflink is a fair to good performer. If it is paired with open fit aids, it stinks. No bass, super tinny. The aids often drop signal in one ear and the aids must be turned on and off for it to pick back up. I think with a little tweaking though, the product will be quite good.

I agree with your comments on the SurfLink Media. The sound was terrible. I returned it and use a wireless TV listening system (not anything by Starkey). Unfortunately, that’s on its way for some warranty work, so I’m struggling to understand the TV w/my WI’s.

I noticed under the Starkey ProX features a TV Memory: “Television Processing is a new memory program designed for optimal performance while watching television.” They don’t mention the SurfLink Media on the ProX page, so I don’t know what to think.

I will mention this TV Memory when I upgrade my WI’s. Hopefully they can add that program. It’s not great watching TV with my WI’s the way they are now.

I sure wish Starkey would pay more attention to us bass-challenged folks!

Diane, I know your struggling with the TV right now while your device is being repaired, but here’s a quick tip you may not have tried yet, which works for 90% of my patients. Go in to the sound settings on your tv and turn the bass down and the treble up. Normally this makes speech Waaaay clearer. Hope this helps!