Costco Kirkland Signature 6.0

save yourself a lot of hassel with dome ant custom molds.

@doubledown said:

LarryJ

post your audiogram before you do anything. there are some who post exclusively on this resound subforum who clearly need something other than the ks6 and the rexton trax 42.

1. binaural beamforming is just using the microphones from both aids together by fully streaming sounds between the aids. The key here is that sounds are being fully streamed between aids. Only 2 companies in the business have released products that does this, Phonak and Siemens. Rexton is the economy line of Siemens. So every other companies who uses the words binaural in their specification sheet are referring to the ability to send some data between aids in an attempt to improve speech in noise performance. But this is pretty much improvement via better coordination between the 2 aids. But this kind of technology I don’t believe have been shown to actually improve speech in noise performance. I believe it does but the improvement is so subtle that it’s hard to measure.

phonak brio sold at costco has an older version of the tech that’s only forward facing.

siemens’ rexton trax 42 aid has a version of the tech that’s adaptive, can point in any direction.

Phonak’s venture line sold outside of costco is also adpative along with siemens’ binax line which is what the rexton trax 42 is based off of.

2. channels and bands are used interchangeably in the hearing aid world. but recently I believe bands are being referred to a set of frequencies between which you can change the gain/volume. channel is the set of frequencies between which you can change the compression ratio.

the rexton trax 42 has 20 bands and 42 compression channels. so you can adjust the gain/volume in 20 bands and change the compression ratio in 42 channels.

Also the resound ks6 aids frequency range only goes up to 7060 Hz. This is vs the Rexton Trax 42 being able to go up to 10500 Hz. I’ve gotta say that 7060 Hz is a really low number and is probably at the bottom of the major brands.

Overall the rexton trax 42 has some insane performance numbers. it’s arguably not only the best aid at costco, when taking into account its price it’s the best aid in the world. ks6 is just resound’s last generation linx.

Once again before you do anything please post your audiogram. So many people here are wasting their time with brands they should not be trying. I find that a lot of these users are giving up after a while when they are so close to getting the most ideal setup.

Thank you you for a very detailed explanation. It is appreciated. I will post my audiogram after my next visit and get the details and figure out how to do it.

i still do not understand if the Kirkland binaural directionality is the same or different than the trax 42.

To the person to posted the link to the 2011 Audiology Today article on bands and channels thanks tons. I’m still digesting it. It seems to indicate that more channels are not necessarily better in that a delay can occur. But I may not understand that correctly as I am still trying to digest the article. As to my situation, I am very happy with the programming and do not have any issues at this time with my KS6’s.

love the blog and all the helpful comments. I have a tech background so like to understand the technology.

I am brand new to these boards and do not yet have my hearing aids. How do you post your audiogram in your signature box? Another question concerns the Resound KS6 interface with the Iphone application. I understand that this would eliminate the cost of a $150 remote control unit, which I hate the idea of carrying in addition to my bulky Motorola 1080 MAX Droid and my wallet…only so much room in the pockets for stuff.

Has anyone heard if there is going to be an interface for KS6 and the Droid platform?

Thanks

@grouper said:

Has anyone heard if there is going to be an interface for KS6 and the Droid platform?

Google Play has the Resound Smart App for their Linx and Linx2 products. It is only compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S5. If you have the Linx, it is not compatible with Lollipop, only KitKat. The Linx2 is compatible with Lollipop. Although the KS6 is based on the Linx, the Resound Smart app will not work with it. Costco said there would be an app for Android by June 2015. It’s now the middle of July, and still nothing. If Costco does release an app, it will be essentially the same as the Resound Smart app (with the restrictions listed above). The Resound smart app (or Costco equivalent), will not support direct streaming. Check “Resound Smart” in Google play for a list of supported features. Costco does have the Kirkland Signature Navigator app for Android which supports the KS6, but it only allows you to change programs, volume, and mute, and requires the phoneclip+ to do so.

Hey Chiroman, what made you choose the Trax 42 instead of the KS 6.0? I’m the opposite, I like the KS 6.0 more than the Trax

And does anyone know the major differences between Linx 1 and Linx 2? How much is the Linx 1 retail these days?

Cheers.

@Padzy said:

Hey Chiroman, what made you choose the Trax 42 instead of the KS 6.0? I’m the opposite, I like the KS 6.0 more than the Trax

And does anyone know the major differences between Linx 1 and Linx 2? How much is the Linx 1 retail these days?

Cheers.

Padzy, I noticed a big difference in speech recognition with the Trax. With the KS6, I struggled to understand some voices even in a quite room when they were standing right in front of me. Their voices were loud, I just struggled with understanding. Softer voices that were further away were a real struggle. The KS6 also seemed to make background sounds unusually loud. When I turn my computer on, I think the hard drive is about to fail due to the loud grinding noises. I have a counter top ice maker in my kitchen with a fan that sounds like it is right beside my ear when I am watching TV in the living room 30 feet away. Initially I thought that was the best it was going to be, and that I would always struggle with speech given my 64% word recognition score in my left ear. As my ENT said “garbage in = garbage out, making everything louder won’t help if you can’t understand it”. After 3 adjustments with the Costco HIS, I saw no significant improvement. When I tried the Trax, I saw an immediate improvement. I now rarely ask people to repeat themselves. In my work, I am often talking to people that are facing away from me, and rarely have trouble understanding them. I can carry on conversations with people a row over in a busy parking lot. I have no trouble understanding people at the drive-through order window, which was difficult with the KS6. The Trax party/noise program works very well where I did not see that much difference between the automatic program and noise/party program of the KS6. The noise suppression of the Trax works well in not magnifying background noise, while emphasizing speech. The Trax is by no means perfect, and I still have some trouble with TV, but otherwise it is working very well right out of the box, having had no additional adjustments made so far. I find this impressive as it seemed to me that my Costco HIS is much more comfortable with the KS6 software over the Trax software being newer.
Bonus stuff: The Trax rocker switch buttons allows me to change programs/volume, sound balance (bass/treble) or microphone span (narrow/wide) right on the HA’s. The KS6 only allows me to change programs. I use Android, so all the dedicated iphone streaming is a waste for me. Rexton’s smart remote app for android is acoustic (uses high pitched tones to change settings) and requires no intermediate device. It will allow me to do everything except change the microphone direction (smart connect is required for this). The phoneclip+ of the KS6 worked very well for bluetooth hands free cell phone calls, but I was unimpressed with its music streaming ability. I have not tried the smart connect for the Trax, and probably won’t. I would only use it for cellphone calls, which I can do without. I live in a windy town, and get nearly zero wind noise with the Trax, where the KS6 seemed to struggle with wind.
This is not to knock the KS6, as most seem very happy with it. The improvements I noted in the Trax over the KS6, I’m sure many will say the exact opposite. You prefer the KS6 over the Trax probably for many of the same reasons that I prefer the Trax over the KS6, hence the importance of trying more than one product.

As for the Linx vs the Linx2, the new feature of the Linx2 seems to be the “spatial sense”. But it does not seem to be as impressive as ReSound makes it out to be, so audiologically the Linx2 is not dramatically different from the original Linx. The Linx2 does have some programming advantages such as long-press options on the HA to allow for more than just programming changes. There may be additional features for the iphone app, but don’t know since I use android. The Linx2 supports Android Lollipop with the Samsung Galaxy S5 for a direct connection.

wow you’re right, I’m experiencing the opposite in everything you mentioned about how the Trax 42 is better than the KS 6.0. I wore the trax 42 today for work and had to take it off just before lunch time and put my KS 6.0 back on because the Trax was just too soft for me in speech. All the things I could hear with the KS 6.0, I could barely hear at all using the Trax 42, something just isn’t right for me with the Trax. To begin with, the Trax domes just isn’t right for me. If I wear the 4mm dome, I will get feedback. If I wear the 6mm dome, it blocks out my whole ear canal and everything just sounds muffed and I’m not getting any natural sounds in my ear.

The KS6.0 domes fit me right from the beginning and no feedback at all.

And thanks for telling me the difference between Linx 1 and Linx 2, it just makes the KS 6.0 better value for money than the Trax 42.

Hello everybody I am new here. Just picked the KS6’s up today and I am having an issue with Bluetooth connectivity. If I play music on my iPhone I can only walk a few steps away from the phone before there are connection issues also if I simply put my iPhone in my pocket I also lose the connection. I have many Bluetooth devices and I know that this is not how Bluetooth is supposed to work. Is anyone else having the same issues or a fix for this? I did u pair and repair to the iPhone. Thank you!

I found this this addressed earlier. I turned off wifi on the phone and it solved the problem. My router is 2.4ghz and it appears I need to get a 5ghz unit.

@Hayjak said:

I found this this addressed earlier. I turned off wifi on the phone and it solved the problem. My router is 2.4ghz and it appears I need to get a 5ghz unit.

Remember if you turn wifi off you will start using your iphone data plan and talk minutes if you use the phone for anything else. I have the KS6’s and I am using 2.4ghz without any interference with my iphone 5. Aside from the fact that Bluetooth does not go through your router. I can walk to another room, about 45 feet, before the KS’s turn off. I do have a pretty good router but as I said, that should not have anything to do with Bluetooth. TP-Link AC1750. Also a side note, 5ghz does not transmit as far from the router as 2.4ghz band so if you have other devices using wifi they may have problems. Most modern routers are duel band routers. You have the option of running 2.4ghz and 5ghz at the same time. But then, that defeats your theory of using only 5 ghz.

Hello all. I’m brand new to these forums, but I’ve been wearing HA’s for about 25 years. I have tinnitus that varies in volume and makes the pure tone audiology tests very difficult. Most recently I’ve been wearing Resound Live 9 half shells, mainly because they were like the Oticons from my first fitting. I have an appointment with Costco on Friday and am interested in the KS6s, primarily because they cost $1k less than other premium costco aids. I live in a tiny (but beautiful) town in northern NM, and the closest Costco is 2.5 hours away, so I’m hoping NOT to have to run back and forth too many times. There’s a Connect Hearing store an hour closer, but I’ve heard good things about Costco. I’m not really looking for help with the tinnitus, since after living with it for 40 years I figure I’m about as habituated as I can get.

Specific questions:

• In going through the Linx LN-961 data sheet compared to the KS-661 data sheet posted by rasmus_braun, everything looks identical EXCEPT the description of directionality/balance. The LN-961 lists Binaural Directionality, Adjustable directional mix, Natural Directionality, Synchronized Softswitching, AutoScope and MultiScope Adaptive Directionality and Fixed Directionality. The KS-661 just lists Advanced Directionality and Directionality Options. Do the really have the same features with more buzzwords in the LN-961 literature?
• I’m hoping to switch to an RIC aid based on some comments by another Audi, but I’m clueless about reading my test results and determining whether that’s at all likely. Note that the test posted is about 11 years old. I can’t find a newer one.

Thanks in advance for your help. You’ve already helped me a lot while I was just lurking!

I think you were looking at the Linx2 specs. It seems more an example of advertising hype than major new features. The consensus is that the difference between the Linx and the Linx2 is not very great. What a named feature is becomes clouded by the fancy naming convention used in advertising. That happens with all the manufacturers.

Modern aids all have automated directionality. A competitor provided manual enhancements. My guess is they added that to not be outdone. The Party feature is a version of that which biases toward forward. That doesn’t duplicate the assigned directionality but automatic directionality work well for the bulk of situations. My day is pretty well covered without wanting to adjust to listen more to the rear or side.

Hey Ken,

Which hearing aid did you end up choosing? The KS6.0 or Trax 42?

[quote=Padzy;126786]Hey Ken,

Which hearing aid did you end up choosing? The KS6.0 or Trax 42?[/QUOTE

I got the KS6 which aren’t perfect with my bad ears but my understanding is better.