Sound quality of Phonak Marvel vs. Oticon Opn

Well. One week with my new Phonak Audeos and I’m not very impressed. They remind me of some old Phonaks I had a few years ago (can’t remember the model) when they jump from one program mode to another without warning and almost randomly. At least the Opn1 transition is seamless and virtually unnoticeable. Phonak connectivity is far better on my Samsung Galaxy S7 and it’s great to receive calls without even taking my phone out of my pocket!
But the big contrast for me is the sound quality and I’m still not sure which I prefer. I struggle to understand exactly the same people’s speech with the Phonaks as I did with the Opn1s !!! The big difference is that the Opns deliver so much crystal clear sound that it’s bewildering in some situations whereas the Phonaks tend to muffle things that they think you don’t want to hear.
I have a follow up booked in a few weeks so maybe my audi can improve on these issues with the Phonaks.
My conclusion so far is that it has to be personal preference thing but since I bought my Opns 12 months ago I think I may have to stick with them.

@alanpalmer7743 said:

But the big contrast for me is the sound quality and I’m still not sure which I prefer. I struggle to understand exactly the same people’s speech with the Phonaks as I did with the Opn1s !!! The big difference is that the Opns deliver so much crystal clear sound that it’s bewildering in some situations whereas the Phonaks tend to muffle things that they think you don’t want to hear.

I think you mentioned that you wear open domes on both the Marvel and the OPN, right? I suspect that it’s the open domes that’s causing the noise reduction on both the Marvel and the OPN to be much less effective than it should have been for you, because the noise bleeds through the open domes and no degree of noise reduction processing can block or filter this out. The only compromise to improve this situation is with closed domes with maybe a small vent or two on the closed domes. I wear the closed domes with a single vent and it helps me better with speech understand in noisy situations on the OPN.

As for the clarity on the OPN vs the muffled experience with the Marvel, I remember when I trialed the Sonic Enchant 100, which is very aggressive with noise reduction, I experienced this same muffled impression. It’s not necessarily bad at all, if you give time to get used to it. It’s just that once I switched back to the OPN, I started hearing more things, and even a subtle thing like the clear reverb of the hallway when I talk or sing walking through it, was eye-opening because it was missing with the Sonic Enchant. It gave me the immediate impression of better clarity on the OPN, Whether that’s true or not is up for debate, but it does make a lasting impression just by being able to hear more things, even (or maybe especially?) subtle little things.

By the same design, these extra sounds maybe desired and welcomed by certain folks, but found annoying and unwanted by other folks when the sound level starts to become loud and overwhelming.

Wait a minute!!! Your OPN1 experience is sounding a lot like mine. I got these OPNs in November and spent a month in our very quiet home with only my wife to talk with and zero distracting noises. Now we’re at our winter home on the tropical coast of Mexico and it’s near impossibly distracting. It’s almost like going back 15 years to old-tech HAs. Ceiling fans, traffic, music, ocean waves, all of it is affecting my understanding of the spoken word. Now that I’m in Mexico and will not return to my audiologist until May… I guess I’m out $5000.00
Edit: I am using “closed” non-custom domes. The left only has one tiny vent, the right has two.
Note: I have “asymmetrical” hearing loss with moderate-to-severe low-end loss in my left ear:

Interesting. I really love these forums; I learn so much from each of you.

I’m currently trialing the OPNs and will subsequently follow with a Phonak Marvel trial. My former HAs were Phonak Yes, so there’s been a lot of technological advances since then. I expected to NOT like the OPNs, premised on what I’ve read from others and from my provider telling me that the OPN were “tinny” in sound (he was trying to sell me on the Marvels, I believe). However…

I really like the OPN sound. I find them rounder, softer (not meaning less distinct) and more pleasing to my ears than my rather quick test with the Marvels. I did find the Marvels to be “brighter,” clearer – I know all of this is subjective and says nothing beyond my own perspective – but ultimately I really like the OPNs. I think each of us is unique and we just have to go with what works best for us in the long run.

@KipinTacoma said:

Now that I’m in Mexico and will not return to my audiologist until May… I guess I’m out $5000.00

Don’t give up yet! Maybe put a call in to your audi and explain that these Opns will likely NOT work out for you, given that half the year they are completely ineffectual? Perhaps you have a spare backup pair of aids that you can ride out the rest of winter with. I totally empathize with your situation, cuz I would sometimes spend a few months on Hawaii, and most of the places there are devoid of curtains or carpeting to absorb any sound. It was like living at a shooting range: noises just ricocheted off the walls, windows and floors.

I also found that back home, ANY kind of store, doc’s office, mall, restaurant, in short anyplace outside of my own acoustically perfect house, the Opns made discerning speech close to impossible.

@alanpalmer7743 said:

Repeated attempts by audiologist failed to resolve so I am picking up some Marvel MR90s next week. Having read your post I’m really hopeful of a positive outcome. Will keep you posted.

Anything new to report here? I totally and utterly empathize with you!

I evaluated Marvels before I bought Opn 1s. I returned the Marvels because I wasn’t satisfied with the connectivity. Sound quality is very subjective and it’s also dependent on the underlying hearing problem. I found the Marvels and the Opns to sound different, but I wouldn’t say one is better than the other.

Rather than ask for opinions, which usually reflect the opinion-giver’s bias, you try both and see for yourself. What works for one person might work differently for you.

There is no difference in audio quality streaming from iphone, android or a pc.

I concur. The set up with iPhone is more seamless, but the sound quality should be the same.

I did say connectivity/control is so much better on iPhone than Android. I didn’t mention sound quality, which, as other members have said, is the same. With Android, I found that because you can control the streaming volume via the HAs, the phone and the ConnectClip and the volume ratio between the HAs and the streaming is set by your audi in Genie 2, I was always juggling to get it right. Nightmare.

With the iPhone, streaming volume and radio stations can all be controlled from the lock screen independently of the HA surroundings volume setting. This is a real benefit. With a couple of taps from the iPhone lock screen I can adjust the radio or telephone call volume and mute my surroundings. Sheer bliss!!!

Great to know. Thanks. I was soooo hoping that my new OPN-S HAs, with power domes, would deliver Bose-quality sound for music streaming. But, alas, that is not the case. The sound quality is not terrible, and is much improved over my previous Alta Pro HAs, but doesn’t hold a candle to other earbuds and headphones I have. Ah well.

*I threw in the towel on the Marvel M70 R and am now trialing the OPN S2. I had many problems with Marvel despite repeated adjustments. I was a long time Oticon user and perhaps I’m used to their sound. The Marvels seemed harsh and I often had a sense of disorientation as to where sound was coming from. Voices sometimes sounded distorted like audio clipping. There was no perceivable benefit for speech in loud noise, a real test for any HA. Also, the Bluetooth was very low quality, almost unusable and then there’s the problem with having to repeatedly pair being a major downside. I also did not like the button placement on the top of the aids.Big no no for me. hard to access and they get in the way of the temples of glasses, sometimes even turning off when I adjusted the glasses on my face. But the sound quality is primary and in the end it was that which led me return them. Two days into the OPN it is too early to say much. So far I like them better. My Audi claims the Marvels are more unidirectional in AS 3.0, as compared with OPN which has the open sound as its namesake says. I can’t notice any such differences. Voices sound clearer to me with OPN. It have yet to know in noisy environments.
One strange thing. My insurance covers up to 5K but not including the very top of the line. Whatever is right below it. So, for example, the Marvel 90R would have cost me an $800 whereas the M70 R was fully covered for the cost of $4K. The OPN is only available in rechargeable in the top model, the S1. I would have to pay 800 for that. And the stated price for OPN S 2 is $5K. The S2 is fully covered but battery operated. It also has 4 dB less noise reduction than S1. That’s where the rubber meets the road so I’d like the premium S1. Conversely, Phonak does not have this kind of lower tech in the M70 v M90. It more about having a couple programs as manual v part of AS. 3.0. So Phonak Is actually providing a better deal than OPN S IMO. But OPN S seems, at least at first, to work better for me. I also don’t use iPhone so at present I lost the Bluetooth connection. I miss that despite Phonak’s less than adequate Bluetooth implementation for Android. I will say that the rechargeables are overrated. It’s easier to change a battery once a week than to have to charge them nightly, especially if on the road. And I don’t have to worry about running out of juice (always have extra set). Plus they are smaller and thinner which I find a significant benefit. The Marvels actually pushed my ears out a little. And who know how long those rechargeable will last. Also, program changes on Marvel is very noticeable. OPN is seamless. Ended up disappointed with Marvel for a number of reasons as stated. For all of you who benefit from Marvel, lucky you. Cheers!

I also chose Opns due to the BT on the Marvels.

So you’re saying your insurance will cover $5000 of the Opn S2, but not the S1? Seems strange, why should they care what model you chose? Can you make an arrangement with your audi to trade them in? My insurance company didn’t cover the entire cost of the Opns, but I thought it was worth the money to get the top model.

I found the Marvels and Opns sound different, but I didn’t find one to be noticeably better than the other. It was a wash.

@petermo said:

Great to know. Thanks. I was soooo hoping that my new OPN-S HAs, with power domes, would deliver Bose-quality sound for music streaming. But, alas, that is not the case. The sound quality is not terrible, and is much improved over my previous Alta Pro HAs, but doesn’t hold a candle to other earbuds and headphones I have. Ah well.

I challenge you to find ANY RITE hearing aids that can approach Bose quality sound. I challenge Bose to deliver their same Bose quality sound when they have to deliver it in a tiny receiver that has to fit inside of the human ear canal.

You simply have the wrong expectation that surpasses the law of physics. Bose can only deliver the quality of sound that you enjoy only because they can package a much bigger speaker inside their product.

The OPN S does not promise high fidelity music quality. It only promises better feedback prevention and better speech understanding.