Upcoming Costco Appointment - Rexton Reach VS Philips 9050, Advice?

I think that’s BT Low Energy vs BT Classic on the Phonak/KS10. BT LE Audio is different from BT LE.

Well if you can find a Costco selling the Sennheiser hearing aids, return the 9050 hearing aids.

Samsung is going to update one of their tablets to LE Audio. However, it appears that Samsung phones have now over taken the Google Pixel line, since Samsung phones can use Auracast.

Samsung confirms Auracast support for older phones and tablets getting One UI...6

Samsung is adding Bluetooth Auracast support to older phones and tablets, including the Galaxy S23 series, and its 2023 foldables.

The PC seems to need at a minimum updated drivers to make LE audio work, and Windows 11. Again the Sennheiser hearing aids may work out better with your current devices if you can find them.

Yes a major problem were seeing on the forums, the difference between BLE
(Bluetooth Low Energy) and LE Audio with Auracast is significant, but still a little bit of confusion, Phonak has to throw the spanner in the works and have their old time Classic “with” LE Audio…

@user990 said:

Well if you can find a Costco selling the Sennheiser hearing aids, return the 9050 hearing aids.

But na, why do this, I think what people need to realise is HAs are not headphones, they are designed to improve your speech understanding, yes Bluetooth streaming is a great addition, but one shouldn’t base what HAs to use on the quality or availablity of bluetooth (well not just yet anyway, possibly in future this may change, who knows)

Make sure you have LE Audio turned on. We have had some folks that where unaware on to do it.

Of course you will have to have Costco turn it on for you.

Android hands-free question

On the S23 under Settings > Connections > Bluetooth you will see your hearing aids listed. Select the gear icon on the right and you should see the LE Audio switch. [Screenshot_20241103_135709_Settings] Is this on? If not enable it. Hope this helps.

I was in the Brooklyn Costco. They still have the Rextons, but the HCP said that the Manhattan and Staten Island Costcos have the Sennheisers (and dropped the Rextons).

He is not a fan of the Sennheisers—thought the Rextons and Philips had the latest technology, but the Sennheisers did not.

@Mr_C said: (unavailable)

Then why does every aid mfg proclaim BT connectivity as one of their main selling and advertising points?

Mr C I can’t disagree with you, it’s a oxymoron, the marketing blurb is always good on paper, in the real world we know otherwise, they say it’s what consumers want, ok maybe… but still I wouldn’t choose HAs on how good/wonderful or not the bluetooth streaming is…but if only they could get the sound quality of the HAs microphones to sound as good as some of the streaming…now there’s a HA that’s worth taking about

It’s been solid for me as long as I’m inside a building and car as far as I can tell with my limited usage. Philips 9040 with a Pixel 6a.

However, it’s pretty remarkable that it works as well as it does considering how many other devices are using the same frequency.

In addition, some folks just are not familiar with the settings on their phone.

@wkclaw said:

I want to share my experience with the Rexton Reach I tried on for two months and this is the first time to have a pair of hearing aids. In general, Reach is a fine hearing aid but I don’t have the luxury like you to try on two before deciding to pick the one you want. Costco Audiologist fitted me with a Rexton Reach R-Li T 80 with a medium power seal dome (I think) which made me feel like I was plugged in and heard funny from someone and my voice. So I asked to try out a different dome and she gave me a smaller seal dome. It made me feel better and hear more naturally instantly but I still find the clarity of the voice is not there. Then she told me the hearing aids would not give me 100% back to what I had but I felt it was muffled and could not understand someone talking in the distance. I think I will go to a different audiologist for another opinion, and I hope they can solve the clarity issue of my hearing aids or reprogram them. I have 40% loss on high bands down to -70db.

There’s something wrong with this situation where you experience even the sound of your own voice being plugged.

One of the features of Rexton & Signia products is that they have separate Own Voice Processing. This feature has to be programmed at the fitting. Did your Costco HIS do this? You would know because you have to listen to what sounds like nonsense speech for them to set it up. Doing this should be standard, but one Costco fitter failed to do it for me and I had to specifically request it.

There is no way you should have problems with your own voice with a Rexton hearing aid. Processing your own voice is one of the strengths of this brand.

I’m not sure where to put this post but I’m looking at the Philips 9050. I went in with my husband to Costco yesterday and from what I hear there are good things about it, including the sound. He’s a first time hearing aid user so anything is good for him but I’ve had a KS10 from Costco and I think I’ve really had decent sound with it and what I like about it is that I use my Bluetooth a lot so I switch between my phone and my tablet easily because it recognizes three devices at the same time. From what I understand, the Philips hearing aid only allows one device at a time and you have to turn the other ones off.
What I’m wondering is that if I have the Bluetooth running on my tablet and my phone rings, will it automatically connect or do I have to then lose the call because I’m trying to unconnect and reconnect.
I really want to try something with better sound, especially in noise situations. I’m really spoiled the KS10 I have for the Bluetooth reasons. Also, I have a pixel 6 which is nice to know that you can connect with what you have and it works. Thanks for any information you can give me.

If that’s the case, then it looks less likely to be upgraded to LE Audio.

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@user990 said:

The bad thing about Bluetooth classic is that almost everyone is going to LE Audio. So that’s something to consider.

Still, classic will be around for a very long time to come.

@user990 said:

I don’t know if the Sennheiser hearing aids will be upgraded to LE Audio in the future.

It’s a given, just a matter of time for sure, new model will be offered has both.

@user990 said:

If the Sennheiser hearing aids are a rebadge of the Phonak Infinio, then it does seem likely.

It’s coming for sure, the Sennheiser is supposed to be more like a Lumity as mentioned, infinio with come to Costco for sure, later next year would be my guess, Sonova and Costco are “BFF”

OK, so you are suggesting she wait unless she doesn’t care about LE Audio.

For her, waiting is probably the best solution, as she will need to upgrade both her phone and tablet to to take full advantage of LE Audio, being that Bluetooth is so important to her.

However, for her husband, trying out the 9050 makes sense.

No not so much, I mean hearing in everyday conversations is more important then what bluetooth version you have, and yes the 9050 are well worth it, considering especially at the price point from Costco, not withstanding the fantastic service and warranty, trial period etc