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Costco Kirkland Signature 9.0 (Product Information)

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In reply to @NateS

OK, I’m a few days late but, if I understand the problem, the phone is connected to your KS9s and when you get in the car Alexa tries to connect to your phone?

I don’t know of any phone that will connect to two devices at once. It is not a KS9 issue.

With whatever connection it requires, you should be able to connect in Target and make changes.

If it is like my Brio3s, the model doesn’t show up in Target but when you connect it sees them and connects. In fact, once I’m connected it uses the Brio terminology on the screen.

Edited

In reply to @Don

@Don said:

I don’t know of any phone that will connect to two devices at once. It is not a KS9 issue.

Thanks for your reply, Don but with all due respect I don’t see that as the problem. It is superfluous for my KS9s to be connected to my phone when I am in my car, because the Roav Viva Pro provides all needed communications loud and clear. The Roav Viva is an intermediate device which simultaneously communicates with my phone by Bluetooth and with my car’s radio speakers by . I don’t want my KS9s to be “butting in” to the process. Therefore, what I believe I am looking for is advice as to the simplest, hassle-free way to be able to have the KS9s disconnect from my cell phone and reconnect when I turn off my ignition.
In fact, as a last resort I would even consider unpairing them from my phone but I would prefer an automatic on/off process. It would seem that Phonak would have provided some automation for disconnecting and connecting *, or that some reader here on the forum might come up with an ingenious workaround.
I shouldn’t have to fiddle with the Remote app everytime I turn my car’s ignition on and off.

  • Note that both MFI and Google distinguish connecting and disconnecting a paired device as independent from pairing and unpairing.
Edited

In reply to @hershel

Finally getting back to the hearing aid question, and thank you for your impressions about KS 8 versus KS 9. There is a new wrinkle in my situation: My KS 8’s have a problem and Costco tells me that they need to go back to Rexton for repair/exchange.

As to my hearing loss, can you believe that I had a test just a few months ago and now I can’t find the ?! If I could, it would show the shape that we all know re. age-related loss. It starts at about 20 down at low frequencies and gets to about 80 dB down at the top frequency. Nothing unusual. I don’t really think that my curve suggests an obvious choice between the KS 8 and KS 9. I am using open domes and have no feedback issues with the KS 8.

I like the clarity of the KS 8 compared with the KS 6. But I am leery of reliability. I began with KS 4, which was a Rexton product. In the 90 day trial period I had two receivers fail and one aid fail. Unacceptable. I changed to Resound Futura. I then went to KS 6, which was also a Resound product. Both products performed perfectly, reliability-wise. Now I have new 8’s for a few months and there is already a problem, in spite of what Costco told me about improved Rexton reliability. Sigh.

So, I have this dilemma: I have an appointment this coming Thursday, at which time I will either turn-in the 8’s and order 9’s, or have the 8’s sent back for repair/replace. The most important thing to me is speech clarity - period, followed by reliability, followed by features. You like the clarity of the 9 best; I am very happy with the clarity of the 8’s, but we all want everything we can get, especially speech in noise. Reliability of the 8 is a yellow/red flag for me at this point, but others seem to do fine with them, so I have to look beyond my own experience. Connectivity and app features of the 8 seem light-years better than the 9. I have three iPads, and an iPhone (and an Apple cellular watch, which does not support MFI). MFI doesn’t require re-pairing when changing to a different Apple device. But all of these connections - and throw in my car for good measure - are probably too much for MFI. It gets confused. And my watch and iPhone don’t always play well together for phone calls. So maybe the lack of connectivity of the 9 isn’t such a bad problem: Pair to one of the iPads and use it when I want to stream, use the watch for hands-free calling, and call it a day. I really like the app for the 8’s, but actually the only thing that I use is the directionality feature. I make no assumptions about future firmware updates to the 9, my assumption is WYSIWYG. I have to be without the 8’s for a while, so this would be the time to start over if I could be certain that the 9’s are better clarity, and your comments re. 8 vs 9 clarity for your loss lead me toward the 9. Decisions, decisions…

Since I need a solid back up pair, I kept the 8s for that. The connectivity works fine on the 9s, but just for one device really. I can keep the MFI setup in my devices for the 8s (doesn’t conflict on my phone with the 9s bluetooth setup) and still use them for that on iphone/ iPad when needed. 8s are much more flexible in that regard. Still for my hearing loss which has gotten severe to profound on my left at 3K to 4K, the 9s are helping more. The compression algorithm filters out unwanted sound better as set up at this point. Unfortunately it takes a lot of experimentation with fine tuning on the 8s I found at least for me. If connectivity is the issue, an option is the Marvels, but at twice the price or more.

Shout out to those who have been able to program their KS9s with Target software… Have you been also able to update the KS9’s firmware to enable them to be paired to more than one device?

In reply to @NateS

This is what I was responding to. It is not a KS9 issue.

"Well, I just ran into my first problem with the Bluetooth one-source limit on the KS9s.
Because we are up in years with some physical limitations, I have pretty much “Alexafied” our home to avoid jumping up and down turning lights and the TV controls on/off and do it almost all verbally. No problems inside, but in my car, an older model lacking Bluetooth and no audio input, I rely on this device to keep me in touch hands-free with home, getting the news on-call through Tune-in, music, etc.:"

@Don said:

This is what I was responding to. It is not a KS9 issue.

I am sorry to have tested your patience, Don. Perhaps someone else on the forum may be willing to assist and advise me.

I define this as a KS9 issue, but I don’t want to get hung up on that point, so I will attempt to rephrase for anyone that might like to try to assist me as a fellow forum member.

The KS9 is a bluetooth device. Bluetooth devices normally provide both a pairing/unpairing function and also allow paired devices to be connected and disconnected without becoming unpaired, as for example when a computer switches from one speaker to another BT speaker.

I am asking whether Phonak has provided the KS9 with a way to switch connections between paired devices, or if not, whether another forum member has a suggestion as to a workaround.

Thanks in advance to whomever might desire to reply and possibly to assist or provide further insight.

Your phone can easily turn off the connection to your ’s, which you would do when leaving and turn it back on when not, pairing isn’t required, just a touch switch, on/off. At first I would try it to see if one over powers the other such as what happens when you are streaming the TV, etc. and get a call. I do not know the outcome, but do not see it as a big deal, but reasonable question.

RDB

Edited

Thank you, rdboukes. I will certainly give that a try, although unlike the other Bluetooth devices listed on my cell phone, the KS9s R & L show only two options: “Connect” and “Forget” and I seem to recall that the latter term normally implies unpairing rather than merely disconnecting. But I definitely appreciate your suggestion, and I will give it a try when next behind the wheel and will report back.
If that works I will be quite content, as long as the whole ritual of re-pairing, with pulling both hearing aids out of my ears and unsnapping and re-snapping the battery compartment next to the cell phone is not required, particularly if I am on a shopping trip driving from store to store. LOL! :rofl:

Nate, you are correct. KS9s can only be paired to one device at a time. I chose to go the opposite route in my car - I told my phone to forget the Bluetooth pairing to the car and take calls in my KS9s. Of course, my car has CarPlay, so I hook my phone up to that for music and navigation.

Edited

Thank you too, uburoibob. That was the way I understood KS9s’ limitation and the reason for my seeking a workaround, and yes built-in CarPlay is a good analogy to my add-on device described above. But I will try rdboukes’ suggestion and if that doesn’t work I may have another workaround in mind to try, and will report back, as any workaround to KS9s’ limitation may be relevant or helpful to others, and even other situations, not merely to myself and this particular setup.

Keep in mind that Marvel 2.0 firmware will allow for multiple connections. The question is, when will it be available for KS9s, if ever.

Edited

Only someone that has tried both could give an opinion, the easy choice is to make an appt. with the Costco center. Once they have given you a hearing test, they will most often hook up a demo pair for you to try right then. You, if interested, can then order and receive them, with full refund for 6 months. Only loss will be your time, but might be a better option.

RDB

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