Costco Kirkland Signature 9.0 (Product Information)

Great question. Seems like it would allow Phonak to sell more product if they were. I do see they have had no updates to the KS9 app whereas the Marvel app has received numerous updates.

ss510St. Louis, MO.

In reply to @uburoibob

I think the point about optical is that it can then be processed (before going to the streamer) to bias more on the center channel where most speech is, or the front three if needed, and at least partially suppress the surround/background sounds. Obviously it would have drawbacks in some cases but if a program is otherwise unmanageable it might be worth a try. Can’t do that with any of the other options.

Raudrive

Texas Hill Country

In reply to @MDB

The PartnerMic is what interests me most. I don’t remember when it came out, before or after the 2.0 Marvel update. Since the KS9 aids are not Roger compatible the PartnerMic might help some of the KS9 users in tuff situations.

MDB Central California

I doubt the app makes any difference. It was just a comment to say Phonak doesn’t seem particularly interested in supporting the KS9, although you’d think they’d be willing to sell more product.

uburoibob

La Grange Highlands, IL

Dec 26, 2019Edited

In reply to @ss510

So, the TV connector processes surround sound? I didn’t know. The stereo method seems to work OK, with a receiver. Perhaps the receiver grabs the stereo track rather than the surround? Wait, I think I misinterpreted your post. Is it possible to have separate surround for the rest of the family and an optimized feed going to the streamer from a single source?

ss510St. Louis, MO.

I’m mostly speculating “out loud” at the moment until I can experiment, but the thought was to go from the cable box toslink to a cheapish 5.1 preamp where the surround balance can be adjusted, then to the streamer. I’m guessing someone has already tried and either confirmed or abandoned the idea.

uburoibob

La Grange Highlands, IL

Gotcha. Worth checking out. In the meantime, my receiver seems to fold the REC OUT down into stereo and dialog seems to be favored. And I balance it so I can hear room sound as well as what is coming through the streamer, so we can still discuss what we watch.

lilliegin

Valencia CA

Dec 27, 2019

In reply to @Raudrive

For two weeks my KS9 Easy Line App allowed me to select (as an Advanced Option) the feature that gave me the ability to select Surround on the left or slide to the right to select Audio with balanced sound in the middle. Audio was voice only and surround was voice plus instrument sounds. This went away and has not come back? I have a contact with Phonak but have not confirmed that this feature is coming?

rdboukes

Dec 28, 2019Edited

@lilliegin said:

Audio was voice only and surround was voice plus instrument sounds. This went away and has not come back? I have a contact with Phonak but have not confirmed that this feature is coming?

Perhaps a misunderstanding of the balance feature, may have been specific conditions that gave the result you relate. When streaming from the TV connector you can use the balance to increase or decrease either the surround sound, which is all of the environment sounds or the audio which is being streamed, it allows you to chose an increase or decrease of either. Depending what you might be doing, or who you are with this may be of value, I normally when steaming prefer to eliminate the surround sound with the mute feature instead of the balance. If you have the mute feature which you can mute by holding the low side button for a long push, until it mutes. After selecting what ever you are streaming and have the volume with the ’s where you want, you can then mute, and will be listening to just what is streaming.

RDB

Jan 4, 2020

In reply to @uburoibob

@uburoibob said:

You don’t need an optical out from your receiver. You just need a cable with two RCA male plugs to a single 3.5mm or 1/8" stereo plug on the other. Come from the old fashioned TAPE OUT or REC OUT on the receiver to the input of the TV connector. Works perfectly for me. I can listen to anything the receiver is playing (radio, streaming, CD, tape (gasp!), DVD, or TV.

I just got the TV Connector from Costco yesterday. Alas, my receiver doesn’t have a TAPE OUT or REC OUT or similar. It’s a Sony STRDN1080. So I think I’m limited to the TV optical output. This is OK for at least the reasonably foreseeable future. I rarely watch DVDs. The only thing I don’t like much is having audio from the speakers while I’m using the Connector, but there’s not much to be done about that when I’m watching with someone else. When I’m alone I can just reduce the TV volume to the minimum.

The good news is that my speech understanding is much better! Some of that is, I think, from the new Marvel 90-312s I also got yesterday (KS9 knockoffs ) and some from using the TV Connector.

jayste4

Jan 4, 2020

@brec said:

The only thing I don’t like much is having audio from the speakers while I’m using the Connector

I’ve found using the app and reducing the surrounding volume reduces the volume of TV speaker sound vs sound coming through the connector to your .

rdboukes

Jan 4, 2020

Even better than using the app. to reduce surround, is to use the mute function when streaming.

RDB

In reply to @jayste4

@jayste4 said:

I’ve found using the app and reducing the surrounding volume reduces the volume of TV speaker sound vs sound coming through the connector to your HAs.

Thanks – I’ll check that out.

In reply to @rdboukes

@rdboukes said:

Even better than using the app. to reduce surround, is to use the mute function when streaming.

Muting my system puts a slashed-speaker icon on the screen: unacceptable for other than momentary purposes.

teejayess

California central coast

Youir hearing aids have a screen?!? I’m certain he means mute the hearing aids so you hear the streaming clearly and nothing from the hearing aid microphones.