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Phonak Paradise vs Starkey evolv AI vs Oticon More

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I need to purchase a aid the next month because my right-ear receiver of Oticon OPN is failing. I was waiting for the BTE version of Oticon More for 1.5 year, but did not happen. I was particularly impressed with the customer feedback on More, such as they could discern the song lyrics (words) for the first time. Value Hearing channel on Youtube even quoted one patient saying that they could clearly hear every individual conversation at the noisy party while their children with normal hearing could not.

So now I have 2 BTE choices: Phonak Paradise and Starkey evolv . However, I can’t get a free 1-month trial in my country. I need to purchase the aids first. So I want opinions of people here who have tried at least 2 of these aids. I am leaning towards evolv AI because it seems it has more powerful processor than More. More analyzes the sound 500 times per second, while evolv AI does 55 million calculations per hour. Can you hear the song lyrics as well as with Oticon More?

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Finally visited the Phonak clinic. The manager quoted about $2800 for a single Phonak Paradise P90. The young Audi turned out to be a daughter of my first Audi. :grinning: They gave me a trial version of Paradise UP with P30 mode enabled. The audi set the gain to the maximum, but the sound sounded to me a bit duller than my OPN with half the gain. She told me that Phonak had a different sounding sound.

They gave me the aid for 2 weeks. I was warned that I would have to pay about $175 fee in case of loss though. That may be the actual cost of the manufacturing, eh?

Here are my first impressions. After I left the clinic, I listened to my cat’s meow. With Oticon OPN, it sounded more musical/sweet. With Phonak, the meow sounded like normal human speech.

@hearing-love_loss said:

I listened to my cat’s meow. With Oticon OPN, it sounded more musical/sweet. With Phonak, the meow sounded like normal human speech.

@hearing-love_loss: I wear Oticon More1s. My cat’s meow sounds musical because she has a nice voice, but, it still sounds to me like … a cat’s meow. (The only human speech she resembles is my ex-MIL.)

I installed myPhonak on my iPhone and discovered that I can increase the volume easily. I also watched several movies with the TV program and the sounds sounded richer and more detailed. Very promising.

@hearing-love_loss said:

Who would have thought that my ear shrank in the past 6 years after using the OPN RITEs

@hearing-love_loss: Honestly, I think you are basing your purchasing decision based on a lot of bad information and marketing exaggerations. The More you are dreaming of does not exist yet. If you have to buy next month, then there are several makers other than Oticon. They alll make capable, if somewhat different devices. It is the competency of your fitter that will be the primary determinant of your satisfaction, not the brand of your devices.

Well, the default volume sounded a bit low to me. I installed myPhonak app on my iPhone and increased the volume to the max and I could hear more details.

Edited

Today I returned the loaner Paradise. $5600 for the pair is too steep for me. Afterwards, I pad a visit to the Starkey clinic. Starkey evolv Power 2400 costs $2300, but they don’t loan it out. I was fit a pair of evolv AI 1600 for testing purposes and wore them for an hour inside the clinic. Initial impressions: the human speech sounded a bit dry and pure without any reverberation. I listened to the video of my kitty’s meowing and it didn’t sound as sweet as with my oticon OPN. I installed Starkey app on my iPhone it has far more controls than oticon.

I have lost all hopes that oticon will release SP/UP BTE version of More with 120db receivers this year. I think I will go with evolv AI mainly due to the low price.

I have already ordered Starkey evolv Power Plus 13 2400 pair for $2295. The clinic will deliver the aids and the earmolds to me in 2-3 weeks. The only other BTE option I had was Phonak Paradise P90 for $5600. Of course, $3300 difference is not negligible. LOL, I can even buy a pair of Paradise P90 for less than $3000 on eBay and save $300. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I was comparing data sheets between Oticon More and Starkey evolv AI. Starkey evolv AI seems to be better at least on paper.

Oticon More has up to 10 Noise suppression, while evolv AI has up to 30 dB of reduction.

Oticon More has / 2cc Coupler Peak OSPL90 rated at 127 , while evolv AI has 140 dB. More has ANSI/IEC 2cc Coupler -OSPL90 at 123 dB SPL, while evolv AI has 133 dB.

Oticon More has 2cc Coupler Peak Full-on Gain of 64 dB, while evolv AI has 80 dB.

If you have tried Phonak Paradise, can you tell later what the visual differences are in the application, and in using the hearing aid. Is Starkey dobsr in various conditions? For example, in a car, in a crowd when a lot of people are talking, etc.

The gain was maxed on Paradise P90, but the default volume sounded a bit low to me. Another person on this forum had a similar experience: Ultra/Super Power Hearing Aids with Semi-Linear option - #16 by TallRobocop

myPhonak app is pretty easy to use and you can adjust the volume to the max. TV program with maxed out volume was great for watching movies, because I could hear more sounds than with oticon OPN 1. However, if the phone display turned on to show messages, the aid would automatically switch the program to the low-volume Bluetooth Streaming and would return to the TV program after the display was off.

I have not yet received evolv 2400 so I can’t share my experience yet. I wore evolv AI 1600 only for an hour inside the clinic, but they could not lend it to me to test it in various environments.

A change to the myphonak app a little while back made it so that the return to a program you’d changed goes back as you had it. I often mix out the mics to hear streamed content better and if I go from one source (like a phone) to another (like a tv connector or roger) then it is still mixed the same way now when I get back. And it wasn’t that way six months ago.

I have carefully gone through most programs on the phone to remove ability to send audio notifications. Calling still can. Very few things interrupt now.

WH

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