Below is my real-world comparison between a mid-tier (Signia Styletto 3AX) and a top-tier custom (Phonak Virto Infinio i90-R), after extended daily use of both. The RICs worked well and could have been enough; the custom ITEs turned out to be more seamless, more automated, and easier to forget about — which, for me, made all the difference.
Last summer I was diagnosed with a bilateral hearing loss of approximately 40 in both ears, due to fenestral otosclerosis.
After consultations with several specialists, surgery was ruled out. Hearing aids therefore became not a temporary measure, but the long-term solution.
From the outset, I opted for a custom in-ear solution and ordered the Phonak Virto Infinio i90-R custom rechargeable ITEs. As expected with fully custom devices, this involved ear impressions and manufacturing in Switzerland. Due to supplier issues, production was delayed significantly and ear impressions had to be taken again, extending the initial waiting period by several weeks.
During that prolonged wait —which coincided with a serious but separate personal health interruption— both my and my neurologist were clear that delaying amplification further was not advisable, and that I should avoid spending additional weeks without hearing support.
For that reason, I got a pair of Signia Styletto 3AX (RICs) as an interim solution, which turned out to be an unexpectedly valuable control case.
The Styletto 3AX perform very well in daily use. Speech understanding is consistently solid, comfort is good, and overall functionality covers my needs across most common environments — including quiet conversations, moderate background noise, and everyday movement.
With them I am able to follow conversations reliably, including side-by-side walking outdoors, and I do not experience significant listening fatigue. In practical terms, they have allowed me to remain fully present and socially engaged. Any concerns about visibility that I may have had, quickly became irrelevant: the benefit of hearing clearly by far outweighed any external opinion, and if anyone had thoughts about how they looked, it simply stopped mattering.
After several weeks of exclusive use, the experience was good enough that I genuinely started questioning whether it still made sense to proceed with the Phonak order at all. From a purely functional standpoint, the Signia RICs appeared sufficient — not as a compromise, but as a competent and effective everyday solution. That is precisely why the eventual comparison proved meaningful: the Styletto 3AX set a credible baseline, rather than a straw man.
In the end, I chose to move forward with the Phonak order anyway because at that point, the custom units had already been manufactured, making cancellation no longer possible. That removed any element of indecision and, in retrospect, strengthened the comparison: the Styletto 3AX served as a credible baseline, rather than a straw man.
When the Virto Infinio i90-R finally arrived, the comparison became a genuine test rather than a preconceived upgrade.
After initial fitting and subsequent fine-tuning —specifically increasing gain in speech-intelligibility bands and reducing certain exaggerated noise artefacts— the difference between the two approaches became clear, not in laboratory terms, but in everyday life.
The distinction was not only raw audibility, but integration.
The Virto Infinio i90-R units sit fully and securely in the ear, with no behind-the-ear hardware and no obvious medical signalling. Visually, they come across much closer to premium consumer earbuds than to hearing aids — the kind of thing people read as a personal choice rather than a correction. They blend in so naturally that they are a non-topic altogether. Most of the time, no one clocks them unless they’re close enough to notice, and even then, they’re usually taken for intentional audio gear, as if I were forever chasing better Spotify.
Automatic programme switching (conversation, music, TV, etc.) just happens quietly in the background. I barely fiddle with the app and almost never think about settings — they adapt on their own in a way that feels natural, and that lack of friction ends up mattering far more in daily life than I expected.
Battery life has been borderline absurd in real-world use. I’ve consistently managed close to 30 hours on a single charge, with constant phone and laptop connectivity, without dropouts or odd behaviour. The result is that I wear them all day — and well into the next — without planning around charging or even checking battery levels.
Most importantly, the devices have become my perceptual default. I wake up and reach for them automatically — not as a task, but because that’s when the day actually starts again, when hearing resumes.
A big part of that comes down to the fit. They’re so precisely made that they feel almost glove-like: I put them in, they settle, and then they disappear. There was a short initial adjustment period where the fit felt slightly irritating, but a small amount of sweet almond oil took care of that completely, and it never became an issue again.
Since then, there have been no pressure points, no constant awareness, no urge to adjust — and none of the irritation or itchiness I used to get with RIC domes. They’re just there, doing their job. That’s also why I sometimes forget to take them out altogether — more than once I’ve fallen asleep with them in without realising.
That same discretion shows up where it actually matters. In more intimate settings, there’s nothing to manage: no shifting, no slipping, no moment where something suddenly needs fixing or taking out. Unlike RICs, they don’t break proximity or pull attention away. They stay put and disappear from the situation altogether. More than once, the only time they’ve even come up is after — when I’ve been asked why I was still wearing my «earbuds». I usually just laugh, because by then I’ve forgotten they’re there myself.
The Signia Styletto 3AX remain genuinely good hearing aids. I still use them occasionally at home, and remain my trustful backups. In all fairness, I would have been satisfied had they been my only option. However, having lived with both devices under real conditions, the hierarchy is now clear to me: the RICs are functionally correct; the custom ITEs are seamless.
I’m not suggesting this outcome will apply universally. RICs retain clear advantages in certain extreme noise and reverberant environments, and they remain the most pragmatic first step for many people.
What I am describing is my own case. My comparison was not between equivalent tiers, but between a mid-level RIC (Signia Styletto 3AX) and a top-tier custom ITE (Phonak Virto Infinio i90-R). I’m fully aware that a level-3 platform cannot be expected to match the sophistication of a level-9 one — and that context matters.
That said, having lived with both devices as real alternatives, the difference for me was not marginal. It showed up consistently in automation, integration, effort, and how little attention the devices demanded in daily life. Starting with weeks relying solely on a well-fitted RIC, thenb shifting to a custom ITE ended up making the comparison more rigorous than I had planned.
I’m sharing this as one person’s supported, lived experience —not as a recommendation or a general rule— in the hope that it may be useful to others weighing custom ITEs versus well-fitted RICs, particularly when different technology tiers or prolonged trial periods are involved.
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