Best hearing aid uncompressed, what to look for

Hearing Aids
#1

New to HA’s and this forum! I appreciate the information shared, especially DIY, which brings me to my question.

I have ski slope loss, relatively normal lows, loss beginning at 1kHz. My experience so far: Phonak Lyric, music was horrendous; Sony CRE-C10, not bad, not perfect; Oticon More 1 (vented dome RIC), best so far! Thanks to DIY research on this forum and my quest for enjoying music (NOT streamed), I used Genie 2 and removed every possible setting, compression, etc. from the MyMusic program and I find that for most situations, my ears prefer the this program even beyond music listening.

My question, since I dislike most/all processed settings in Genie for the More 1’s, are there better hearing aids for “straight” listening with little to no compression than the More 1’s? I can get deals locally on (used) Widex Moment 220’s, Starkey Evolve AI 2400 or Phonak P90’s. Might one of these be better for unprocessed listening?

Thanks in advance and again, appreciate the education I have received here to DIY!!!

#2

Widex have a very good reputation for music over on the Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss forum. And yes, folks there tweak their aids as you did. I’ve never used them, so have no opinion.

I like my Signia AX7s for playing classical guitar, but I have really limited experience between different brands. Most feel that programming correctly is more important than brand.

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#3

As @jeffrey has stated, widex has a good reputation, the Moment Sheer 440 has PureSound with ZeroDelay technology, should be good for musicians.

#4

The best advice I can give is Try Before You Buy. While they say that any hearing aid can be adjusted to sound right, in my experience this is true only in theory. Each line of hearing aids has its own sound to me, an amateur musician. The Widex did not work for me.
The Try Before You Buy advice is also true for audiologists. That choice may be more important than the choice of hearing aid brand. You may have to pay something in order to do the Try. It’s worth it.

#5

Curious what you chose instead of the WIdex?

#6

I settled for Costco’s KS10 while they sold them. It’s a rebranded Phonak Paradise P90. My audiologist is myself–I DYI. I have tried the Widex fitted by an audiologist who is a musician. It didn’t sound right. I have tried an Oticon More 1. I reprogrammed it myself with better results, but its sound was not right for me.
Apparently the Phonak sound suits me, though I can’t get through a day without recharging it if I do much streaming. I would like to try the Lumity, but it’s expensive and is also rechargeable. Again, YMMV.

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