Hi All,
Just got my KS7 yesterday from Costco Canberra in Australia. The price here is $2000 for the aids and $290 for the smart connect, so exactly similar to their price in Canada. I have been using Phonak Audeo X in the last 5 years and have been generally happy with it, but reading all the posts here about the new techs, I thought it’s a good time for upgrade.
Initially ordered Trax42 and just two days before my fitting appointment I found out about KS7, so returned the Trax42 before opening the box and placed my order for KS7. The audiologist was kind of surprised that I knew KS7 is similar to Trax42 and asked me how do I know. He said they are now allowed to tell people!
With Phonaks I was using open domes, but KS7 was terrible with open domes, so had to use closed domes this time.
My first impression is mixed, generally sounds are a bit different with KS7 compared to Phonak, maybe a bit more hi pitched, but I think I have to give my self a bit of time to get used to the new brand
Positives so far:
Speech recognition and comprehension have been good in my short experience. Haven’t tried noisy environment yet.
Negative so far:
- Phone conversations using smart connect is really terrible. The voice is so thin and lack richness that I barely understand what the person is saying in the other end. Just wondering if this is something that can be corrected by audiologist or not.
- The audiologist seems to be a bit reluctant to spend time and get the best out the aids based on my needs. He was kind of telling me that here is costco and you pay less so you shouldn’t expect too much!
- TV wasn’t quite clear as before. I even tried TV program (have that one fitted) but it didn’t make much difference.
My main question at the moment is whether I should switch to Phonak Brio2 or give KS7 more chance. On paper KS7 looks superior based on the features! Brio 2 has just been launched in Australia. The audiologist said that he has received the info pack and now is waiting for the rep to train them.
Appreciate your feedback.
250 R35 L35
500 R45 L50
750 R55 L60
1000 R60 L65
1500 R60 L60
2000 R60 L60
3000 R60 L60
4000 R60 L60
6000 R50 L50
8000 R45 L40