Keeping in mind that made for iphone HA’s do not do “true hands free”.
They do if you also have an Apple Watch.
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I tried my neighbor’s last night, and it worked. I also do have an Apple Watch, though I don’t know why that should matter.
I have a strong hunch that batterylife may increase if the handshake between the iphone and the KS8 is disabled on the iphone when not needed. Anyone want to test this theory out?
Apple Watch makes it completely hands free. Your hands can be completely empty and carry on your phone call.
So that makes yet another thing to wear. Not much different from a remote mic kind of thing. Something else. I gather the Apple Watch has a mic.
I’m thinking along the lines of true hands free like the Phonak/Unitron. No other gadgets. Just the phone sitting somewhere and the HA’s in your ears. That would be my definition of hands free.
Is that how the KS8s work (with an iPhone, anyway). Because that would be awesome. I’m sure it would take some getting used to, but basically put your phone in the middle of event / classroom / whatever. Is that how it goes? If so, I think I’ll level up to the KS8.
As far as I know, only the mentioned HA’s are what I call truly hands free (other than a tap on the HA to engage/disengage).
Made for iphone (mfi) needs a mic somewhere. That would generally be the phone mic or an additional accessory mic or apparently as mentioned above…the Apple Watch. None of which are my definition of hands free. Seems to me to be still another device. We can use the factory accessory device with our non-mfi KS7’s and be as hands free but it’s still another device.
The Kool-aid drinkers 
can help you more with the ins and outs of the iphone.
Not another thing to wear. The Apple Watch is my watch. I wear it all day long every day. Yes, the AW has a mic. But you don’t have to hold anything, so both hands are free to do whatever you need to do with your hands. That’s as hands-free as I need.
Can you explain how you set this up for a phone call?
Nothing to set up really. Receiving a call, I just tap the screen on the watch and hit the answer button. Do the call, press the hangup button. The call audio streams into my HAs (Resound Forte 8), but I think it likely works the same way with the KS8s. The watch has a mic (and a speaker, although the speaker is not used when the HAs are enabled on the iPhone).
The phone app and the Resound 3D app on the phone are both mirrored to the Apple Watch, so pretty much anything you can do WRT a phone call on the phone, you can do on the AW. It’s a lot easier to do than to explain.
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Well…it is another thing to wear. I don’t wear a watch. Nor do I wear necklaces. As I said…for non-mfi HA’s they can be just as equally hands free as that watch using a necklace or clip-on whatever remote mic thing. I’d rather not carry around yet more gear.
But hey all that matters for you and everyone is that you’re satisfied with what you’ve got goin’ on.
I’m waiting for more universal standardized non-proprietary solutions that give me what I might foresee as what I might want. ie. stereo audio from any device whether a smartphone or tv or music player or car or whatever to the HA’s with no other device to carry around or wear or have about my person. Well maybe the Star Trek communicator doodad on your chest to tap. But not just stuck to one brand.
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I’m trialing a Brio 3, which I can notice is better than my KS7 for speech comprehension. Anyone know how the KS8 compares? The audiologist says the Brio 3 is much better, but I’m not sure how he knows that.
I saw nothing in the instructions about the Apple watch. What I read was that a streamer is not necessary if you are using an iPhone.
I think what you are talking about is using the watch to make/answer calls, which, of course, can easily be done without HA’s, but is not necessary. My understanding is that calls can be handled by the HA’s and iPhone alone.
I think what he’s talking about is pretty slick…if you’re into Apple products.
Yes it’s the whole made for iphone hearing aid deal. But you need a mic somewhere. That would need to come from either the phone or some other device. His solution needs the phone (of course for cell) and then he’s connecting the phone to the watch which he then connects to the HA’s. Or some such thing. I’m not an Apple guy.
I picked up my KS8s last night and I am an iPhone and Apple Watch user. I seem to have the following options:
- I can accept an incoming call on the iPhone and it will automatically stream to KS8s (default).
- I can accept an incoming call on the iPhone and switch to the iPhone as an audio source.
- I can accept an incoming call on my Apple Watch and use the speaker and microphone on my watch (default).
- I can accept an incoming call on my Apple Watch and transfer it my iPhone and then choose from the first two options in this list.
When I was in the store, the Hearing Aid fitter called Rexton. They advised him that:
- I am not able to pair the KS8s with an Apple Watch.
- I am not able to pair the KS8s with my MacBook.
General Observations
- The pairing between the KS8s and the iPhone is setup under Settings > General >Accessibility>MFi Hearing Devices not from the Bluetooth settings screen.
- After pairing the KS8s do not appear in the list of paired Bluetooth devices.
- Last night when I received an incoming call while driving, the iPhone no longer automatically defaults to the Bluetooth in my car (Ford Sync 2.0). I have to accept the call on the iPhone and then transfer it to the car. This is somewhat cumbersome given that Apple now defaults to locking the iPhone screen while driving. I can still initiate outgoing calls from the interface built into the car.
- The KS8s seem to perform better at hearing enhancement than my previous Hearing Aids from Costco (Bernafon, Juna 9s), but it would will take a few weeks to give them a thorough evaluation.
- Two years ago, I tested a set of Trax 42s from Rexton, I really liked the acoustic quality, but I returned them due to interference from the occupancy detectors in my office building; the KS8s have not exhibited this problem so far.
- Streamed music quality is marginal ands seems to be subject to interference. The level drops and comes back up.
- I am getting a clicking sound in the right ear when streaming music. Stopping and restarting the music seems to stop it. I contacted Rexton support via the iPhone app. Let’s see what they say.
- After approximately 8.5 hours of use the left battery is still showing 100%. The right battery has dropped to 90%. I usually wear my hearing aids 16 hours a day.
- The iPhone App, Smart Direct has a much more extensive set of control options than the Bernafon Soundgate.
Things to do:
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Set them up with my iPad and see how cumbersome it is to switch back and forth from my iPhone to my iPad.
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Delete and repair the phone from the Sync system in my car (Ford 2013) to see if it resolves the not defaulting to the car Bluetooth for incoming calls issue.
Eight hours in and I am generally happy with them. I’ll update this report as things progress.
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Whoaa, Z!
I don’t have an iPhone (Android for me) or an Apple Watch (Seiko for me) but I have been a Mac user and Mac fan since 1984 and ran my entire law office on networked Macs before retirement, so can you understand that “Kool-aid drinkers” is not a nice thing to say about us Apple users and Apple fans?
Your friend,
Nate
That’s okay, but my observation is that it is in the nature of things that proprietary solutions will always lead, and non-proprietary solutions will always follow, in the market. Inventors in the 19th and early 20th centuries learned that lesson the hard way. So I never knock the leaders - the proprietary solutions. Not even when it means I can expect to wait longer for the non-proprietary solutions, if and when I choose to wait.
Best wishes, Nate 
Thus the emoji. Just goofin’ around that’s all.