I’m with you Sierra. I didn’t think there was enough difference between the KS8 and KS9 to warrant going thru the new hearing aid hassle. Besides, I use quite a few of the program setting with KS8 which the KS9 don’t have. And my COSTCO fitter hasn’t seen any particular moisture or other problems with the Rextons. The only one I have had was a lost bluetooth signal to one of the aids which turned out to be caused by an Apple software upgrade.
I have the KS8 and have tried that feature in the Smart Direct. It seems to work for a while (a few minutes at most) and then stop working. Frankly quite useless.
I see in the iPhone MFi app there is another feature called Live Listen. It seems to work better, but I have not tested it thoroughly or for a long time. This feature may work on any hearing aids that are MFi as long as you have an iPhone.
I will be interested in battery life using the size 12 battery. I just got the KS8s with the 13 size battery six weeks ago. I am getting 7-8 days, with 2-5 hours a day streaming audio books from my iPhone. Wonder how that would compare to the KS9s.
As others have mentioned, I do get the left right out of sync/drop outs at times, oddly usually when I go outside.
The KS9 aids are size 312 batteries. Just guessing I figure you will get 4-6 days use out of those batteries.
My wife made a phone call while in Costco. The KS9 streaming to both ears was right, no bobbles or drops to either ear. She will be picking her aids up tomorrow. I will report back how that is going.
Thanks, wonder how much the MFI streaming on the KS8 uses battery vs the Bluetooth streaming power draw on the KS9s?
Also, my fitter at Costco is telling me that the streaming goes to just one of the aids, then that aid sends it over to the other side. Can anyone confirm that? Any noticeable lag between ears during streaming?
I do not use streaming a lot on my KS8, but do use the iPhone 7 at times for phone calls. It certainly seems to be hard on battery on the iPhone, but can’t say I have noticed much of a impact on the hearing aid 312 battery life. It makes me wonder how people manage to talk and text on the phone all day and not run short of battery life.
One would think they are pretty much the same as they are both Bluetooth profiles BLE
If you’re saying both the KS9 and KS8 use BLE Bluetooth for streaming, I’m pretty sure that is incorrect. The KS9 uses “regular” Bluetooth; the KS8 is made for iPhone and uses Apple’s BLE Bluetooth.
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Actually I ment the smartphones, android with bluetooth 5 (BLE) and iPhone BLE, I would think the battery consumption from these phones would be the pretty much the same.
I have a question in regards to programming. I currently use Marvel M-90R’s and use the target S/W for DIY programming. Considering purchasing a pair of the KS9’s as spares. Would like to confirm that the KS9’s can be programmed with the standard Phonak Target S/W. Thanks
All I can tell you is I did a demo in Costco the other day. The programming was done via Target. I beleve you would need the HA definition which I don’t see in the latest version 6.0.2. That might be hard to get your hands on.
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I need to replace my Phonak Brio (Compilot has also stopped charging). I can either order a pair of KS8 now or wait till KS9s arrive at Canada. Has any iPhone user replaced his/her KS8 with KS9? I love to hear how they compare. Any news on when KS9 will reach Canada?
With my Costco Phonak Brio3, Target recognized it. It even has the Costco Phonak name for each of the features.
It is not in the list of devices but when you connect, it recognized it.
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Yes, what I said goes for streaming from the smartphones. What you state is likely accurate for communication to and from the smartphone app but that wouldn’t account for much battery usage. I don’t know about the KS9, but the Marvel’s with 312 batteries don’t have great battery life–I think something like 3-4 days.
Don, Thanks.
Hopefully will be the same for the KS9 but will await confirmation before buying them. I live in Thailand now but will be in the US next month before I decide to purchase them. Awaiting some more feedback form user’s too
There will be no (noticeable) lag between ears during streaming. And it is correct that only one HA (the master) is being paired to the smartphone.
Technically it is not neccessary to stream an existing BT-connection from one HA to the other because the stream is already in the air. The other HA only needs to know the decryption keys used for the BT-connection. I don’t know which of the possible techniques Phonak is using.
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The way it works with the Rexton KS8 as I understand it is that the KS8 is not in the hearing aid database, but when you actually connect them to the software they are recognized and you can program them. Not sure if it is the same with the Phonak’s.
I was in for an appointment yesterday and the HA manager told me that they expected to get them in 5-6 weeks. Mid September?
Sierra, thank you!
I don’t think I can wait that long.
I am booked for later Sept as well. They hope that they will be in by then in Canada.