My audiologist at Costco recently loaned me a pair of Philips 9040 aids while my Jabras get their receivers and molds replaced. When I got a chance at home, I installed the app and streamed some music. The sound was as I expected from my previous experiences with streaming to hearing aids- thin and trebly. I idly swiped through the programs he’d set up. When I got to the “HiFi Music” program, something unexpected and very nice happened.
The character of the sound changed dramatically. Suddenly there was bass. Real bass. There was warmth and depth to the mids and the highs became much less jarring because there was overall balance to the sound.
I wasn’t expecting this at all. I’d believed that program was just for listening to music from an external source. Not so. In the couple of days since, I’ve been listening to music a lot- for the first time in a long time- and enjoying it. It’s been a bit like finding the holy grail by accident.
I searched the forums. There was a post from @Volusiano that mentioned this possibility. Otherwise, it seems to have flown under the radar. Now, my hearing is badly damaged. I’m a borderline CI candidate. Any pretensions I might have had to audiophile status have long since flown out the window. I’m pretty sure I’m not getting the subtleties that audiophiles value. Still… it’s nice to be able to enjoy music at some level again.
Unfortunately, they’re loaners.