I had my first adjustment at Costco yesterday, two weeks after first fit. Thanks to the fact that Collin, the HIS is a great listener and obviously knows the ReSound software and accessories well, he solved about 95% of the issues I had with streaming music via the Phone Clip+.
The PC+ can be tuned in Smart Fit with most of the features of the various HA programs. He set mine with the same settings as my HA Music program, minimal compression, feedback, etc., turned down the mic HA gain, added bass boost. This solved the warble issue I had. This will also be the same with phone calls as music, but we discussed this and neither of us could see why the settings would not work as well for phone calls as music.
With bass domes, my music is acceptable, since classical, jazz, blues, and other acoustic music is what I play most when streaming. One other benefit is I can mute the HA mics while streaming music, and when I stop music to hear, then the normal HA program is not muted, saving steps that were frustrating, I’m giving serious thought to some over ear headphones that will cover the HAs, and try with the open domes that my fitting suggests, with my low frequency hearing still good. That would mean that the PC+ would only be for phone calls.
He also turned down the HA bong tones to minimum loudness for now. After looking at it more thoroughly, there are many sounds that can be turned off. We turned off Streaming Notification, Wireless Notifications, and Wireless Disconnections, and now I get no interruptions while streaming and I can turn my sound notifications back on. While streaming they sound normal, the way they work without HAs active. If not streaming, I still get the 2-4 second interruptions, I’ve turned off sound on most, keeping vibrate, and left four essential apps to insure timely notifications, so if the phone is not on my body, the interruption is acceptable, given the importance.
I had some lesser points to go over, but we ran out of time. I booked a second adjustment, but they are so busy it had to be 4 weeks out, so we booked a third adjustment 2 weeks beyond that date. I’m very satisfied at this point with the Forte 8 HAs, and may not need the third adjustment appointment. Knowing I can get a quick emergency appointment in a few days if needed, the long 180 day trial period, the 36 month warranty, and the fact that it sounds like I will not need to buy domes, or normal replacement items is nice.
I’m also pleased and surprised with battery life with the 13 size. Seven days after I got the HAs, I had the event in the wind, so I inserted new batts that morning, not wanting to do it outside during an event as a new user. Those 2nd set of batts are now on day 9, too bad the Smart 3D app does not show batt level like the Starkey and Widex I demoed. I’m comfortable with batt changes on the go now. After my adjustment yesterday, I got coffee at the outside food court at Costco, and changed from open to bass domes to test the Phone Clip+ changes, that is why I’m confident on batt changes anywhere.
My interest is getting an iPhone has lessened now. The Apple event is Sept. 12th, and the Google event is Oct. 9th. Seeing the prices pop up on the ReSound Quattro with direct Android support, then the iPhone might be the more sensible choice for the next 3-4 years, rather than my current Pixel 2 XL and new HAs. I will wait and see what new features and phones are announced between now and mid-October.
Thank you again for all the comments and suggestions from when I started this thread. The suggestions to try Costo turned out excellent, thanks to the fact that I was lucky to get an exceptional Hearing Instrument Specialist.