Can you tell me the exact difference between Oticon more 3 v.s oticon zircon 1
and is it worth the price difference between them?
Oticon More technical data sheet
v.s.
Oticon Zircon technical data sheet
Oticon More 3:
MoreSound Intelligence: Level 3 , Environment configuration: 3 Options ,
– Neural Noise Suppression: Difficult / Easy 6 dB / 0 dB
18 fitting bands , MoreSound Optimizer™ & Feedback shield,
Transient Noise Management: 3 configurations
Oticon Zircon 1:
OpenSound Navigator
14 fitting bands , SuperShield & Feedback shield,
Transient Noise Management: On/Off
right mouse click on picture and then choose open graphic in new tab, then you can scroll right/left between More 1,2,3 and Zircon 1,2
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Based on this info, it looks like the Zircon is based on the older OPN technology (the OpenSound Navigator), while the More is based on the newer next generation Deep Neural Network AI technology.
The OP didn’t mention what the actual price difference is, so I can’t say if they’re worth the price difference or not. To compound on it is the fact that we’re doing a tier 3 vs tier 1 comparison here.
The OP also doesn’t have his/her audiogram listed in the profile, so it makes it even harder to help judge. But in general, a more mild and moderate loss would make the helpfulness between an older vs a newer technology less significant than with a more profound to severe loss.
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it’s about 800 dollars approximately, this is my audiogram
In fact i tried zircon for 1 week and now more 3 for 3days, i didn’t recognise a significant difference, but itsmaybe bcz it’s need more time to try it
So i asked to to get extra informations
@Volusiano @firenzel
You do have significant hearing losses across the board. You probably are going to have a lot of feedback issue unless you wear custom molds, and even so, it may still be a challenge with feedback. The More generation has a more advanced feedback prevention technology called the Sound Optimizer (and it still has the traditional feedback management technology used in the OPN to be used in parallel if necessary), so this would be an advantage to go for the More for your heavy hearing losses. BUT, luckily, unlike the OPN which does not have the Sound Optimizer, the Zircon does have the Sound Optimizer, so this makes the Zircon one step closer to the More. The Zircon then is more like an OPN S (which has the Sound Optimizer as well), not the original OPN. In short, the Zircon 1 should be able to handle feedback just as well as the More 3 anyway.
The other question to consider is how often you find yourself in challenging listening environments like restaurants or noisy work places or at loud parties where you need to understand speech well. If so, the More Deep Neural Network technology may give you an edge there in terms of Neural Noise Suppression for better speech clarity. But what muddies the water is that the More 3 will not have as strong a Neural Noise Suppression capability as the More 1 and 2, and therefore that advantage becomes limited.
So if you are mostly in simple environments, you probably won’t be able to tell much difference between the two, and the Zircon 1 will be good enough for you. If you’re often in noisy situations, then you should really make it a point to try both aids in those noisy situations that you may find yourself in to see if you can tell a difference worth the $800 or not.
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So if I understood you correctly Zircon is more comparable to Opn S than More?
Well, yes and no.
The first screenshot below says that the Zircon is based on the Polaris platform. The Polaris platform is what the More is based on. So in this sense, the Zircon should be more comparable to the More because they’re on the same platform. The OPN S is on the Velox S platform, the previous generation before the More.
Another indication that the Zircon is closer to the More is in the second screenshot, where it has the Feedback Management options the same as the MoreSound Optimizer, with the OFF, LOW, and NORMAL values.
HOWEVER, the third screenshot below clearly shows that it does not have the Deep Neural Network (DNN) technology that the More has. This DNN is the CORE technology of the More (and subsequently the Real). Instead, the Zircon seems to only have the OpenSound Navigator technology which as the previous generation core technology used in the OPN and OPN S.
I think what’s going on here is that Oticon has disabled the use/availability of the DNN technology on the Zircon and only enabled the last generation OpenSound Navigator technology in order to put it into a more affordable class of HA. Furthermore, if you look at the Noise Reduction options for the Zircon 1, the Noise Reduction values are FIXED/not adjustable ranging from 0 dB (no noise reduction at all) in simple environment to a fixed -6 dB non-adjustable max noise reduction value. So as far as the core technology for noise reduction is concerned, the Zircon is more comparable to the OPN S than the More for sure.
That’s why I said yes and no in my answer up front. The Zircon is a cross between the More and the OPN S.
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Thank you for the extensive reply! I will be trialing both the Zircon and Real to find out whether I’ll notice a difference. According to your post, this should be most noticeable in noisy situations, so I’ll be focusing on that.