OK, thanks. The Behringer UCA202 seems to be hard to get right now. But I have an unused HDMI output on my Mac, so I’ve ordered an HDMI-to-optical gizmo which Amazon says should be here in three days.
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Went to my audiologist today to discuss new aids to replace my malfunctioning several year old OPNs and she recommended the Paradise in lieu of the OPN S. Placed an order for a pair of P90-R today, the fitting is scheduled for next Tuesday. Looking forward to trialing them!
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Anyone have a suggestion for improving mic output when using bluetooth on Phonak Paradise? Sound coming in is good, but folks on the other end of phone calls say it sounds distant and hollow, so anyone know how to improve mic transmission (something like Oticon ConnectClip)?
My conclusion is that it depends on their phone and amount of noise at your side (eg fans, open window and such). And also, their expectations.
I have a friend who hear me fine only when I close window and kill the fan, otherwise she complains that he barely hears me. Whilst my parents hear me ok in both conditions. They say they feel the difference but it is not something worth complaining.
Friend has some huawei I think. My parents samsung s8 and sony xperia xa1. I was outside and truck was passing by, they understood me, I couldn’t understand them 
For android it is not possible (eg I didn’t find an app that would be able to do it) to use them just as headphones and then use something else for mic.
Whilst app enables that you can plug headphones in 3.5 jack and for example use phone mic as mic. Same with bt headphones, but explicitly says’ doesn’t work for bt headsets’, and phonak aids present themselves as headsets so far.
No clue if it’s possible to split the signal on iphone.
Version which works is costly, using y splitter 3.5 audio+mic, then roger select/pen connect with audio side, and external mic on mic side.
However, that is ‘a lot of wires’ solution.
I don’t know if any phonak mics are able to stream as well… Ahhhh there IS a way!
Use tv connector, plug in audio part of that y splitter plus use external mic.
Caveat - signal has issues on laptops when you speak a lot and other side is silent, it shuts down and has few seconds reaction time to turn on again. Optical link solves that issue.
Can’t recall such issue when I tested on phone. Try.
I just decided to shut my windows and tell people I’ll call them later if I’m out and is nothing urgent.
Another thing, ask your fitter to put you acoustic phone program with duo phone option on, yes you’ll have to do it manually, and you’ll have to hold phone above your ear so that HA mics can pick up signal, you’ll hear on both ears and phone mic will be used as normally.
Wow! Huge thanks for all this advice. I’ll try some of these options.
O.K. So, I got my new Phonak Paradise P90s a few days ago, replacing Marvels. I was happy that the Bluetooth connectivity to my iPhone X was somewhat improved, so that streaming drops outdoors have not happened … so far. I also experimented with the new feature with the P90s that allows two different devices to simultaneously connect to the aids. I discovered that when my iPhone and iPad (or iMac) were both connected that music streaming would correctly switch from one to the other. That is, whenever I selected play on one device, the other would pause. Cool.
However, while streaming a YouTube video from my Mac, I was notified on screen that I had an incoming call on my iPhone … which went right to voicemail. I have decided that since the P90s can have only one “active connection” at a time via Bluetooth, the P90s could not connect to the iPhone since the call had not been answered yet (so no phone audio) … therefore attempting to answer the phone using the aids does not work.
Any suggestions regarding how to deal with incoming calls while streaming from another device?
I am hesitant to upgrade for this very reason. I spend much of my day on conference calls and audio quality of my voice to others is very important. I currently use the Com Pilot II with the corded mic attached. It’s clunky but the audio quality is solid and battery life is excellent.
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@brec @sundance @Blacky
Thanks for your suggestions and experiences. Two decent solutions have arisen, neither with perfect sound in both directions, but I’m testing them out and better than nothing (Macbook Pro): (1) Phonak got back to me today after sending this to HQ. For Macs, the following can work: go into myPhonak app on your phone; menu in top right (3 lines); select “my hearing aids”; select “Bluetooth phone call”; check “fixed bandwidth,” not “adaptive bandwidth”; restart hearing aids; pair with Mac. This worked for me today on a Zoom call - speaker and mic stayed paired with the Paradises, which hasn’t happened before; but I didn’t get a chance to test the mic since I didn’t speak in the Zoom meeting. (2) Hideez Bluetooth 4.0 dongle; followed the set up guide that’s on the link on the package (dongle.hideez.com); need to use the Bluetooth app that comes with the dongle (downloaded from the link) and also pair in System Settings, so takes some playing around, and it will disconnect other BT devices, which you have to reconnect, but that also worked.
Sound isn’t top notch and I’m betting the mic isn’t going to be great (folks report the same just on a normal iPhone call), but at least it means I can wear my Paradises all day rather than switching over to earbuds for Zoom.
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I’m glad you have a solution that works for you. I don’t use BT as it murders the battery on my aids and callers can’t hear me so well. I’ll happily use BT for the odd phone call on my mobile and I’m willing to take the hit for that. but for Zoom meetings which for me can take up many hours of the day, the TV connector is the way to go.
It also means that I have two BT slots free on my aids which I use to have an “always on” connection to my two iPhones.
Good luck whatever you choose.
The HDMI-to-optical gizmo didn’t work – the Mac didn’t see the HDMI as an audio output. So I replaced it with a USB-to-optical gizmo, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SR7BYD6/, and that works!
Now there is no delay in hearing TV Connector audio output from the Mac. A difference from my previous use of the Mac’s headphone output is that when the audio output stopped, there was a lag of about 40 secs. or so before the M90s spontaneously switched to Autosense 3.0 from TV Connector + mic. Now with the USB-optical, it “never” switches back on its own. If I want full ambient sound I have to manually switch to Autosense using either an HA button or the myPhonak iOS app.
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I tried them both and found the Paradise to have clearer speech. It could have been the programming though? The same person programmed both, but the Paradise made a big difference for me personally.
That has been my experience as well although I have to admit the Marvel trial was only a week and the two were not back to back.
Jim
Anyone know whether a c-shell custom mold for M90-312s would be plug-compatible with P90-312s?
So far I have plenty of charge left at the end of the day, after wearing for 16-17 hours and maybe 4 hours streaming total, including tv. Even with these numbers I’m still having a hard time deciding between the rechargeables or batteries. I have to admit, the tap feature is really great and I have been using it a lot. Not having to deal with batteries is great too. But I worry that the battery life will decline over time and may not always be reliable. Also the battery hearing aids are smaller, which I like.
Also, I did have an issue with bluetooth on my phone, but it seems to be mostly sorted out now after I switched from adaptive to fixed. However, then I had a issue of cutting out from my new MacBook, which was happening every two minutes yesterday. Then today it has been working fine, sooooo…?
Anyone have thoughts about battery vs rechargeable? They are the same price from my provider. Thanks!
@julieMK I went with rechargeables as I wanted the motion sensors. Not only do they give you the tap control they help with directionality when walking and conversing. I have found it helpful on walks with a friend and with my wife.
If you have a lot of battery life at the end of the day you should be fine. I think you can figure about 5% loss ber year on battery life so after 3 years or so you may be down 15% of the battery capacity.
Jim
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Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback. I’m leaning toward the rechargeables:) Since my goal is to hear I should take advantage of all the features I can.
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Phonak is very careful when quoting battery life per day. Apparently the figures of 18 hours a day are calculated at what it would be when the battery is 4-5 years old. Even if it does fail all it takes is a normal manufacturer repair to get it replaced. So it shouldn’t be the only thing keeping you back. It is only with severe to profound loss, where the aids are pushed and worn more than 17 hours a day where the rechargeable becomes an issue.
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Actually BT streaming is eating battery fast, around 10% per hour of streaming. So if you need power, and are in difficult environments and you want to BT stream more than 4h a day then rechargeables might not be a good choice.
TV streaming eats slower, like 3% per hour.
But media and calls BT streaming eat a lot.
@julieMK
I’d mostly focus on that as a criteria to check if rechargeables aren’t suitable for you. If you don’t anticipate more than 4h (regularly, daily) of BT, then I wouldn’t worry. With occasional high BT usage, just remember to charge them during some break then 
All other reasons battery vs rechargeables are more like personal preferences.
@zuikoholic did you manage to compare motion sensor vs ordinary, and how big the difference was? Or you directly went with rechargeables?
For my loss and open domes, I couldn’t notice the difference…
And tapping - I realised that I can use my watch for pausing streaming, forgot about that option since I didn’t have the use for it before…
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Thank you. Will be ordering mine on Thursday.
Thank you Blacky. I have an Apple Watch. Never thought to use that. I’m going to order P90Rs, but I like the watch idea too.