I’m still in the early stages, having received the trial Phonak Sphere last Thursday. So far, I’m not fully convinced that the Phonak Sphere is better than the Starkey Edge. That said, the Starkey has some clear advantages: it’s smaller, uses disposable batteries, and comes in black, which I prefer.
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Keep us all updated, it’s good to have these types of comparisons in real time.
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Dr. Cliff posted a new comparison between Starkey Edge AI and Phonak Sphere.
Some commenters are raving about Edge’s denoising capabilities:
My hearing has improved enormously–impressively in normal situations, and dramatically in background noise. I can now participate in cross-table conversations in noisy restaurants that, previously, I just had to sit back and be left out of. I’d pretty much reconciled myself to a life of poor hearing, but with the Starkey Edge AI devices, that’s no longer the case.
I was able to hear, respond, and talk across the (10) person table in a crowded banquet hall with a DJ blasting 90’s music, something I could not have enjoyed in the past! Thank you Dr. Cliff and Starkey, you both really care about everyone’s hearing!
I have found that the edge AI aids have been an amazing upgrade and have been very capable, even in high noise environments. The edge plus mode just takes that capability up a step.
The sound quality of the Starkey Edge isn’t as natural as that of the Phonak Sphere.
Another review states that Starkey did not do so well in extremely noisy restaurant while Phonak did cope very well.
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I took the Phonak Sphere
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Hi JP11, I also have profound hearing loss, with loud tinnitus. How do the work in a noisy setting such as crowds and restaurants? I will also have to use ear molds.
Thanks
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An update after a month of using the Starkey Edge AI:
New positives:
- After updating the Phone to Android 15 (and enabling BT LE Audio), the Bluetooth LE became a lot more stable and I could use the BT to stream from my phone.
New Negatives:
- The devices regularily restarted/rebooted/crashed. The sound completely fell away in one or two ears, the buttons didn’t function anymore and the HA’s didnt show up in the app anymore, for about 20-30 seconds, after which the devices started functioning like before (without any startupsounds.
- The devices started to rattle when cooking. I then was standing near an induction furnace. This wasn’t an experience I had with the Oticons (or now with the Phonaks).
- The auracast connection with the Starkey TV Streamer was very flakey; The HA’s regularily lost their connection to the streamer in one or two ears. Sometimes it returned and sometimes I had to reconnect. Distance to the streamer: 2 meters max.
- Streaming (with BT LE or the TV-Streamer) drastically reduced the battery life opposed to no streaming. (Still had enough juice for the day though).
I returned the trial devices and am now trialing the Phonak Infineo Spheres. Really like them; stable connection to phone (and other devices; also to my Apple iPod Classic with Bluetooth Mod and my Garmin Watch), without seeing any difference in battery life when streaming for 8 hours on a day or not.
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Hi @gsl , could you give your opinion on Why you eventually chose for the Phonak Infineo Sphere? (because in your post on the 19th of January, you thought sthe starkey would be better).
Thanks ! 
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I came from the Marvel but was open to other manufacturers as well.
What I like about Phonak, for example, is the app. Previously, I felt Resound had the best app, but now, in my opinion, Phonak has taken the lead. I also really like Target, which allows you to easily back up your configurations. In Starkey’s software, this seemed much more difficult — if not impossible.
The battery life with Starkey also depleted much faster than with Phonak. At the end of the day, my Phonak aids still have around 40% or more battery left, whereas with Starkey, I had much, much less — probably due to the higher amplification I needed.
I also appreciate Autosense, which means I don’t need to manually switch programs, although I can still do so if I want to.
There are probably more reasons, but these are the key points for me.
One downside for Phonak is that Starkey’s remote mic is much cheaper than Phonak’s Roger system.
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Oh, and I almost forgot to mention size — but to be honest, that’s probably because it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s still small enough, so size wasn’t a deciding factor after all
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Thanks for the explanation!
I also found the size less of a problem.
2 other things I had problems with with the Starkey’s were that receivers didn’t stay in with different domes and the sport locks , so i would need a mould with them.
I also tried using the Telecoil in the theater. They have 2 systems: RF with a headphone, or RF with a loop around the neck for the Telecoil. I took both systems to try and started with the loop, to try the Telecoil. Wen in the Telecoil mode and with the receiver on, I only heard a lot of ticking, clicking, buzzing and no music, so I switched to the headphone.
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Another thing, Bluetooth works great with the Phonak where’d with Starkey it works, but not add good as with Phonak. (My phone is a Motorola g54)
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I had the Starkey Edge AI 24, too. The Bluetooth connection was bad for me as well. I switch to the Phonak Infinio Spheres and no problem whatsoever would Bluetooth connection with my Android phone.
The streaming experience is much better with better sound all the way around. I can also control the volume better with little increments rather than half step increments which I was getting with Starkey.
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No problem here with size either.
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@Jeffrey_J, IIRC, ou had been having problems with tinny sounds for some time. How is it now? Did you switch domes to earmolds?
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I have one power dome and one open dome. Everything is working well. I did not switch to the ear molds. I swapped out the Starkey Edge AI24 for the Phonak Infinio Spheres and streaming is excellent now plus sound is much better and I can control the volume at smaller increments.
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Great to read! What about Music program and guitar? Do you hear differences between Sphere and Starkey and previous HA?
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I actually can hear a difference with the Phonak sounding better. No special program.
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You sound like you are in the same situation as me.
My Starkey cannot support a loop and keeps losing losing connections regularly with the supporting App!
I can’t live without a loop programme as it’s important for listening to TV ,better charity for music and churches service’s.
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Starkey Edge AI has become available for purchase in my country. I am considering placing an order for 312 version with custom earmolds tomorrow.
Phonak Sphere is not available in my country. Besides, the rechargeable battery is not appealing to me at all.