This morning I initiated a trial of the Philips 9040 and should be receiving them in about 2 weeks time.
A detailed comparison of the two will come at a later date if anyone is interested.
As far as I can tell, looking at the body style, it is the same as the Oticon Reals with the exception of the buttons., They are a little beefier on the Philips.
The Philips may or may not fit into the Real charger but the Reals should fit in the Philips charger.
My Audiologist, yes she is a certified Audi working at Costco stated the Philips spec out the same as the Oticons and to her are the same. They are her number one seller with the least amount of returns.
Specs being virtually identical doesn’t mean the aids are identical. Most of the published specs are primarily for receiver sizes and range coverage of the gains across the frequencies, and as long as they use the same receivers (which they do), then THAT will look identical for you. Even the feature list may seem to be very similar because they do share a lot of peripheral features and accessories. But if you want to see if they’re really the same or not, you’ll need to read up more about their core technologies, in this case it’s the AI. And their AI core technologies are different, even though they’re both AI based.
Costco dispensers have been telling their customers that the Philips and Oticon aids are the same as reported many times on this forum. But they are not. You can do a search on this forum to find threads that discuss this in more details and decide for yourself whom to believe.
Of course. But remember, too, that even two different brands’ models can sound the same to your ears, especially if you program them the same and use the same standard fitting rationales like DSL or NAL-NL1 or NL2 on both brands. Receivers are a commodity so even if they carry different HA brands, they most likely come from the same OEM.
So in very simple basic environments, brand A aids can easily sound the same as brand B aids and your ear cannot distinguish much difference. But in complex and noisy environments, then they may start becoming different in how they handle the sounds.
You have a strong belief that the threads that discuss whether Philips and Oticons are the same or different prove they are different. I have read those threads and see a lot a speculation on both sides, with no real proof that these HAs are essentially different.You seem to want to justify spending three times as much for Oticons. That is your choice and not mine. The only real difference that appears to be validly documented is that the tinnitus feature can be turned on for the Oticons but not Philips. If someone needs that feature, they may want to pay much more, but I have read that it does not always work and it is likely that when a patient knows it doesn’t work, they cannot get a refund.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion and choice. Just like you made your choice to go with the Philips, which is perfectly fine. Actually I didn’t choose the Oticon over the Philips like you implied. I’m still wearing Oticon OPN 1s, which was released in 2016, way way before Costco even started carrying the Philips 9030, let alone 9040. So there was not even a choice for me to make between those 2 way back then.
I don’t own the Oticon More, nor the Real. So I don’t need to justify my Oticon purchase of the Real or More against the Philips because I never bought any of those in the first place. I’m just giving my perspective as an objective outsider (who doesn’t own any of those aids) on the subject of whether the Oticon aids and the Philips aids are really the same or not.
I suggested to the OP to read up on those threads then decide for himself what he will believe, not read them and for sure they’ll prove to him that the aids are different. I believe you’re the one who used the word “prove” here. I never said that those threads will “prove” anything. I only said those threads will give more details on the comparison.
And I challenge you to quote me anywhere in this forum where I said that it’s worth spending 3 times more to buy the Oticon aids than to buy the Philips aids for 3 times less. Again, you seem to be speaking on my behalf here.
To be honest with you, if my OPN 1s were to die today and I had to buy a new pair of hearing aids, most likely I would go to Costco and buy the Philips 9040 because they’re only $1500/pair. I wouldn’t spend $6K or $5K or $4K to pay for a pair of Real. But I don’t need to let anybody (like the Costco dispensers) fool myself into thinking that “Oh, the Philips aids are the same as the Oticon aids anyway, so I’m getting myself a heck of a deal here by going with the Philips for the third of the Oticon cost”. I’m just going to tell myself honestly that “The Philips are very competent aids, and even if they are not the same as the Oticon, they are a much better value than the Oticon aids will ever be.”
Sorry if I misinterpreted your posts. Perhaps I confused you with bellgem. Of course everyone has a right to their opinion and how they spend their money, and I’m glad there are many who keep all the non Costco audiologists in business.
No worries, @user777. Of all the posts I’ve read from @billgem, he seems to be a very honest and stand-up guy, and although he did express his issues with the Philips 9040 aids he trialed, I think he was sincere in sharing that experience and he wasn’t trying to diss the Philips aids in favor of his Whisper aids or Oticon aids or anything like that.
I don’t really know why the Philips aids don’t work for him. I think it was perhaps one of those weird combinations of how his brain hearing for some reason doesn’t gel with the AI processing of the Philips aids, maybe. If anything, I might put the blame on the setup and fitting of the aids, but he said that he has a competent clinician dispensing the Philips aids for him, so we can only assume that it’s not a factor for the failure either.
Welcome to the forum, actually there’s plenty of discussion on these, use the search button from right here on hearingtracker to get more information about them, they are great models with pretty good reviews.
Hello: Can someone tell me if the Oticon connectline TV is compatible with the Philips 9040? Somebody offer me a second-hand one (oticon) at a good price and I need to know if I can use it
Thanks in advance!
I won’t be able to answer until after my next Costco appointment on the 25th of this month. I have the same question, as I have the Oticon TV adapter. My guess is that while the hardware is the same, the pairing software has been made different so that the Philips adapter won’t pair with Oticon HAs.
I purchased a pair of Philips 9040 about 6 weeks ago after trying both the Philips and the Jabras. I preferred the Jabras size, charger et al, but for me unfortunately the sound of the Jabras was too thin and tinny and irritated me. The reason I wear hearing aids is to improve my hearing, so sound quality is paramount. I also found that music streaming with the Philips, to my ears, was vastly better than the Jabras.
