I was tested 3 weeks ago and the tester, an audiologist-in-residence at my HMO, said my hearing’s fairly good for my age, but I’d benefit from HAs. Bilaterally I’m not too bad up to 1.5k, starts falling off quite a bit at higher frequencies. I’ve had tinnitus since 1980’s. She showed me an Oticon. She said I’d save maybe $1000 if I go to Costco, told me to give them a copy of my report. I had my initial Costco appt yesterday. The practitioner is the head of the department. I’d been told that they’d test me but he said my report was sufficient for him to proceed to fit me. I’d been told that wearing HAs listening to my stereo systems would be better than streaming for music (my phone is a Samsung S9), by him and the tester at my HMO. He starts recommending the Philips 9050, saying it would be best for music via stereo system (music is a top priority for me, but I’ve had troubles with speech for years). I mention the Rexton Reach and we talk about the differences. He says the Reach’s app is better. He owns up, saying he could tweak the Rexton to provide a music experience just as good as the 9050 would provide. Are these things true?
Caveat: This is my 1st HA and I have not tried the Rexton.
The audi at my local Costco recommended the 9050 for music and the Rexton for noise/conversations. Since my days of meetings and business dinners are in the past, my priority was listening to music, so I opted for 9050s. IMHO they are far, far better than I expected. The audi selected their Music Hifi program which is very neutral and exactly what I was hoping for. I have looked under the hood and she had shut down all noise reduction and set the mics to omni.
My listening system is desktop studio monitors + sub fed by a HQ DAC – mainly streaming Tidal but dipping into hires files on occasion.
I trialed the vaunted Phonak Sphere for a week and I came away very unimpressed with its music abilities - but that could have been the quick and dirty setup that the audi threw on the demo pair I tried.
And btw . . .
The 9050 has a 3 Band EQ in the app.
And under the hood, it has a 24 band fitting range, so you can narrow things down nicely.
My Rexton Reach are tuned for Music and I think they are great both steaming and speakers, also work good noise/conversations
So, yesterday, the day after my sit-down at Costco, I discover that starting yesterday they will throw in a free TV adapter with purchase of the Philips (until Dec. 24, it’s in Costco’s mailer). Why wasn’t I told that before I bought the Reach Tuesday? This has me thinking I have options. Cancel Reach & get 9050 instead? Hold onto Reach & buy the 9050 before Xmas, compare for some months and return one <180 days? I’m favoring that approach ATM.
Yes, the 3 band EQ on the Philips is a plus. The Rexton has a weaker tweak, being a slider for bass <----> treble.
And you let us know your conclusion. 
I think the reality is that all good HAs can sound pretty decent when set up by a competent audi (or a dedicated DIYer). Being realistic, an HA has teeny-tiny components – microphones controlled by an elaborate DSP feeding an amplifier that drives a balanced armature speaker – all on a micro scale. It is amazing that it sounds as good as it does . But . . . you can only expect so much . . .
This is pretty impressive!
My Phonaks are still under warranty for another year, so I’m stuck with them until 2026 ish. I will no longer have insurance coverage for hearing aids when I get my next pair (retired), and I’m expecting to return to Costco at that point. I’m psyched that the 9050s sound so fantastic!
Thanks for sharing your impressions…
The Philips app actually has 2 different equalizers. The one in your screen cap is the “Sound Equalizer” and it provides adjustments for sound coming in thru the HA microphones (like TV, Stereo System or Live Music). Right next to the icon that was selected to get to his EQ, there’s another icon to select the “Streaming Equalizer”. If you are listening to music coming thru your phone or if you have bluetoothed directly to a source (like a bluetooth TV Connector) or in my case (Bluetoothed to an FMA120 and playing MP3s on my PC), it’s the Streamin EQ you want. Try setting the Bass up +6, Mid -3, and High -6. For me this gave the best music. I’m a typical hockey stick hearing loss. You can take it one step better, if you get your Audi or Costco Fitter to ad the Philips optional program “HiFi Music” to one of the 3 open spots for user programs.
I had my 2nd adjustment today on my Rexton Reaches, but a Costco HA guy other than the one who fitted me and did my 1st adjustment. Near the end of the session, I mentioned that my Music Program initially was awful, I couldn’t hear the high frequencies and the 1st adjuster had boosted them and a 2nd time after I said I still couldn’t hear any. At that point I thought OK, see how I like the Music Program but after that I pretty much ignored it and just used the Automatic Program. So, today’s guy responded by saying that it’s just the nature of HAs to not be good with music because of the considerable compression and the fact that the driver in your ear is so small it just can’t move much air. He said there’s no way with that hardware they can produce a dynamic music listening experience. I don’t know if he knows what he’s talking about or if he’s spouting what they told him to say. My response was to so basically, “well, I’ll just keep using my Etymotic Research earbuds.” He’d never heard of those. I explained that I’ve been using various models of them since 1999 and that they are exceptional at isolation and audio fidelity. Earlier in today’s session I mentioned that online (either here or r/hearingaids), someone said I should get my adjuster to adjust my Rextons to improve the streaming in order to achieve a satisfactory music listening experience. He responded by saying it wasn’t possible, basically. I didn’t get argumentative. These are my 1st HAs, I’ve had them almost 4 months. What do I know?
I also asked him if they sell any HAs with a find feature. He thought a second and said the Jabra and the Philips both do, wasn’t sure if the Rexton does. I was pretty sure it doesn’t, said so but he went into my Rexton app looking for it and after a minute said it didn’t. I asked him how it worked in the others and he said that through GPS the app keeps track of where it is. So, if a HA is lost, the app knows the last time its location was determined.
I complained at the beginning that about 5 times, when I put the HAs on in the morning the left one had failed to be charged even though all indications were that it was charging properly when I put them in the charging case. He said if it happens again they will exchange the case and if that doesn’t work they will provide a different left HA.
I agree with him. While you can defeat the compression, you are still severely limited by the tiny driver and amplifier. These devices are made for speech enhancement – not music. If you can opt for total occlusion, HAs can sound a bit better in the low frequencies but the limitations still exist. Imho . . . at best . . . a well setup HA can enhance an external music source.
Again, I agree with him. Streaming with an HA is not a terribly good musical experience. A good pair of earbuds or full-on in-ear monitors are the answer but they won’t help you with speech.