Pundit
Post by steviewunda on May 10, 2021 15:38:15 GMT 12
That's a drag sub - like you say, the audiologist may be able to de-emphasize that specific part of the spectrum without affecting other frequencies too much. Good luck ;-)
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Post by Citroen on May 10, 2021 16:46:36 GMT 12
But think, thank god that these things even exist today.
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Post by Citroen on Jul 13, 2021 16:24:35 GMT 12
sub how's it been going with the new hearing aid?
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Post by sub on Jul 14, 2021 13:14:23 GMT 12
Other issues getting in the way of listening to music, although have had a couple of sessions recently. I think my brain is getting used to the new way of hearing, and music, of the classic rock, Americana and blues varieties, sounds very listenable. Have yet to try a session with classical music. Distorted string tone was the main issue the last time I heard Jacqueline du Pre play.
However, I think my main issue is not so much my ears, as equipment. I miss the magic provided by the PureAudio Vinyl phono pre! The Perreaux VP3 is good, but lacks that indefineable magic.
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Post by Citroen on Jul 14, 2021 16:32:18 GMT 12
I've heard a VP3 on a high end system and was quite impressed with the overall sound.
The PureAudio is quite different in is overall presentation. Its very clear, clean and open, but dare I say bordering on clinical with a precise and wide soundstage. Not for those who like a "tube" sound. I find it excels with electronic and modern pop music.
Hope the music gets better soon!
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Post by michaelw on Jul 15, 2021 14:08:25 GMT 12
I regret not getting my Vinyl hotrodded by GM
I had a distorted J Du Pre too... but it was a stuffed record.
Hope you are back to listening soon Sub.
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Post by Citroen on Sept 22, 2021 16:49:29 GMT 12
How's it going now sub? Just had my ears flushed. 5mm hard clump of wax fell out!
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Post by sub on Sept 23, 2021 10:55:38 GMT 12
Not enjoying music any more, unfortunately. Too much distortion of some tones, no doubt as a result of damage to inner ear caused by radiation treatments. Exacerbated by periodic build up of lymphatic flu8d from where they removed all the lymph nodes in neck and around ear. Puts pressure on ear canals causing a sensation of feeling blocked and deaf! Still use the system for movies and tv . Retired the Plinius 8150 and reinstallled my old Denon 3806. More versatile with luxury of remote control, plus headphone sockets so can watch rugby without disturbing others. See ENT team approx three monthly, check me out and syringe my ears - well vacuum them out. Funny thing is, still can’t resist scouring LP bins at op shops, and searching TM listings for interesting Hifi components! And visiting DL every day. Still seeing audiologist for fine tuning hearing aids, lock downs permitting. See her next week
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Pundit
Post by steviewunda on Sept 25, 2021 9:45:42 GMT 12
Bummer - good luck with it all.
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Post by sub on Sept 25, 2021 10:45:09 GMT 12
I've heard a VP3 on a high end system and was quite impressed with the overall sound. The PureAudio is quite different in is overall presentation. Its very clear, clean and open, but dare I say bordering on clinical with a precise and wide soundstage. Not for those who like a "tube" sound. I find it excels with electronic and modern pop music. Hope the music gets better soon! Should have commented re this at the time. My experience was very different. Yes, agree re soundstaging, and being clear, clean and open, but in my set up was very far from being clinical. Rather the opposite. It was warm, very musical, almost lush. Eg on Linda Ronstadt three albums of American classic songbook, arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, Linda’s voice was mellifluous, sultry, beguiling and soulful. It was like a refined version of the Jarrah, retaining all the rhythm and drive but coming across in a more pure yet organic way. Never having heard a tube amp, can’t comment about a comparison. I think our disparate views demonstrate that reviews will only describe how a piece of equipment sounds in a particular system. You won’t really know what it sounds like until you try it in your own room and in your own system. my set up at the time was Ortofon 2M Black, Yamaha YP-D9 direct drive turntable with sophisticated Micro Seiki arm, Plinius 8150 amp, KEF 104/2 Spkrs. At the time I bought the PureAudio vinyl, Gary Morrison told me he had used an Ortofon 2M Blue for fine tuning the MM response. I wonder if that created a synergy with that brand?
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Post by Citroen on Sept 25, 2021 14:55:38 GMT 12
I used it with a head amp, with Delos, Denon103R and Dyn20x2 carts via reasonably resolving speakers. So maybe too much of a good thing and in comparison to my usual "lush" sounding Sugden phono.
Yes, it's all about the system synergy.
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Post by michaelw on Sept 25, 2021 21:03:00 GMT 12
C - you have big and small PureAudio phono stages ? Why sully it with a SUT, they should have enough gain with those cartridges. I've used my Vinyl with an Ortofon TMC200 which has a piddly 0.09mV output.
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Post by Citroen on Sept 25, 2021 23:28:44 GMT 12
Head amp, not SUT! The Vinyl I have is a prototype MM only version.
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Post by cooksferry on Nov 21, 2021 16:15:52 GMT 12
Any updates on your hearing sub. I really need to get a test but there's a nagging apprehension that hearing aids and music aren't going to mesh. Off course the longer it's left the harder it will be to adjust.
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Post by Citroen on Nov 21, 2021 16:48:54 GMT 12
Get it checked out as soon as you can. Several places do free tests, and your health insurance might even cover it.
I have mild tinnitus in one ear, and some of the treatments recommended by the audiologist included playing soothing music at night. Apparently tricks the brain. And a good ear suction to clear the wax.
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Post by RdM on Nov 21, 2021 19:24:14 GMT 12
And a good ear suction to clear the wax.
I have childhood memory of (late 50's?) having (only obtainable from a chemist at the time!) warm olive oil inserted into my ears to dissolve and clear wax. Can't remember if by syringe or cotton bud. Later in 3rd-4th form boarding school I recall using a match stick... to attempt to scrape out annoying wax.
Much later in life I have no fear of twirling a cotton bud up inside my ear, especially after a hot shower. I know that that's a lot smaller than my elbow ... but even if I am stimulating wax production I am also cleaning it out with a backwards twirl, I feel.
Thankfully I've never experienced tinnitus, well maybe very briefly I have had ears ringing after a loud noise, but not as a permanent condition.
I've (almost) always taken care to use earplugs with loud power tools.
My sympathies for those afflicted.
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Post by cooksferry on Nov 21, 2021 20:37:24 GMT 12
Had tinnitus in my left ear for years, gets quite noisy at times but it never troubles me sleeping. Too many very loud motorbikes, poor helmets and 28 years in a workshop will do that.I have always used protection at home using power tools mowers etc.
I had a good check when I turned 60, so nearly ten years ago. The audiologist said I was marginal then and tried ACC who said it was just age related. Apparently my work background had no bearing. I know I'm deteriorating, having trouble conversing with my wife in the cars especially the MX5 and tv isn't great even with a modest sound bar. Conversation in somewhere like a cafe with a lot of background noise is marginal. Time to extract digit I think. A lot of conflicting feedback online re experiences with hearing aids and audio enjoyment. No two alike.
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Post by sub on Nov 22, 2021 16:56:17 GMT 12
Any updates on your hearing sub . I really need to get a test but there's a nagging apprehension that hearing aids and music aren't going to mesh. Off course the longer it's left the harder it will be to adjust. Others report good results (steviewunda), but it is a mixed bag for me so far. Some music fine e.g Green Onions, BookerT and the MGs, , but classical music not ok. Have been snookered by lockdown s , as am keen to have audiologist adjust mine for echo. But things on hold right now until another health issue dealt with. Have spent 11 of last 16 days in hospital.
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Post by Citroen on Nov 22, 2021 17:15:14 GMT 12
I hope all goes well with you sub
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Post by cooksferry on Nov 22, 2021 17:18:40 GMT 12
I hope all goes well with you sub Ditto. All the best.
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Post by foveaux on Nov 24, 2021 6:46:21 GMT 12
Best wishes for your recovery Sub
"I see music as a lifetime affair." [Rory Gallagher]
"Free - I miss that band, but when I look back, we were very young" [Paul Rodgers]
848 posts
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Post by cooksferry on Feb 3, 2022 12:03:48 GMT 12
Finally acknowledging how bad my hearing is getting and have a test later this month. Hardly ever use my speakers now and hearing loss is possibly part of the cause. Still feel I'm not too bad with headphones . Don't want to spend mega dollars on aids so hi tech audiophile aids will probably be off the agenda. It would be nice to be able to converse with my wife in the car or even pick up more than half the dialogue on a tv movie. Can't blame all the movie sound loss on my ears, get a much better response via the hifi than the lounge soundbar . My last test was ten years ago and audiologist marked me as getting marginal then and it hasn't improved.
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Post by cooksferry on Feb 19, 2022 8:31:57 GMT 12
Hearing test last Thursday and confirmed my expectations. Since my last test 9 years ago my left ear has gone from mild loss to moderate in the left ear but stayed much the same at mild in the right. I suspect this has been on a slow downhill spiral for many years as I've struggled with what I kept putting down to channel or room imbalance using my speaker system. It's never been an issue with headphones though. My audiologist has recommended the Phonak Paradise range as having the best blue tooth integration and I'm currently probably going to go with the 70 which is one down from the top. My main criteria is just being able to converse more easily, especially in the car and on my phone. As for music, it's going to be a case of suck and see as it's such a personal and subjective topic that no two responses are likely to be exactly identical. Also decided on rechargeable aids as I can't be bothered mucking about with batteries but that does remove the in ear option.
The music response is going to be interesting and I'm prepared to give it a good trial period as my brain adjusts to actually being able to pick up higher frequencies again. If it doesn't work then it'll be bye bye speakers and amps and move to a totally headphone based system. With four amps and seven headphones I'm reasonably well served there .
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Post by colinf on Feb 19, 2022 21:04:07 GMT 12
My mate had his hearing tested a few years ago as he had been having trouble hearing people talking, phones ringing in the next room, and also dialogue on movies, despite reasonable sound from the TV system. He went to an audiologist who suggested some hearing aids costing around £2k (about NZ$4k)! One of his work colleagues suggested getting them on the NHS, which he did. He got Oticon ones with Bluetooth, and non-rechargeable batteries. NHS supply the batteries for life as well. Bluetooth has been interesting, he can listen to radio or music from his phone at work with no-one else noticing! Also calls from the phone are automatically hands-free. Generally, having hearing aids has been a revelation for him, you no longer need to repeat everything, and watch movies and be far more immersed. Cooksferry, are you able to get hearing aids from the Ministry of Health? Rechargeable ones might be a wise move if batteries need to be paid for.
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by cooksferry on Feb 20, 2022 1:30:35 GMT 12
My mate had his hearing tested a few years ago as he had been having trouble hearing people talking, phones ringing in the next room, and also dialogue on movies, despite reasonable sound from the TV system. He went to an audiologist who suggested some hearing aids costing around £2k (about NZ$4k)! One of his work colleagues suggested getting them on the NHS, which he did. He got Oticon ones with Bluetooth, and non-rechargeable batteries. NHS supply the batteries for life as well. Bluetooth has been interesting, he can listen to radio or music from his phone at work with no-one else noticing! Also calls from the phone are automatically hands-free. Generally, having hearing aids has been a revelation for him, you no longer need to repeat everything, and watch movies and be far more immersed. Cooksferry, are you able to get hearing aids from the Ministry of Health? Rechargeable ones might be a wise move if batteries need to be paid for. I get a $1000 payment towards aids from Govt but that's it. The model I'm looking at will still cost $6500 with that subsidy applied. I had made an ACC application towards a set at my earlier test nine years ago but that was rejected. They put my loss at that time down to age and didn't agree that my 28 years in a motorcycle workshop had anything to do with said loss . I briefly discussed another ACC application with the audiologist but thought it a waste of effort after their earlier dismissal. Not sure about ongoing costs replacing batteries but want to go with rechargeable version which removes that concern.
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Post by cooksferry on Mar 9, 2022 10:08:53 GMT 12
Supposed to get a fitting on the 10th but it's been pushed back to 17th which is a bit disappointing. Maybe jumping the gun a bit but I have pre ordered a McIntosh MB20 Bluetooth Transceiver. I'm intending to go with behind the ear Bluetooth capable hearing aids and a bit of thought and research showed that they may not play well with most of my headphones. I could just use the phones without the aids fitted but then I'm loosing the advantages they give. Stumbled across the MB20 quite by chance and the major point that drew me in was the inputs that mean I can connect it direct to a cdp or turntable via standard cables, RCA or balanced. The main use will be in the house at night when I'm usually just after some music to relax to and not worried about seeking any sort of audiophile experience. If it turns out to be an acceptable experience it may be bye bye to some headphones and amps. Actually quite excited about this and hope new shipments arrive before too long. www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/media-streamers/MB20
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Post by cooksferry on Mar 19, 2022 6:49:24 GMT 12
Picked up the hearing aids Thursday afternoon and been on a learning curve since. The bad- Using behind ear style a small hassle with glasses but a major with the blue surgical masks. Had to switch to stiffer P style using a behind the neck strap. Hopefully masks aren't forever. Fingers aren't as nimble as before and took a few tries to get the hang of tube insertion.
The good. These are on a 60 day trail so the audiologist hasn't given me all the bells and whistles but she seems to have set them up pretty well for my hearing loss. Most obvious thing has been the huge improvement watching TV/You Tube etc. No longer cupping my ear trying to hear dialogue or playing with the volume control. Major gain. Love the hands free phone program. No more digging in my pocket or back pack to find it. Only spent about half an hour listening with headphones. I had my doubts this style would work but using the modified Grado 325 wasn't a problem. I think the bowl over the ear fit of the Beautiful Audio pads is a big help. The original Grado on ear pad would not work . On my trial cd with female vocals my usual test track was cleaner without the usual distortion and breakup on the very top end. Actually managed to track all the lyrics, a first.
Speaker system also showing some gains with a much more centred image. For years I've lived with a right side bias due to the more pronouced left side hearing loss. This is now much better. Having a little trouble getting used to the increased timbre on some voices which have become quite monotone over the years. Lots of adjusting and listening to do here to fully appreciate what I'm hearing.
Unfortunately my experiment with the McIntosh MB20 has been a bust. It took some time to get a Blue Tooth connection between the device and my hearing aids and the result was pretty bad, about on a par with a very low quality mp3. I'm guessing there's an incompatibility in the Blue Tooth implementation between the two. Can't blame the aids as I have put a Micro Sd card from my Fiio X5 on the phone and playback is surprisingly acceptable for the times it will be used. The MB20 is going back to the supplier.
I haven't had any problems with echo or feedback and some of that may be down to not needing to boost the gain on the aids. Using the app I'm usually in the middle or down a couple of db. My tinnitus is also much less noticeable with the aids in place. From an audio perspective I'm pretty happy with things so far. Getting my ears and brain adjusted isn't going to be a rapid process when you're trying to correct decades of gradual decline.
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Post by cooksferry on Mar 24, 2022 20:18:29 GMT 12
Interesting what you can find scrolling through hours of You Tube video. Wish I'd seen the video above earlier as it would have explained some of the apparent problems I've been having with audio and to a lesser extent with things like in car conversation. Gave them a good try out on Sunday with a round trip to Te Anau in the MX5 which is a fairly noisy environment for talk. Tried the default auto program and made a custom one and swapped around. My custom one cut down road noise to a fair degree and did make speech a bit easier to follow but still room for improvement.
On the important music front a couple of discoveries. My blue tooth connection defaults to a program called Stream + Mic1 which had an initially disappointing sound. There isn't any sort of equaliser with this but I did finally come across a slider that enables you to move between the Mic or Audio positions. Default is in the middle and I am scratching my head a little as to why any connection to a Mic would be needed in streaming. Pushing the slider hard over to audio makes quite a difference to the sound adding some body and dynamics. Crazy part is I can play the same track using two different methods and have two different playback programs. If I use the BubbleUp app it goes to the Blue Tooth program mentioned above. If I access the same file direct and bypass the app it plays back via the default music program which does have some settings like noise reduction and a three level equaliser with treble,mid and bass. I can see plenty of time needed with the audiologist trying to sort some of this out.
After watching the video above I did contact my audiologist to see about trialing the Active Vent system . Got a yes on that so changing the receiver over from my current open vent to the new system will happen next week. The trial won't be a full test as I'll be using silicon tips instead of the recommended custom Titanium mold. If things work as I hope I'll certainly be prepared to go with those. I'm hoping this system will also improve speech response in the car.
I did spend a few hours in my music room today playing both lps and cds. This was all done via the default music program and the only change I made on that was to lift the treble very slightly. I do notice quite a difference in sound stage now . At one point it felt like I had a 10 foot high Linda Ronstadt between my speakers. Picking up little things like an acoustic guitar buried back in a mix, or better separation between voices, clearer lyrics. That's all on the plus side. Downside voices do sound a little unnatural at times and I'm putting at least some of this down to the increased audio range that I've been missing for some time. Going to take a little time to get used to.
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Pundit
Post by steviewunda on Mar 25, 2022 7:52:47 GMT 12
Very interesting - how much is the Active Vent system?
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Post by cooksferry on Mar 25, 2022 8:26:18 GMT 12
Very interesting - how much is the Active Vent system? Don't take this as gospel but I don't believe there was any extra charge to change receiver during my trial period. Getting a custom titanium mold will cost but yet to find that out. I did find a place in Australia listing the Active Vents for what I thought was a very modest price so I'm guessing there's less cost involved than we might think. A couple of possible downsides. These only work with the Phonak Paradise rechargeable aids and I believe they are supposed to be replaced on maybe an annual basis. If they work and replacement cost of the vents is modest then I'd certainly go with them. Will have a further update this time next week.
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