Updated November 06, 2018
Published November 06, 2018

Outstanding sound quality, jaw-dropping battery life

Steve has given his review of the Resound LiNX Quattro already; now it is my turn. In fairness, there is very little I will say here to refute Steve and his assertion that these are fantastic hearing aids, but I have a little more to add and a little more technical insight to speak from. So here goes, what the fat lad thought of the new ReSound LiNX Quattro, pretty impressive, outstanding sound quality and jaw-dropping battery life from a rechargeable. 

I Love Lithium-ion Rechargeable! Who Knew?

I have realised that I love rechargeable hearing aids, in fact, I should qualify that, I Love Quattro rechargeable hearing aids. As Steve has said, "Any product with a rechargeable battery is only useful if it lasts a decent amount of time between charges, annoys the hell out of me that I have to charge my phone twice a day." ReSound say that you can you can use the Quattro for 30 hours on a single charge. They aren't telling fibs, I managed to use my Quattros for two full days. In fairness, that was without streaming or even a connection to a phone and it was based on twelve hours of actual in my ear use per day. I mean that is jaw-dropping. So you will easily manage a full-on day of use on one charge. 

The Charger Case

The case the rechargeable devices come in charges the hearing aids. It also contains three full on the go charges in its battery pack. You charge the case with a simple USB lead. I really liked the case, it is obvious that a bit of thought has gone into the design of it. It is pleasant to hold and satisfyingly robust, it is also small enough to slip in a coat pocket or bag. The LEDs on the case allow you an instant visual understanding of the charge state of the hearing aids and the charge state of the case itself. Like I said, well designed with some thought. 

Like I said earlier, I love rechargeable, but I really didn't know that until just recently. The ease of use and the complete lack of worry about batteries was a bit of a revelation. Before now, I would have considered rechargeable devices as really a device most suitable for people with eyesight or dexterity issues, the Quattro has changed my mind about that. And using the recharger is simple, you just drop them into the charging ports in the charger and away it goes. The green flashing lights let you know it is charging. 

Bluetooth streaming for phone calls, music and TV

The Quattro is a direct streaming hearing aid, a so-called Made For iPhone device. Hopefully, very soon, a Made For Android device as well.  So you can stream audio from your iPhone or iPad directly into your hearing aids. Resound have a lot of experience in the field by now. That experience aligned with their more powerful antenna really shows up. The  Quattro delivers an outstandingly rich, full and warm sound experience that is perhaps the most stable I have ever tested so far.

During my testing, I had no dropout or refusal to recognise or pair episodes. That's not to say Apple won't push out an update and make a temporary mess of course, but right now, they seem to be as solid as a rock. There is no delay in streaming, when your phone rings, you hear the ring in your hearing aids. When you answer the call, you are straight into the call without stutter. When you finish the call, it simply reverts back to the streamed audio you were playing. Or the environmental programme you were in. 

Environmental Awareness

Resound have ensured that the Quattro strikes a decent balance between streamed audio and environmental sounds. You can hear the streamed audio clearly but are still aware of what is going on in the environment. You can also adjust the balance within the app yourself. 

GN ReSound Smart 3D App

The Smart 3D App works with the LiNX Quattro hearing aids, the App automatically recognises that you have Quattro hearing aid and gives you some new options. As Steve has previously said, the app is relatively intuitive and it also gives you plenty of customization options. The user experience is pretty good and the GN UI (User Interface) team really need to be applauded. They have delivered a whole shed load of power to users without befuddling them. That isn't something that is easy to do, but the Smart 3D app does it well. The App options are clearly labelled and easy to press, I think that most users should be able to work their way around it quickly enough and the app offers a lot of benefits for users who will use it, as Steve says.

The ReSound Smart 3D App isn't a novelty that the company thought would be a good selling point ("Hey, we've got an App, how cool is that?"), it's a powerful tool that gives you fine-grained control over your hearing experience, allowing you to configure your own personal setup.

The basic stuff like programme changes and volume changes are all there, but the deeper sound customisation ability is fantastic. This is where modern thought in hearing aid development really shines, giving power to the people who want it over how they hear. 

A comfortable and natural sound in everyday environments

I really liked the Resound LiNX 3Ds, I mean really liked them. When I first saw the details of the Quattro, I was a bit dismissive of it. Initially, I thought that GN had really packed a lot of headline features into a beefed up 3D. Let me explain what I mean, basically they had introduced a directionality strategy that was a headliner in the profession, combined it with wider frequency response and a higher upper sound limit, which was another headliner in the profession, combined all of that with Lithium-ion rechargeability, you know where I am going with this right? I thought they were offering something that just ticked the boxes. I was wrong, again (getting to be a habit lately, maybe my wife is right! hahaha).

The Quattro sound amazing, they offer a detailed awareness of your surroundings. Noise is no longer a wall, it is a detailed soundscape, more natural, the way it should be. Even in very noisy situations, the devices handle the noise versus speech equation exceptionally well. The clarity of speech is exceptional as is the clarity and fullness of both live and streamed music. Steve says that he has noticed voices and music both have more detail to them. Even with my moderate high-frequency hearing loss, I can understand what he means. 

The introduction of the impact sound manager also makes a difference to sudden hard noises. I can hear the difference when a plate bangs or cutlery is rattled. Speech understanding is excellent, I found it pretty good with the 3D, but I always liked to use the app when I was in difficult noisier situations. With the Quattro, I don't spend much time with the app, it just kind of works.

When in noisier situations you are able to hear who you are speaking to relatively well, the remarkable thing is that the typical wall of noise has been transformed to a multi-faceted soundscape, just as it should be. I can hear the conversations going on around me. Not nuanced enough to know what they are saying, but I shouldn't be able to. But it isn't just a background wall of noise or speech babble any longer. 

The Sound of Music" (yes I went there)

The sound quality of Music is outstanding, both streamed and live. It is difficult for even a professional like me to discuss sound quality. Finding the right universal words is difficult. The Quattro hearing aids add to the experience that the 3D provided. The 3D offers real clarity and warmth, but the Quattro provides even more than that. I hate to echo Steve here, and it is a bit trite, but it really does provide more layers of sound. It really is about the awareness of subtle changes in music or tone, the Quattro really delivers the ability to be aware of them. 

An excellent hearing aid

The Quattro really is a fantastic offering from Resound. As I said earlier, it does offer many of the headline features that people are excited about in the profession. However, ReSound haven't just bolted on features to an existing aid for headline status. They have intelligently re-designed and engineered their device to offer market leading features in a very attractive package.

I really liked the Quattro, day to day sound was excellent and the streaming experience is amazing. Being able to throw it in the charger and forget about batteries is much more fun than I ever would have imagined and the carrying case is a fantastic innovation. All round, these devices are pretty damned good and I would really have no issue with recommending them to anyone.

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Posted by Geoff

Geoffrey Cooling

Co Founder geoff@audiologyengine.com
Geoffrey (Geoff, anything else makes him nervous) Cooling is an Irish hearing aid blogger and has been involved with the hearing aid industry for over ten years. He has worked in private practice dispensing hearing aids and as a manufacturer's rep. He has written two books and they are both available on Amazon. He loves technology, passing on knowledge and is legendary for many other things, primarily the amount he curses, his dry and mischievous sense of humour and his complete intolerance of people who are full of themselves. Please feel free to connect with him