One of many greater shopper audio firms to dive into the over-the-counter listening to help market is Sennheiser. The model’s efforts are the product of a partnership between the earbud big and Sonova Listening to, which acquired Sennheiser’s listening to help division in 2022. The brand new operation’s first product, All-Day Clear, arrived final summer time, although it’s sadly lacking the Dee Snider spokesmanship from Sennheiser’s earlier listening to help product.
These anticipating a completely in-ear product like Sony’s C10 and Sennheiser’s older Dialog Clear Plus could also be shocked to see that the brand new All-Day Clear is a conventional listening to help design that matches behind the ear and snakes the receiver into the ear canal on a skinny wire. Every exterior housing comprises a rocker with two bodily buttons that management the quantity. Both help can be utilized to regulate the quantity degree for each left and proper aids concurrently. Holding one button down additionally helps you to swap amongst three sound modes: default, “reside music,” and a mode that works with the optionally available TV connector ($350), so you’ll be able to stream audio instantly out of your tv.
I instantly discovered these listening to aids harder than most—or actually all different fashions I’ve examined—to get located in my ear correctly. The models are fairly massive, and the wire that connects to the in-ear receiver is lengthy and troublesome to wrangle. The primary problem I had was getting the receivers sufficiently into the ear canal, because the floppy wire saved pulling them unfastened. When you get them positioned correctly, they keep there effectively and are snug to go away in for lengthy stretches, however I usually spent a minute or longer getting that placement excellent every time I put them on.
The All-Day Clear app is about as fundamental as they arrive. It units up rapidly and simply, strolling you thru a easy and simple tuning session to get issues began. Controls are decidedly spare. The primary show contains a common quantity slider which might optionally be break up between left and proper channels. The aforementioned two or three sound modes can be found right here, as is a “nice tune” characteristic that pops up a really fundamental equalizer with three choices: bass, mid, and treble, every of which may be tweaked from a –5 to +5 degree. These tweaks make an impression, however in the event you’re seeking to actually fine-tune your listening to ranges, they could be inadequate. A wind noise discount choice is on the market right here too, however I didn’t get a lot out of it.
Let’s discuss subsequent about audio high quality. I used these aids for a number of hours a day over the course of greater than per week and was shocked to search out they simply weren’t all that efficient, at the very least for me. In a typical family setting, I didn’t discover conversations or tv had been considerably clearer with the listening to aids in versus with out them—even at most quantity. Whereas all listening to aids are inclined to have a low degree of hiss to cope with, the All-Day Clear models showcased some notably annoying background noise at any time when I moved the mid and/or treble sliders up, even a little bit. This wasn’t a typical static rumble however sounded extra like a vacuum working in one other room. At one level I genuinely thought somebody was cleansing the flooring in my home till I eliminated the aids, solely to be greeted with blissful silence.
On the plus aspect, the design of the All-Day Clear listening to aids made them efficient at minimizing the jarring amplification of your individual voice to deafening ranges, a downside frequent to different listening to aids. And whereas I didn’t discover that typing created a booming clack-clack-clack in my head (one other frequent difficulty), I did discover the aids uncomfortably amplified high-pitched squeaks that I didn’t know had been there earlier than, together with noises from my keyboard and my workplace chair.