PLEASE HELP - Im a deaf audiophile!

[weezer]

Hi there - title may sound a little strange I know

 

For years I was an avid audio listener, granted not a complete 'phile but very keen on my music, whether vinyl, CD or live. Unfortunately 3-months ago I become profoundly deaf in both ears so have absolutely no hearing whatsoever, as such I am going for a cochlear implant.

 

I have a choice of manufactures that uses either Bluetooth or WiFi to connect to music sources etc, but I am unsure which one is going to give me the best quality audio.

- Cochlear Nucleus6 (Bluetooth)

- Med-el Sonnet(Wifi)

 

For various reasons my preference at the moment is the Cochlear device so would need to stream via Bluetooth.

 

I have a reasonable separate system Arcam source, Beresford dac, Nain pre/power amps on separate PSU's and Linn Keildieh speakers, obviously speakers are now completely redundant, but if I connect either the DAC / power amp to a Bluetooth transmitter at least I will be able to once again hear my music again.

 

FYI - The Sonnet device is 2.4Ghz WiFi but currently these are all in development so I am unsure what/how long this would be, nor if WiFi would give a better signal, considering my house as others are flooded with WiFi already!

 

Again FYI - listening to music through a cochlear implant will never be the same as normal hearing, but my thinking is that if I can reproduce the sound in the best format then I have a better chance of hearing it in the best possible way.

 

Would love to hear from any music lovers with cochlear implants or simply can someone suggest a decent Bluetooth transmitter, or a better way to do this please.

 

Regards

Weezer

[Jud]

I have read audio designers who write that Bluetooth audio devices are not very high fidelity (they provide reasons that I can find for you if you'd like and can't locate them yourself - go to Head-Fi and do a search on Jason Stoddard and Bluetooth).

 

Wi-Fi/Ethernet streamers, on the other hand, appears to be where High End is headed. The question is the availability of reasonably priced options now, and I have to say it's something I haven't looked into very hard myself.

 

Hope others will chime in on that score, and meanwhile I'll do some looking around.

 

Hope that helps.

[weezer]

Hi and many thanks for your reply, it does seem that that wifi is the way to go for quality, but looks like I'm stuck with Bluetooth as the more research I do on the implants suggest the Nucleus (with Bluetooth) is best for me!

That said I think I will have just find a way of doing via Bluetooth.

 

My dining room (minus table & chairs as they got evicted sometime ago) is where I listen when at home, so this is a static environment, I envisage a 'box' on top of the system transmitting Bluetooth to my implant.

 

Alternatively I don't mind using something like the Raspberry PI if that would b any better, so in this instance I would suggest a 'box' on the system, a 'box' next to me plugged directly into my implant via a 3.5mm jack plug, maybe a better solution as this could go wifi?

 

I do hope other members chip in please as music is so important to me just like many others, its the way I relax, get high on (drugs not req'd), it makes me drive with gusto, it makes me drive slow, it even makes me cry!

 

Once again many thanks and please do keep looking I would be interested in your finds.

 

Regards