Zepp Clarity Omni, One, Pixie Review: Lackluster Hearing Aids

At the start of the year, hearing aid brand Zepp Clarity announced a new program to try to encourage more of the millions of people with hearing loss to give hearing aids—and particularly Zepp Clarity’s aids—a spin. The idea: try before you buy, with no strings attached.

Zepp Clarity hasn’t rolled out that business model yet, and a spokesperson says there’s still no ETA for the launch. Meanwhile, Zepp Clarity is still selling aids on a pay-up-front basis, with a 60-day money-back guarantee offer. (That’s in line with most other over-the-counter hearing aid sellers, which typically have generous returns policies.)

The hearing aid hardware isn’t changing after the try-on plan goes live, and Zepp Clarity will continue to sell the three hearing aid models I've reviewed below after it does. They are all markedly different. What they have in common is the basics: All have rechargeable batteries and a case that recharges via USB-C, and they come with various open and closed ear tips. All of them work with the Zepp Clarity app (Android, iOS)—pay attention, because there are a lot of apps called “Zepp” out there—though the interface is different for each device. None of the aids let you upload an audiogram, so you’ll need to do all your tuning within the app. I tested all three—here's what they're like.

Zepp Clarity Omni

Photograph: Christopher Null

Zepp Clarity Omni

$400 at Amazon

$399 at Zepp

These are the only behind-the-ear hearing aids in the Zepp Clarity collection, and they’re the cheapest of the trio. They’re also—by far—the largest, weighing a massive 4.97 grams each, heavier even than the Elehear Beyond hearing aids and just shy of twice the weight of the Jabra Enhance Select 500. The large aids at least leave room for physical controls, with a volume up/down rocker on each (volume is controlled universally via either aid) and a multifunction button that can change the environmental mode or be used to stop/start streaming media.

Completing a basic hearing test in the app is mandatory during setup, after which each aid is programmed with one of six preset frequency-tuning configurations. These are somewhat blunt configurations that can’t be further refined, but for users with relatively mild hearing loss, these types of programs—which are commonplace in lower-cost competitors—usually get the job done well enough.

The listening experience is hit-or-miss. After configuring the aids to my hearing needs, I found their overall audio quality to be on the thin and tinny side, dulling a lot of the lower frequencies and making for a slightly unnatural aural experience. There was quite a bit of feedback while putting them on, but this settled down quickly after getting them situated in my ears. On the plus side, I found the aids to be nearly hiss-free, which goes a long way toward smoothing out any complaints about the way the aids sound.

The experience was roughly the same while using the aids to stream media: There’s no real bass response, so music and dialog both sound a little unnatural, with none of the depth needed to make for an enriching listening session. The aids do however include Auracast, should you find yourself in the presence of a compatible streaming source.