When Sony entered In the over-the-counter hearing aid market two years ago, it did so with a couple of products: the CRE-C10 and the more expensive CRE-E10. I was blown away by the tiny C10 (it’s still one of my most recommended headphone options) and figured the E10 would be even more impressive. Now that I finally got my hands on a pair of E10 aids to try, I can assure you that the E10 is not so much an upgrade to the C10 but a completely different kind of product with its own pros and cons.
While both the C10 and E10 are based on a design concept similar to an in-ear headphone, their overall approach is considerably different. While the 1-gram C10 fits almost entirely inside the ear, invisible enough to require a small retrieval wire to remove, the 2.94-gram E10 is much more bulbous and visible. It looks more like a standard Bluetooth headset than any other headset I’ve tried, filling the shell with its rounded body. Since, as the old saying goes, not all shells are created equal, your comfort level while wearing these headphones may vary considerably. In my ears, the fit was snug but not tight: comfortable to wear for a few hours but not all day. Sony provides just four pairs of ear tips that you can experiment with to improve the fit.
Photography: Sony
The other big difference between the C10 and E10 is that while the C10 uses replaceable hearing aid batteries, the E10 features a more common rechargeable battery. The additional size of the device allows the E10 to operate for up to 26 hours (without streaming). The Qi-compatible and USB-C pluggable charger provides enough power for two or three additional recharges.
Despite their larger size, the CRE-E10 headphones do not feature external controls, which is understandable because the controls would be difficult to access based on the way the headphones sit in your ear. Instead, all controls are located in Sony’s Hearing Control app (Android, iOS). This is the same app used for the CRE-C10, so I already had it installed, but I had immediate problems because the old aids were still registered in the app.
Photography: Sony
To configure new aids, you must remove old ones from the application. To do that, Hearing Control requires you to enter a code sent to your registered email address. Naturally, I never received the code, so I couldn’t install the new set of aids. Finally, Sony tech support told me to delete the app completely and set it up again with a different email address; maybe not the most elegant solution, but it worked to get me up and running.