Anyone who says you shouldn’t mess with a good thing is wrong—that's old and busted thinking. That kind of talk is a recipe for complacency, particularly in the hearing aid world, where things can and should always get better. The Jabra Enhance Select 300 has been my top pick for a behind-the-ear hearing aid since I tested it, and I’ve yet to encounter a competitor that could match its performance.
It’s up to Jabra then to attempt to beat its own high mark with the Enhance Select 300’s successor: the Jabra Enhance Select 500 . When looking at the Jabra 300 and 500 side by side, you can be forgiven if you can’t quite see the difference between the two. They look and feel nearly identical, with a familiar behind-the-ear (BTE) design and a thin wire that loops around the top of the ear, connecting to a small receiver that nestles in the ear canal.
But the 500 is ever so slightly smaller. Jabra says they are 15 percent smaller than the 300, but I’m not sure how that’s being measured. (By volume? Surface area?) A single Jabra 300 weighs 2.
64 grams on my scientific scale, while the 500 weighs 2.56 grams. That’s a difference of just 3 percent.
It’s not nothing ...
but it also is kind of nothing. Close your eyes and you can’t tell which is which when holding them in your hand. Heck, open your eyes and you’ll still have trouble.
Jabra also notes that the center of gravity of the 500 is lower than the 300, enabling a stable fit. Sounds good, but again, I found t.
