I don't think this is necessarily the best forum for a debate about the brands, and wasn't initially going to step into it, but there's some misinformation.
The new N5s are backwards compatible in that you can use the Freedom map if you have to, but they are designed for a new approach to the map and some significant new functionality (including auto telecoil detect, new omni-directional microphones).
I think all of the 3 major CI products are fantastic, each has some unique strengths that the companies play up in marketing the product. Yes, the N5 still has 22 electrodes, as they have for a few generations now, while the most recent AB has only 16, right? On the other hand, I like AB's separate power source per electrode for future use, but haven't yet seen the software applied to take advantage of that potential. When making our decision a few years ago, I read the reports and had spoken with a number of researchers about Cochlear's previous gen implant, the freedom, and the AB hi-res, and we went with the Cochlear product after a seemingly endless string of positive recommendations based on Li's age. I can see why a late-deafened or adult user might choose AB over Cochlear, but for us, speech recognition is of paramount importance, over environmental sounds / music and the last two cochlear generations both outperform AB's latest gen. product in that regard. And yet, we use the N5's unique Music program with enormous success, and some findings seem to be showing better pitch perception with the Cochlear product, after all, so don't think we've sacrificed anything to focus on speech recognition.
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