You do not have to keep completely up to date with the Compass software. I downloaded the version that I have back in 2010.
There have been a number of versions since then but this is the first time that I have hit an issue that me having an older version at home than my audi uses, actually makes a difference.
I assume that if I can get a current version then I will not have any other issues for quite a while.
Even if I could hack the source code disabling software version checking would not help. The issue appears to be that the dat in my hearing aids does not match the data format expected by the older version of the software. Only having a more up-to-date version of the software will help with that.