Connecting Oticon Real to Mac Via Connect Clip and Sennheiser BTD800 Dongle

Hearing Aids
#21

Thanks for this clear and detailed explanation.

For myself, I’ve found my CC will no longer reliably function as a remote mic (magenta mode) – probably as a result of all my attempts to connect the CC to my Macs (both a Macbook and iMac have failed at this point). So, right now, all I’ve really managed to do is go backwards and lose the remote mic functionality – which I really need – while failing to get Mac connectivity :frowning:

Based on your note, it appears – in order to at least get back the remote mic capability – I need to clear out the pairing between my Reals and the CC. While I’m able to clear pairings between the CC and the Mac via depressing the CC multi-mode button and vol up and down buttons simultaneously, it looks like I need Genie and Noah (or my Audi) to clear the Real - CC pairing. I’ve ordered a Noah device so I can clear that pairing as well as attempt other tuning.

While I don’t have Noah yet, I do have the 2023 version of Genie which tells me (via USB cable) that my CC is at 1.13.5 and is at the latest level. Is the CC firmware version important? And, if so, is there any way to go backwards if the latest firmware is causing issues?

As a last rant, I’d just like to say I’m very disappointed that Oticon – from all appearances given how many posts I’ve read about CC problems – is not being honest about what seem to be a number of CC issues across multiple device type and software platforms. The industry standard (at least with software where I was a product manager for many years) in these types of situations is to acknowledge known problems, explain them at a high level, then provide a roadmap for a fix. If some HAs won’t get a fix – since backporting fixes can be very expensive – just be honest and try to be fair if upgrades are required. Best practice is not to dribble out many slightly different answers to various stakeholders around the world while continuing to gain revenue from product sales.

Thanks again for the great post!

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#22

I think your assessment that you need to clear the pairings in the HAs is correct. I have found that once they are paired with a CC, they are paired. The pairings have to be cleared to re-pair. I base this on testing with two CCs. (I have two CCs running 1.13.5 firmware.) Once the HAs are paired with a CC, they can’t be paired with another CC until the pairings are cleared.

The CC is another matter. However, clearing the pairings in the CC only affects the CC. Whatever devices the CC is paired to also have to be unpaired. This is because each pairing involves two devices. (So the CC pairs with at least three devices, 2X HA plus the however many other devices it’s paired with).

As far as I know, the 1.13.5 firmware is the latest and only version available for current model of CCs. I have an older CC which has earlier firmware. It will pair with my Opn S, but not with the Real. Not sure why that’s the case.

I agree that Oticon has not done a good job of handling this issue. At first, they were in denial. They finally admitted it was a real problem after testing my More HAs and CC, but that was a long time ago and they don’t have a fix yet. Even after admitting there was a problem, they have not been consistent about the fix. At first they told me they knew there was a problem in the More, but they didn’t know how to fix it. They they told me they had identified the cause and were going to have a fix, but it still hasn’t been released. Then they told me they identified how to fix the problem in the Real, and it would be released this fall, but they don’t know how to fix the More. Due to how long it’s taking them to fix the problems, I’m getting concerned that the problem is baked into the new platform and they may not be able to fix it with firmware. This might explain why the answer is different for the Real and More. There must be more different between these HAs than just the firmware.