Oticons Connect Clip First impressions

Very very useful topics about the Connect Clip! I’ve been testing it in a lot of ways with the Opn 1 and the Android app. It gave always good results:

  • When I walk alone by night I stream music from my Samsung S8 plus playlist. Using the player equalizer I can get a decent sound (I am a musician, guitar player).
  • If I receive a call, the music stops and will talk. When the call is finished, the music restarts.
  • At home in the kitchen where I have a small TV, I put the Conncet Clip near the TV speaker, and I get nice sound everywhere in my house.
  • At the church I gave the CC to the priest. I was playing guitar with the choir at a good distance. I could hear every word of the priest in my ears.
    So, the CC, in my opinion, does a good job. I told to the audiologist that I have my decision now, after 3 months of test: I will by the On 1 + CC + TV streamer.
    One question: the Oticon USB adapter, is it useful for Skype? I have a Windows Surface 3 Pro. Do you think I will need that adapter?
    Thanks
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If your OPN is a miniRITE-T (with the Tcoil) then it has a rocker switch (a single switch with 2 buttons, and up and a down button) on each hearing aid.

If it’s just a miniRITE (without the T for Tcoil), then it does NOT have a rocker switch. There’s only 1 single button on each hearing aid.

The instruction above is written generically enough to apply to either the rocker switch or the single switch. In the case of a rocker switch, the up and down buttons it mentions are on the same rocker switch. In the event of a single button, the up button is the one for the right OPN and the down button is the one for the left OPN.

I find that sometimes I can stop the streaming with the large button on the ConnectClip (stop but not restart). Sometimes I can’t. Feels like a bug to me. It’s really annoying when you’re listening to music, someone wants to talk to you and you’re not sure where your phone is.

Hey @d_Wooluf you’re right - I just tested it and when streaming from my phone, hitting the large button anytime will stop the streaming. Just a 1 second or less press works consistently. It doesn’t un-mute the mic but its an easy quick press on the vol-down button to do that. I have to use the phone to restart the streaming.

Note that this same action does not work when streaming music from a computer. I guess it uses some other protocol than phones do, as quick button press has no action while streaming music. Thanks for the tip!

@Syncros. I’d be interested in knowing if this works for you consistently. It doesn’t for me. Here’s a scenario. You’re streaming music and you take a phone call.After the call ends music automatically resumes. Does the big button work?

@d_Wooluf I just ran a few tests here. With bluetooth connected to my phone, streaming music, I can consistently (5/5 tests) stop the music playing with a quick big-button press. It wont restart the music, but it stops it. I then streamed music and called my cellphone. The OPNs started playing a ringing sound after pausing the music. I answered, and then on hangup, the music starts streaming again automatically. It seems consistent in its behavior with the connect clip 1 foot away from me at least.

Did you try stopping the music after the phone call? It might be the music app I was using. I’ll keep experimenting.

I just got a reply from Oticon via Cliff the YouTube guy. The Connect Clip does not support AptX. The advice from Oticon was that if you want to stream sound from your tv to your aids with low latency, you can damn well buy their tv streamer. Ok, they didn’t put it like that. I am anything but impressed.

So what codec does it support then?

The reply didn’t say. Just not AptX. It must support SBC because that is mandatory with A2DP. If it supported anything else the Oticon guy could have said. Maybe they think that if they overload us with information we’ll explode.

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Any experience using the connectclip as a microphone? A friend who just got it says the direction of the microphone is wrong for this use when clipped on his wife as a microphone.

@LawyerFL, I’m not sure what your friend means by saying the ConnectClip is in the wrong direction when used on someone else as a remote mic. The mic swivels in a circular direction, depending on how you clip it on or hear it around the neck. For the best reception, the top of the Clip should always be pointed toward the wearer/speaker’s mouth. It always seemed to work fine when I attached it to someone else. I even broke protocol and tried it as a baby monitor—I put the Clip on a dresser in the same room as a sleeping baby, and and I could hear the baby stir or cry directly into my OPN 1’s from two rooms away. I found the connectivity of the ConnectClip to the hearing aids and phone to be pretty strong and stable.

I just got a ConnectClip and have a question regarding controlling the hearing aids mics and the remote mic on the ConnectClip separately. I know that you can mute the hearing aids mics by holding down on the Volume Down button on the ConnectClip (so you get no distraction when hearing streaming sound from the ConnectClip used as a Remote Mic).

However, according the to Oticon FAQ below (third item down at the bottom), you can use the ON app to control the ConnectClip’s Remote Mic volume independent of the OPN hearing adis volume. But I tried it on the ON app and I don’t see a way to do that. If I choose the Remote Mic mode, OK I can control the Remote Mic streaming volume there, but I don’t see any volume control for the OPN hearing aids in parallel while in the Remote Mic mode.

Has anyone figured this out? Thanks.

PS. I know that while the ON app control as mentioned above doesn’t seem to work, you can achieve the independent volume effect by using the iPhone MFI control to vary the OPN mic volume slider and the Remote Mic volume slider independently. However, while the Remote Mic volume slider doesn’t affect the OPN mic volume, the OPN mic volume has an effect on both the Remote Mic volume and the OPN mic volume at the same time. Not very well thought on out Oticon’s part on this. The OPN mic volume should not have an effect on the Remote Mic volume.

Also, instead of using the iPhone MFI control for for OPN Mic volume adjustment, I suppose one could just use the hard buttons on the OPN to achieve the same thing. Incremental adjustment on the OPN hard button may change both OPN mic and Remote mic volumes at the same time (like with the MFI OPN Mic slider), however, a mute via the OPN mic hard button (or the equivalent of holding down on the ConnectClip volume down button) will mute the OPN mic completely and you can vary the Remote Mic volume independently in this case, either via the MFI Remote Mic volume slider, or via the Connect Clip up/down volume buttons.

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I’m in a unique position to own a Connect Clip, an iPhone, and a TV Adapter 3.0 altogether. I also have an iPhone, an android note 8, and a laptop with Bluetooth support.

I’ve tried to use the Connect Clip on the iPhone (for hands free calls) and it works fine. The iPhone seems to have a tendency to acquire connection to the Connect Clip first over the Note 8 and the laptop.

If I unpair the Connect Clip from the iPhone, then it’s easier to connect it to the note 8 or laptop automatically. Otherwise I’d always have to disconnect it from the iPhone first each time, unless the iPhone is not on.

To keep having to switch Bluetooth between the Note 8 and the laptop, I use the TV Adapter 3.0 on the laptop, and the Connect Clip on the Note 8. Of course I use direct streaming with my iPhone.

If I’m watching a video from the laptop, and a notification from the Note 8 appears, the sound from the TV Adapter 3.0 temporarily stops and the sound from the Connect Clip takes over. After a few seconds, if there’s no further sound from the Note 8, the sound from the TV Adapter 3.0 tied to the laptop automatically resumes. I guess this is logical that the Connect Clip would take priority over the TV Adapter.

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Hey. Great read guys.

I will be having a siya 1 soon (both ears) . And will try out the connectclip as well.

I got some questions. Does the connectclip provide the USB dongle as well? Or do I need to purchase it seperately?

I wanna try streaming from my pc to siya 1 but this obviously needs a Bluetooth dongle.

If I need to purchase it seperately. Is there a big difference between Bluetooth dongles? Will there be difference in sound quality? And will it always be stereo or not?

The connect clip did not come with a USB dongle.

The Sennheiser BT500 or BT800 are good choices for bluetooth dongles that work with hearing aid Bluetooth devices.

Have people used the ConnectClip as a remote mic for meetings, where speakers may be many feet away, and at places like restaurants? Right now, for meetings, and for hearing in noisy environments, I take my HA off and use a Domino Pro assisted listening device, which I can point at people. It works very well – I can usually hear 98-100% of what’s said.

It’s especially good for me because I have single-sided deafness, and all sound comes into my one good ear, which makes hearing in noise a particular challenge. But I need to use an earphone, which is less convenient than having sound streamed to my HA.

Could I successfully put the ConnectClip on a table and point it at people during a meeting at a conference table, or hold it and point it to other audience members during a Q&A session? I’m thinking of getting an Oticon Opn HA, and it would be great to be able to use the ConnectClip and keep my HA on, rather than taking it off and using my Domino Pro.

I’d appreciate any advice you could give me!

@ed.winograd, From my experience in using the Oticon ConnectClip, it will not work very well by placing it on a conference table. It is really meant to be used as a remote mic that can be clipped to the speaker’s collar or worn around the speaker’s neck and clipped in a direct line to the speaker’s mouth. The speaker’s voice is then streamed directly to your Oticon hearing aids. I don’t believe that Oticon currently sells anything that could be placed on a conference table. Phonak’s Roger line of accessories is probably what you are looking for. I think the Roger Pen can be made to work with any of brand hearing aid if a receiver is installed on your hearing aid, and they are supposed to come out with a Roger Direct device soon that can be placed on table and it will pick up sound from several directions, but you’d have to ask the Phonak wearers about that to be sure.

@anon66854306, Thanks for your reply! If the ConnectClip won’t work for meetings, I could continue using the Domino Pro that I’ve been using for those, but have my wife wear the ConnectClip in the car, and when we’re at a noisy restaurant. It’s smaller than the Domino Pro, and I wouldn’t have to use an earphone to hear her.

Also, thanks for the info about the Roger accessories. From what I’ve seen, they’re expensive, so I could just stick with my Domino Pro for meetings.