Phoneclip+ and Windows PC

Hearing Aids
#26

My arrangement of a non-MFI transmitter at the TV and a good BT headphone also does not need a Phone Clip and is as direct as the TV transmitter - Hearing Aid combination. Of course, not wearing the HA means one cannot have telephone conversations via the iPhone and proper conversation with others in the room.

If this combination is successful (I have yet to try it) then I will use it in place of my present device:

Sony MDR-DS6500 Digital Wireless 3D Surround Headphones

which now cost about $240 - I bought a pair 5 years ago for $195. A non-MFI BT transmitter and BT headphone combination may cost around $100 depending on the models. However, BT signals will not pass through walls whereas my present Sony system allows audio to be received at any location in my apartment.

#27

Going off topic here with Don! Not sure I’m remembering movies vis-à-vis sound effects correctly but I think the 2007 remake of 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale (Blu-Ray version) has some great 3D sound effects, e.g., bullets zinging from behind you towards the front of screen. And, IMHO, it’s a great example of the pro case for, was it worth a remake of the classic version of the 1957 movie with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin? - my answer would be YES! Watch both and come away with kinda different feelings on the radically different outcomes.

And I think for the 2007 version ot 3:10 to Yuma, you’d definitely want the 5:1 sound, not just stereo to get the back to front, right to left across the room, sound effects. BTW, in the Quattro technical white paper on why it supposedly works so well to hear sounds in 3D, they discuss the facing up to the difficulty putting HA mics on top and behind the ear places upon spatial localization by losing the “pinna effect” and how their processing supposedly counteracts that. So perhaps if one were just listening to the modern 3:10 to Yuma with a good set of HA’s, one might fully capture the 5:1 3D sound effects from room speakers but putting on stereo headphones might negate that a bit.

#28

My opinion is this is going to cost you more and not work as well as the Resound TV transmitter, plus, with the Resound transmitter, your hearing aids will be in, plus if you get a call on the phone clip the tv transmitter mutes until the call is over.

#29

Looking for a thread to add comment on getting best TV sound with speech, this thread seems best due to recent posts.

Before admitting I’d best get myself HA’s, I realized in watching TV and DVD’s through optical audio output to a 6:1 Yamaha amplifier/speaker system that at least for speech that much of the speech comes out through the center front speaker and the left and right front speakers have more of the surrounding environmental “noise” in whatever is playing. So I enhanced my “speech-in-noise” understanding considerably by turning up the volume of the center speaker relative to that of the left and right front speakers. In doing something like this, you may not be enjoying the sound of the film or whatever you’re watching as the director intended but if you’re having trouble understanding speech, such a relative volume change can help a bit. Compounding the problem, I’m not sure in terms of sound/speech quality that all DVD/Blu-Ray reproductions of films are created equal in terms of sound reproduction quality and trying to squeeze everything onto a disc (we prefer Netflix DVD to Netflix on-demand streaming just because the availability of quality films to watch is so much better and we don’t want to be buying on Amazon, etc.). So the sound quality of a DVD to begin with often seems like a major hurdle to overcome (sometimes I think directors turn up the volume of other sounds in a flick when they deliberately want to minimize the impact of a stretch of crappy dialog-so you deliberately do not give the dialog too much attention!).

Noticed that this thread from awhile back: Sound bar that works like a hearing aid also has some info on getting better dialog sound of a TV.

#30

I have tried these three Bluetooth adapters (all bought from Amazon) with a PC running Windows 7 pro to pair with a Phone clip, but without success:

TaoTronics Bluetooth Transmitter and Receiver, Digital Optical TOSLINK and 3.5mm Wireless Audio Adapter for TV/Home Stereo System - aptX Low Latency

ZEXMTE Bluetooth USB Adapter CSR 4.0 USB Dongle Bluetooth Receiver Transfer Wireless Adapter for Laptop PC Support Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP, Mouse and Keyboard, Headset

Plugable USB Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy Micro Adapter (Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Raspberry Pi, Linux Compatible; Classic Bluetooth, and Stereo Headset Compatible)

However, Taotronics transmitter can pair audio players (using the headphone jack) with a bluetooth headphone (Cowin E7). The audio players I used do not have usb output port to allow me to try the two usb adapters.

I have contacted the manufacturers for advice but got no useful replies.

My query is: Does any one know an adapter or dongle that I can use on my Win 7 PC (using usb or headphone port) to successfully pair with a Phone clip+?

Thanks.

#31

Sorry for the bold and large characters used above - I just copied and pasted from Amazon’s web page without editing.

#32

I have had success pairing the Plugable USB 4.0 Low Energy Micro Adapter with my Phoneclip+ streamer just to listen to the sound from YouTube videos on my computer.

Two things to check out (for all these devices). Do you have the latest driver? When I first got my Plugable device in April, 2017, the driver that Win10 installed wasn’t the latest available. I got the latest driver from the Plugable website - so I’d check that out for all your devices.

Secondly, I had a lot of problems with connectivity, especially if the computer went to sleep. So if you go into Device Manager, under BT devices, find the adapter, mouse-right click, pick Properties, and see if there is a Power Management tab (there is in Windows 10 Pro). Under that tab, UNCHECK the setting “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.” After you do that, you should find the connection rock solid (if you can establish it in the first place!). Before I did that, my BT mouse, for instance, was losing its connectivity all the time when the computer went to sleep. With Win7, you may happily be set on a particular SP version but in the past with Win10, getting “major” feature updates ~every 6 months, during the major upgrade, in typical Microsoft fashion basic settings like this power management feature would be reset to what Microsoft thinks is best for you. (Same is true or used to be true for resetting your boot setup to “Fast Start” - where you’ve essentially hibernated your previous operating settings and using them again to boot rapidly-which I don’t like to do for various reasons). So if you have problems with BT connectivity down the line, check that the BT adapter power management setting hasn’t been changed back in some major MS update.

With the Plugable, I’ve found the driver gets corrupted or whatever from time to time. If I have BT connectivity problems, I go back to Device Manager, pick Update Driver, then proceed to Let Me Choose From List. Device Manager usually shows me the right repository version, and I just reinstall that. In Windows 10 I usually don’t even have to reboot.

Good Luck! Looks like from your audiogram that you need your HA’s and streaming to them for your low-frequency hearing. But since I have good low-frequency hearing and open domes, I much prefer to stream to wireless headphones and listen to the sound through both my HA’s and open domes. Don’t know if you have any wireless headphones but maybe that would be an alternative for you if you can’t get any BT dongles to pair with the PhoneClip+.

BTW, the USB adapters are apparently limited in their capabilities. My Microsoft Surface Headphones work great with all the devices I’ve tried that have BT built into the main system. But when I try to use these BT wireless headphones with my 2011 Gateway NV-59 laptop with the Plugable dongle, although I can stream sound and establish a hands-free stereo headset pairing between headphones and dongle, speak to the computer through the headphone microphones, I get a warning if I try to use Cortana through the headphones that my computer isn’t compatible with the headphones. So apparently USB-supplied BT is limited in its capabilities beyond the power management issue.

#33

I’ve had the same experience but I think you can go back and edit and fix that up. I forget what I did, delete the end of the line of the bolded paragraph or paste the text into a new paragraph with normal size font or maybe even blockquoting (which changes the style), then “unblockquoting.”

#34

As I mentioned my computer runs windows 7 pro, not win 10 and is quite old. I installed the driver in the cases of the two usb plugs both from the internet and the cd they sent me. In one case I even reached the stage of pairing with a S8 smartphone when a code was to be accepted but it failed as I saw on the computer screen. With the phone clip I could not even reach this stage with nothing showing up on the computer screen.

Perhaps with Windows 7 pairing with Phone clip will be a problem.

#35

Yes, I did take note of the fact that you’re running Window 7 and mentioned it in my post. Just giving you my experience to compare and I think it was implicit in my post that you might never be able to get any of the BT dongles to work with the PhoneClip+. That’s why I suggested, in part, you might want to try wireless (or wired) headphones as an alternative (2nd to last para of my 1st reply). There are prices to be paid for trying to keep old computers working - as I know very well from trying to make a very serviceable Gateway NV-59 laptop from 2011 and a Dell XPS-1340 from 2009 keep running - they both work pretty well under Windows 10 Pro, though, but not without occasional hiccups.

Don’t know if PhoneClip+ requires BT 4.0 LE to work but there is the following line on the Plugable product page for the USB BT adapter I have (which I assume is the same as yours):

“Does not add Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth 4.0) capability to Windows 7 and earlier.”
Plugable USB 2.0 Bluetooth Adapter - Plugable (see down under FEATURES)

So that could be our Win10/Win7 difference. Maybe my Win10 supports the BT 4.0 LE with Plugable adapter, which works with Phoneclip+ but Win7 doesn’t. Maybe it’s something to check with the other adapters, too. Maybe BT 4.0 LE is required for Phoneclip+ and Win7 and earlier just doesn’t support that protocol?!

The following link says that Win8 and Win10 in general support BT 4.0 LE but Win7 does not. So may very well be your problem right there:

#36

@akaybee Guess it’s not the lack of BT 4.0 LE support in Win7. Looking up the PC+ datasheet, it says that the PC+ supports the Bluetooth specification 2.1
https://www.resoundpro.com/~/media/REFRESH/US/00-DOWNLOADS/UNITE-ACCESSORIES/PhoneClipDataSheet.ashx?la=en-US

Sorry to mention it. I’m sure you’ve read the instructions in detail but the PC+ User Guide says to use “0000” if the pairing device requests a pin code. I vaguely remember, too, that either Win7 or Win8 recognized that not all BT devices paired with pin codes and gave you the option to bypass that requirement in your settings options. Maybe if you could turn off “use pincode” in your Win7 settings that would help?
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-disable-a-bluetooth-passkey
Sorry. Not sure if this suggestion even applies to Win7 (has been so long since I used it (2012 last time, I think).

#37

BTW, @akaybee, forgot to mention Plugdebug. It’s a very powerful tool. Leftover Bluetooth detritus from other BT device installations, e.g., Logitech stuff, can screw you up, too. As part of making sure you have a “clean” system for the Plugable device, you can use Plugdebug. It’s amazing what you can discover that you didn’t know was still lurking on your system. You might want to give it a try.

P.S. The Plugdebug instructions also say to try the following methodology before diving into Plugdebug itself. Mentions that some devices, cites Bose QCII’s as an example, require a special approach for successful pairing on Win7. Might be worthwhile if you haven’t tried it already for the Plugable adapter and PC+:

I see Don’s subsequent post after this one but since you’ve already purchased the Plugable, et al., it might be worth trying before going out and buying something else.

#38

I have paired and connected to several devices with a phone clip+ with no problems. For connecting to a PC, use a usb Bluetooth dongle TRANSMITTER, not a receiver. The two most bulletproof dongles I know are the Plantronics SSP2714-01 and the Sennheiser BTD500 or 800.

#39

The Plugable BT 4.0 LE USB 2.0 adapter can function as both a transmitter and receiver. I have used it to listen to stereo audio and dictate to my PC with Dragon Naturally Speaking using both the PC+ and MS Surface Headphones for listening and the latter headphones for voice dictation. Besides different computers, etc., the main difference between akaybee and me is I’m on Win10, he’s on Win7. I take it you’re speaking for your Win7 experience.

#40

I’ve connected to both win 7 and 10 but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen win 7.

#41

The Phone Clip+ does not require Bluetooth LE and likely would not work with that. The user guide makes no mention of Bluetooth LE, just Bluetooth.
I have paired my Phone Clip+ with HP & Dell laptops as well as a Microsoft Surface Pro 3. No pairing issues with any of them.
I just found this online.

2018-12-17_0652

From https://govserv.gnresound.com/~/media/REFRESH/US/00-DOWNLOADS/UNITE-ACCESSORIES/Phone,-sp-,Clip,-sp-,Data,-sp-,Sheet-US.ashx?la=en

#42

That’s what I found, too. I corrected my supposition above. And the Plugable adapter specs say it’s backwards compatible and supports BT 2.x devices, too. And my Plugable adapter works with my PC+ on a Win10 computer.

Besides using Win7, akaybee’s problem may be similar to my past problem in trying to get the same Plugable BT USB 2.0 dongle to work on a computer that didn’t come with built-in BT. If you’ve used previous BT dongles on the same computer, they don’t always get uninstalled cleanly (drivers and software) - and akaybee has been trying several dongles on the same computer now in succession to see which one works. So it pays to look over the BT section of Device Manager to see what’s installed and get rid of anything that shouldn’t be running left over from the past (recent?) history of the computer. The Plugdebug software mentioned in a post above is very powerful. I think it would help anyone even if the goal is to install a different brand USB dongle/adapter as the software’s mission is to find anything on your computer that’s been hanging around related to BT, and in the process, it provides a very detailed report on just about everything else on your computer!.

In another post somewhere, I did mention that one thing I didn’t like in using the PC+ paired to my PC BT adapter and then relaying audio to my HA’s is there is a noticeable delay of up to seven seconds (it’s variable) from the time you click the Play button on a video before you hear the audio in your HA’s. That’s another reason to recommend using headphones of some kind, if they work with your HA’s. Since headphones work for me and it takes out the middleman of the PC+ relaying to the HA’s, there is little or no delay in playing audio directly from my Plugable BT adapter to my wireless headphones (and I can use them in wired fashion also if I want to save battery and perhaps get even slightly better audio quality).

#43

Thank you all very much for the detailed replies.

I tend to agree with jim_lewis. It may be simpler to use a over the ear BT headphone (over the hearing aids if necessary) to hear audio from players with the help of an adapter such as the Taotronics one. At least it works. To hear streaming audio or Youtube items I need to use a computer to have access to the internet, and so was trying to use a dongle to make the old PC BT enabled.

Btw, I wrote to Plugable along with the debug file and their reply (dated 4 December) was:

"The sad news I have to convey is that many hearing aids use non-standard connection methods that don’t work well in Windows, especially Windows 7, and in in interactions with other customers, we have not been able to get the Resound Phone Clip connected. Unfortunately, we don’t have one of those here to test in depth, but typically this happens because the device was designed to work with a mobile app using Bluetooth 4.0 that isn’t supported in Windows 7 (and often not in Windows 10).

_Since this likely isn’t going to work for you, please take advantage of Amazon’s 30-day return policy to receive a refund."

I did not get a reply from Zexmte although with their adapter I could see the pairing process on my computer screen which however failed.

I did return the Plugable and the Zexmte adapters.

I have come to the conclusion that trying to make an old PC with Windows 7 BT- enabled and, even more importantly, ‘pairable’ (my word) with the Phone Clip+ may be almost impossible and may not be worth it. There may be some basic difference between the capabilities of Windows 7 and 10.

Cheers.

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#44

I just spoke to 'Jeff" - an extremely helpful tech guy at Resound (1-888 735-4327). He confirmed that whether or not the PC is natively (?) BT-enabled or made so with a dongle there will be problem in pairing the PC with the Phone Clip if the OS is Windows 7.

He also confirmed that I should be able to pair it with my Mac Book Air (which is BT-enabled) in the Mac mode but not in the boot camp mode running Win 7 - I added this boot camp facility some years ago as I am more comfortable with Windows.

I am glad that this chat has saved me some pointless efforts with Win 7.

Cheers.

1 Like
#45

Your problem is most likely the bluetooth stack on your computer.

Check this out and see if it gets you started in the right direction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh-nP5u9fCk

Yes, this is specific to Windoze 7.