AudioLink <-> Rondo 3 idiosyncrasies

[Mike Austin]

I'm sure I can't be the first person to be "challenged" by the idiosyncracies of wireless connectivity between a phone (for streaming audio), the AudioLink and the Rondo3.  I'm only about a week into using my AudioLink, and I think I've managed to come up with a range of suitable workarounds, but just thought I'd throw this out there and see if anyone else has similar observations and whether they have better solutions

My operating environment is:

• SSD
• iPhone 12 Pro running iOS16
• Rondo 3
• AudioLink - I use this as a mic and for streaming
• Audio2Ear App when wanting to stream podcasts, audiobooks, text-to-speech, training apps, etc direct to my Rondo 3 form my iPhone
• I turn on and start wearing the Rondo3 pretty much the moment I wake, up, and leave it on for most of the day (unless doing some sort of sports activity), so its pretty turned much on the whole time.  But I will stop/start the AudioLink, Audio2Ear App, etc as and when I need to.

A few things I've noticed:

1. Sometimes, when I turn on the AudioLink, it won't allow me to connect to the Rondo 3, as evidenced by me trying to activate the AudioLink mic and not getting any audio through it.  I've traced this down to the fact that, for some reason, something will trigger the AudioKey 2 App to connect to the Rondo 3, which prevents anything else from making a connection to it.  I can see in my iPhone Bluetooth settings that the Rondo 3 is showing "Connected", despite the fact that the AudioKey 2 App is not running (I have checked this numerous times to ensure its not in the background somewhere).  Only way to solve this is to open the AudioKey 2 App then shut it down.  This seems to sever the Bluetooth connection to the Rondo, and I can them get the AudioLink to connect.
2. If I'm streaming from my iPhone to my Rondo via the AudioLink and Audio2Ear App, and someone calls me, things will stop streaming and I can take the call and direct it to my processor.  When the call ends, it seems random as to whether I can easily reconnect with whatever I was streaming or not.  Sometimes it all just works and I just need to hit the play on whatever was paused.  Sometimes I have to go into the Audio2Ear App and stop streaming, then restart streaming, and it works again.  Other times I have to go through a long winded process of killing off the Audio2Ear App, turning the AudioLink off/on, restarting whatever I was streaming, etc, etc.  I've seen a few comments from people on the Med-El Group Facey page that seem to indicate this is pretty common.

Cheers,

Mike

[Alexandra Roberts]

After a year, I'm just starting to figure out my AudioLink. I have an iPhone 13 Pro currently running iOS 17.1.2.

Any time I turn on my AudioLink, my Rondos automatically connect in Bluetooth My Devices. I can't select "Forget This Device" for the Rondos as it then unpairs them from AudioKey.

BUT only one can be connected in the Bluetooth "My Devices" for the AudioLink to work. The only way to disconnect the Rondos from Bluetooth is to open the AudioKey app.

Funny thing is, when the Rondos are connected to the AudioKey app, they don't show connected on the Bluetooth My Devices list. Go figure.

 

[Mary Beth]

@Alexandra Roberts

If you are in the US, you can get 1:1 video help with that from Med-El US for free.  Just register for a time slot

https://web.cvent.com/event/9f87401e-5bd8-4868-9e78-1fbba262e086/regProcessStep1

[Alexandra Roberts]

@Mary Beth Thank you! That was actually how I figured out what was happening! The 1:1 video help is definitely something I'd recommend for anyone else trying to understand how it all the technology pieces work together. 

[Tim]

I'll look forward to seeing the discussion about the Audiolink. 

For the last month I haven't used my Audiolink at all.  I use the Rondo 3 for the greater comfort and IP rating in the office or running errands but when I get home/need connectivity, I use my Sonnet 2/Audiostream for better connectivity.

It seems that the Audiolink came out in July 2019. 

I wish that Med-El had developed a more robust followup product, say the AudioLink 2. 

• Bigger battery,
• More power for more stable wireless connections,
• More  reliable connector,
• More up to date BT protocols and BT chipset,
• More space for better antennas since it often needs to maintain multiple wireless connections simultaneously)

I bet @John Schulz will have a lot to say on this.  He has been investigating the BT protocol and chipset used by the Audiolink.

 

[John Schulz]

2 hours ago, Tim said:

I'll look forward to seeing the discussion about the Audiolink. 

For the last month I haven't used my Audiolink at all.  I use the Rondo 3 for the greater comfort and IP rating in the office or running errands but when I get home/need connectivity, I use my Sonnet 2/Audiostream for better connectivity.

It seems that the Audiolink came out in July 2019. 

I wish that Med-El had developed a more robust followup product, say the AudioLink 2. 

• Bigger battery,
• More power for more stable wireless connections,
• More  reliable connector,
• More up to date BT protocols and BT chipset,
• More space for better antennas since it often needs to maintain multiple wireless connections simultaneously)

I bet @John Schulz will have a lot to say on this.  He has been investigating the BT protocol and chipset used by the Audiolink.

 

I don't think Med-El should release a new AudioLink but instead ensure they have Bluetooth LE and AuraCast on the processors. There will be plenty of competition in the AuraCast broadcast device market that it wouldn't make sense for them to waste money and talent towards it. Based on what I'm hearing, they may have Bluetooth Classic enabled on their next BTE. It should also have the capabilities to do BLEA and AuraCast as Bluetooth 5.2 was officially finalized around the time they would've started their prototyping for the next BTE processor.

 

By the way, @MED-EL Moderator, I strongly recommend Med-El makes two firmware variants or a changeable setting; one that allows BT Classic and the other only allowing BLEA+AuraCast. As BLEA gets adopted, I foresee an awkward transition from Classic to BLEA with respects to pairing, initially at least. Enabling one or the other would allow your clients to choose ensuring connectivity with existing devices or ensuring maximum battery life and high quality streaming. This assumes that the internal chip is 5.2 or newer.

 

Hope this gives some insight!

[MED-EL Moderator]

Hi @John Schulz, thanks a lot for your feedback and suggestions.

We've passed them on to our experts. 

Have a nice day,

Giulia

[Jimit]

I just bumped into this post while navigating around. Looking at the history of the post, I can see @Mike Austinhas raised it 9 months ago and it recently came to light thanks to @Alexandra Roberts. 

I recently switched to an iPhone with the 15 pro max model and found the issues are still there which Mike raised 9 months ago. I was using Android earlier and it was all working smoothly, haven't had any issues with the Audio link (except the range issues). But with the iPhone, I am sometimes finding it hard to get things working (2nd observation from Mike in his comment).

Hoping to see MedEL come up with some updates in AudioKey or Audio2Ear app which fixes these annoying issues.