[jsmiller58]

Yeah, there are dropouts where both stop playing, and dropouts where one stops playing.

I have very, very infrequently experienced the one stops playing while the other one stays connected. So I do understand what folks are describing, but personally I don’t see it as a problem (though others certainly might, especially if they experience it more frequently).

For me the case where both cut out for me is a bit more frequent, but I don’t think I can say it is more prevalent than for other BT dongles or TWS. I find that some of those dropouts for me are actually the result of phone notifications pausing the music. There are times that I need to put the Go Pods back in their case and pull them back out again to reconnect pods and phone, but very infrequently.

This seems to be the result of unique combinations of factors (phone type, phone OS, configurations of settings on the phone) and likely some firmware issues…. Filing tickets, where all these details are captured, is going to help iFi get to the bottom of it.

One thought… do both pods connect separately to the source / phone, or is one the primary and the other connects to it? I ask because Bluetooth signals are notoriously bad at going through dense objects and in particular are easily blocked by water…. The human body is something like 70% water, and our skulls are very dense (no jokes, please ).

In the case of the configuration being a primary connected to the phone and the other connects to the primary and just one pod dropping, I wonder if there is simply not enough signal strength to maintain an always solid connection between the two pods. Anyway, IF there is sufficient spare gain in the circuit that could be adjusted with firmware, an option might be to turn up the signal strength on the connection between the two Go Pods.

If the both Pods are connected to the phone, I wonder if some of the cutouts are simply due to our phones, while being close to the pods, are just temporarily being sufficiently blocked by our bodies. If the dropouts are both pods (or even in the one pod drop out), and if there is sufficient spare gain in the receiver that could be adjusted by firmware, I wonder if firmware could be used to turn up the gain of the receiver in the pods….

Sorry, I really shouldn’t try to debug a system when I’m not familiar with the details!

 

[Nick24JJ]

One thought… do both pods connect separately to the source / phone, or is one the primary and the other connects to it? I ask because Bluetooth signals are notoriously bad at going through dense objects and in particular are easily blocked by water…. The human body is something like 70% water, and our skulls are very dense (no jokes, please ).

From the Go Pod webpage on iFi Audio:

True Wireless Mirroring​

Bluetooth stage

Another Qualcomm technology enabled in the GO pod is TrueWireless Mirroring. Both the left and right pods can receive Bluetooth signals, but only the one with the strongest connection acts as the receiver while the other mirrors the connected pod. If the listener moves position and the connection to the mirroring pod becomes stronger, they swap over so the mirroring pod becomes the receiver without interrupting the audio signal. Similarly, if the receiving pod is removed from the listener’s ear, the other pod becomes the receiver, ensuring a seamless true wireless stereo experience.

----------
My personal and subjective opinion: it seems that this True Wireless Mirroring implementation might have to do with the dropouts / disconnections. This true wireless stereo experience is not seamless for everyone.

 

[jsmiller58]

From the Go Pod webpage on iFi Audio:

True Wireless Mirroring​

Bluetooth stage

Another Qualcomm technology enabled in the GO pod is TrueWireless Mirroring. Both the left and right pods can receive Bluetooth signals, but only the one with the strongest connection acts as the receiver while the other mirrors the connected pod. If the listener moves position and the connection to the mirroring pod becomes stronger, they swap over so the mirroring pod becomes the receiver without interrupting the audio signal. Similarly, if the receiving pod is removed from the listener’s ear, the other pod becomes the receiver, ensuring a seamless true wireless stereo experience.

----------
My personal and subjective opinion: it seems that this True Wireless Mirroring implementation might have to do with the dropouts / disconnections. This true wireless stereo experience is not seamless for everyone.

I think you might have something there… hopefully it is on the iFi engineering team’s list of areas to explore.

 

[gryffe]

My Go Pods have developed a rather irritating new fault to add to the intermittent other faults that still sometimes occur for me and that I have shared on here over the months.
I pretty much only wear the Go-pods when out walking, and now they have started dropping out when I am on the move but when I stand still to try and rectify the issue they start to play back perfectly. So I stand still for 1,2 or 3 minutes and they are fine, but as soon as I start walking again the drop outs start immediately. I have MMCX connectors attached to my Go-pods and after a few months or so they were giving me all kinds of issues and I got them replaced after reporting this to support. The new connectors are now following a similar pattern of failure I reckon. The other annoying thing I find is the touch controls are a law unto themselves, the slightest touch or movement can cause them to pause whatever I'm listening to, or switch to another podcast on Youtube, lower or raise the volume to irritating levels. If there was a way to disable touch controls it would be a godsend, I do not need them although I understand many others will.
I will raise another ticket summarising this post but tbh I am at the end of my tether with these things and I am actually thinking of selling them, but then I think I'd just be in for a whole world of trouble as whoever bought them would think I'd sold them a faulty product and look for their money back. Maybe these things just aren't meant to be used on the move, does anybody else wear them while walking, running, at the gym etc and find they have no issues?

@iFi audio - Bubba, can any of the issues that I and others are reporting (especially drop outs) be fixed with a FW update? I don't religiously follow this thread so I am maybe missing suggestions that could help rectify what I experience, or info about future fixes on the horizon.

When the Go Pods work they are a fantastic product, maybe I'm just unlucky with my use case (mainly on the move), or maybe they are faulty who knows?

I'm sorry to be so negative with this post, but it is pretty much every day that I have issues (apart from a short period when the connectors were replaced) and I know you are fighting the good fight Bubba, so just want to put that on record.

 

[Nick24JJ]

My Go Pods have developed a rather irritating new fault to add to the intermittent other faults that still sometimes occur for me and that I have shared on here over the months.
I pretty much only wear the Go-pods when out walking, and now they have started dropping out when I am on the move but when I stand still to try and rectify the issue they start to play back perfectly. So I stand still for 1,2 or 3 minutes and they are fine, but as soon as I start walking again the drop outs start immediately. I have MMCX connectors attached to my Go-pods and after a few months or so they were giving me all kinds of issues and I got them replaced after reporting this to support. The new connectors are now following a similar pattern of failure I reckon. The other annoying thing I find is the touch controls are a law unto themselves, the slightest touch or movement can cause them to pause whatever I'm listening to, or switch to another podcast on Youtube, lower or raise the volume to irritating levels. If there was a way to disable touch controls it would be a godsend, I do not need them although I understand many others will.
I will raise another ticket summarising this post but tbh I am at the end of my tether with these things and I am actually thinking of selling them, but then I think I'd just be in for a whole world of trouble as whoever bought them would think I'd sold them a faulty product and look for their money back. Maybe these things just aren't meant to be used on the move, does anybody else wear them while walking, running, at the gym etc and find they have no issues?

@iFi audio - Bubba, can any of the issues that I and others are reporting (especially drop outs) be fixed with a FW update? I don't religiously follow this thread so I am maybe missing suggestions that could help rectify what I experience, or info about future fixes on the horizon.

When the Go Pods work they are a fantastic product, maybe I'm just unlucky with my use case (mainly on the move), or maybe they are faulty who knows?

I'm sorry to be so negative with this post, but it is pretty much every day that I have issues (apart from a short period when the connectors were replaced) and I know you are fighting the good fight Bubba, so just want to put that on record.

I am really sorry about these issues you are facing!

I am wearing my GO Pod all day long, almost, doing all kinds of things. That's the reason I bought them, to not have to carry my phone, dongles, DAPs and cables. Indoors, I am doing everything, from working at home while I sit on my desk, up to cooking and doing all kinds of chores. Outdoors, I am wearing them all the time walking in the city on in the park right across my street. No problems at all besides a disconnection of one Pod every 3 weeks, or so. I've wore them during the summer time, during some jogging sessions, as well, and it was then when the maximum volume raise happened to me, after a sweaty jogging session.

I disabled the buttons by tapping four times on the right Pod. A notification sound will inform you. If you want to enable the buttons again, just tap 4 times on the left Pod. Alternatively, you can disable them also via the GAIA App.

I own a pair of MMCX ear-hooks, too. No problem at all with them.

Good Luck

 

[gryffe]

I am really sorry about these issues you are facing!

I am wearing my GO Pod all day long, almost, doing all kinds of things. That's the reason I bought them, to not have to carry my phone, dongles, DAPs and cables. Indoors, I am doing everything, from working at home while I sit on my desk, up to cooking and doing all kinds of chores. Outdoors, I am wearing them all the time walking in the city on in the park right across my street. No problems at all besides a disconnection of one Pod every 3 weeks, or so. I've wore them during the summer time, during some jogging sessions, as well, and it was then when the maximum volume raise happened to me, after a sweaty jogging session.

I disabled the buttons by tapping four times on the right Pod. A notification sound will inform you. If you want to enable the buttons again, just tap 4 times on the left Pod. Alternatively, you can disable them also via the GAIA App.

I own a pair of MMCX ear-hooks, too. No problem at all with them.

Good Luck

Thanks for the reply Nick. Your reply makes me think mine have got to be faulty!! Do you listen to Youtube or internet radio when you are outside? This is pretty much all I listen to when walking, next time I'm out I'll try just playing some music files that I have on my phone and see if the drop outs happen. Not that it should make any difference what I'm listening to, but you never know. I don't know where I got the impression that touch control couldn't be disabled, it must have been here though. If they are disabled do they remain disabled till manually enabled, or can they reset themselves?

 

[Nick24JJ]

Thanks for the reply Nick. Your reply makes me think mine have got to be faulty!! Do you listen to Youtube or internet radio when you are outside? This is pretty much all I listen to when walking, next time I'm out I'll try just playing some music files that I have on my phone and see if the drop outs happen. Not that it should make any difference what I'm listening to, but you never know. I don't know where I got the impression that touch control couldn't be disabled, it must have been here though. If they are disabled do they remain disabled till manually enabled, or can they reset themselves?

I am listening to my own WAV files via UAPP, to YouTube Premium and to Amazon Music Unlimited. While indoors, I use Wi-Fi. Outdoors, I use Mobile Data. I am always using my GO Pod with my Samsung S23 Ultra. LDAC 990/909 kbps, fixed. No problems at all, indoors or outdoors.

Today, I also got my first DAP: the HiBy R6 Pro II. I had this device for like a week and a half now, testing it and I've decided to buy it, brand new, today.
The GO Pod can only do LDAC 660/606 kbps with the HiBy and also I have to carry the device with me or be in the same room with the DAP, to play flawlessly but this is expected. I didn't buy this DAP to use it with Bluetooth.

It has never happened to me the buttons to enable by themselves. I do not think they will do that!

 

[iFi audio]

I wanted to say thanks to both of you for sharing your use cases, perhaps something will come out of this that will be evident to us or to our tech folks that may lead to a solution.

Think of this even when Pods or anything for that matter go "in for repair" the environment and devices used for testing can be completely different. Putting our Heads together and comparing issues is (personally) why I think Head-Fi is a great forum.

Back in 2021, the iFi Zen Stream came out, at the time I did not work for iFi but loved what the ZS brought to my streaming music, so, in a nutshell, I started my own thread in 2022 on the ZS with the sole goal of helping folks figure out why their ZS was not working for them like it was for me. That thread is still around to this day and being posted on. Often times we as consumers are very quick to blame a single piece of equipment as the problem when in reality as I found sometimes it's a small combination of things that are giving grief. I believe Nick also had this with some other program interfering with enjoyment but once it was discovered all benefitted from his troubleshooting.

Being on the other side of the fence now (so to speak) I try and see both sides, sometimes it is the product, sometimes it's a combination of things, but all deserve attention, please know that for the most part, I am always watching, listening, learning, and then passing vital info on. This is how we all move forward, and how we make a better product.

Cheers!!

 

[gryffe]

I am listening to my own WAV files via UAPP, to YouTube Premium and to Amazon Music Unlimited. While indoors, I use Wi-Fi. Outdoors, I use Mobile Data. I am always using my GO Pod with my Samsung S23 Ultra. LDAC 990/909 kbps, fixed. No problems at all, indoors or outdoors.

Today, I also got my first DAP: the HiBy R6 Pro II. I had this device for like a week and a half now, testing it and I've decided to buy it, brand new, today.
The GO Pod can only do LDAC 660/606 kbps with the HiBy and also I have to carry the device with me or be in the same room with the DAP, to play flawlessly but this is expected. I didn't buy this DAP to use it with Bluetooth.

It has never happened to me the buttons to enable by themselves. I do not think they will do that!

I've had 3 x 30 min walks since I disabled the touch controls. Pretty much flawless playback, and that's with my Samsung S24+ and using LDAC 660/606 kbps. Previously I was using Best Effort(Adaptive Bit Rate) which I reckon is the default setting. I'll maybe increase to LDAC 990/909 kbps tonight.
I'm hanging fire till at least the weekend is over before claiming this as a solution though. There have been too many false dawns before where I think I've found a solution only for the issue to return after a day or two.

 

[iFi audio]

Good progress and good to hear!

Keep us updated!

Cheers!!

 

[gryffe]

Good progress and good to hear!

Keep us updated!

Cheers!!

Will do, but if 4 or 5 more days of flawless playback (with the touch controls disabled) is found to be the solution doesn't this mean the Go Pods are faulty?
I have no need for the touch controls and they actually bug the life out of me, and this was also the case with previous wireless IEM's where the touch controls worked relatively flawlessly. But what if I thought they touch controls were an essential part of the Go Pod experience, and found that the problems I am experiencing made them unusable for me?
We can cross that bridge when/if we come to it though.

 

[SeanS]

Will do, but if 4 or 5 more days of flawless playback (with the touch controls disabled) is found to be the solution doesn't this mean the Go Pods are faulty?
I have no need for the touch controls and they actually bug the life out of me, and this was also the case with previous wireless IEM's where the touch controls worked relatively flawlessly. But what if I thought they touch controls were an essential part of the Go Pod experience, and found that the problems I am experiencing made them unusable for me?
We can cross that bridge when/if we come to it though.

The ability to disable the touch controls is the best feature they've added so far. If you're carrying your source with you, and it has the Gaia app, you don't even need the touch controls.

 

[iFi audio]

Will do, but if 4 or 5 more days of flawless playback (with the touch controls disabled) is found to be the solution doesn't this mean the Go Pods are faulty?
I have no need for the touch controls and they actually bug the life out of me, and this was also the case with previous wireless IEM's where the touch controls worked relatively flawlessly. But what if I thought they touch controls were an essential part of the Go Pod experience, and found that the problems I am experiencing made them unusable for me?
We can cross that bridge when/if we come to it though.

I would be guessing here, but I would think some refinement to the sensitivity setting would be helpful to those experiencing issues related to this.

So I would think that would be a road to look at going down.

Cheers!!

 

[gryffe]

I would be guessing here, but I would think some refinement to the sensitivity setting would be helpful to those experiencing issues related to this.

So I would think that would be a road to look at going down.

Cheers!!

I've never even looked at sensitivity settings. These touch controls are like kryptonite for me

 

[iFi audio]

I've never even looked at sensitivity settings. These touch controls are like kryptonite for me

I think the sensitivity is .65 is what they told me a while ago should be helpful to those having issues. Try it out, and in the meantime, you can always disable the touch controls again.

After your post I began to wonder if it had anything to do with the BT Codec, stay with LDAC if you can you will probably be better off in the long run.

Cheers!!