[joe75]

Hi everyone, quick update:
The bad news that our firmware update ought to come out next week (we had been hoping to share it with you this week), but the good news is we think we’ll be able to correct an issue where sometimes one earbud won’t play music (but you can still hear it make notification chimes if you use the touch controls).

People who continue to have volume issues may find this interesting: Android causes separate volume settings on the transmitter (like your phone) and on Bluetooth headphones (like the grells). If you have been struggling to get enough volume or wish your Android device behaved the same way as an iOS/iPadOS device, check this link out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FiiO/comments/f31mbq/fiio_m6_really_low_volume_over_bluetooth/

Next week is fine for me for the battery drain fix -)
Thanks again for the head up.
Icing on the cake would be the addition of multipoint connectivity, those earbuds would get a much better recommendation
and would be ready to get proper reviews at last.
I saw the B&O EQ had a firmware update à couplé of weeks ago that did just that (not sure what qualcom chip they use)

@ ,Evshrug ,: ,Do you know how many user sound profilés from soundid can be stored at the same time on the buds?
It could be great if we could use a 5s long pression on the left earbud to activate (or toggle between different) profile (None, user profile, flat,) that way we would only need soundid app for updating firmware or redo/ make another sound profile.

 

[Evshrug]

We want multipoint too… problem is, it was advertised as a hardware feature of the Qualcomm 5141 chipset, but Qualcomm has yet to implement support for it and enable the feature. Good news is we believe the current hardware has been optimized for crossbody Bluetooth connection, and we believe we’re going to be able to improve the music playback stability between the left and right earpieces on our own. We’re closing in on that solution, but we figure the battery standby adjustment would still be good to give our loyal customers ASAP anyway.

My personal next project is to deliver more content on using and enjoying the grells. I think my first thing will be a video explaining what NAR is and how it works, but I hope to make content regularly, with Axel contributing education whenever it wouldn’t be taking him away from his goal to perfect the TWS/1 and prototypes for another product we hope to preview for the press at the Munich High End. I also reached out to another company about collaborating on something cool… looking forward to telling everyone more about that, but just teasers for now

 

[joe75]

Thanks, that's pretty good news all around.My only main complaint is the battery drain everything else i can live with it.
That's why i would really like a more gressive sleep mode to avoid wasting battery cycles and have the case completely empty in just a 4-5 days.
Well, i know even other brands including Bang&Olufsen can have similar problem (buds dont go to sleep if battery case is empty) but that's really not great

about the multipoint problem and snapdragon QC5141 chipset, i have found that information -i dont know how useful it can be for you- about jabra elite 3 using this same qualcom snapdragon chipset while having multipoint conn3ctivity.

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2...-collaborating-qualcomm-technologies-reinvent

thanks

 

[Markttp]

Hi everyone, quick update:
The bad news that our firmware update ought to come out next week (we had been hoping to share it with you this week), but the good news is we think we’ll be able to correct an issue where sometimes one earbud won’t play music (but you can still hear it make notification chimes if you use the touch controls).

People who continue to have volume issues may find this interesting: Android causes separate volume settings on the transmitter (like your phone) and on Bluetooth headphones (like the grells). If you have been struggling to get enough volume or wish your Android device behaved the same way as an iOS/iPadOS device, check this link out:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FiiO/comments/f31mbq/fiio_m6_really_low_volume_over_bluetooth/

New firmware 2.7.0 showing available when I just checked. Look forward to trying it out.

 

[Evshrug]

YES! I'm collecting the details, I want to be able to share exactly what has been improved with you guys! This one will at least help the battery last longer on standby

 

[joe75]

Thanks i saw the firmware 2.7 update this morning...it also appears on grell website.
Just finished uploading but still in process ( SoundID ”Updating to 2.7.0 firmware : Finalizing...)
Thank you so much for the delivery and working hard to solve those last issues, cannot wait to see how much deep sleep time has been shorten to help the with battery drain issue

 

[joe75]

to be confirmed the following days but first impressions today...seem promising
After the firmware update yesterday, i let the buds in the case charging for a few hours.

this late morning the case had still 4 bars when opening.i wont use them until monday ...checking from time to time their battery status.
But it looks like i can finally put them back in their case safely without worrying too much about that battery drain.
(like any true wireless should)

 

[Markttp]

to be confirmed the following days but first impressions today...seem promising
After the firmware update yesterday, i let the buds in the case charging for a few hours.

this late morning the case had still 4 bars when opening.i wont use them until monday ...checking from time to time their battery status.
But it looks like i can finally put them back in their case safely without worrying too much about that battery drain.
(like any true wireless should)

I'd agree that less charge seems to be disappearing now with buds just sitting in case.

I fully charged case April 5th evening 9pm.

I've used the buds about one and a half charges total since then.

Currently (3.5 days later) showing 2 lights. So maybe used only about half a charge (or maybe a bit less) over half a week whilst sitting in case?

Also, I've only really used Senn MTW2 longish term before, and that definitely didn't provide anything in real use close to what manufacturer's spec stated. So I think that for real use (where some power will always have to be used whilst buds are sitting in case), the performance of this case seems better in comparison now, whereas it felt just as bad before latest update.

I haven't been able to leave the buds alone as much as I would like to (to test out case) lol, so will be interested to see your comparison vs your experience prior to firmware update. I think that will be a lot more accurate than my findings.

I think I'll go back to normal use tomorrow and just see how my experience has changed but I've got a feeling it will seem like significantly longer between having to charge case vs before (enough to make me not feel like this is an issue anymore).

 

[Markttp]

Next week is fine for me for the battery drain fix -)
Thanks again for the head up.
Icing on the cake would be the addition of multipoint connectivity, those earbuds would get a much better recommendation
and would be ready to get proper reviews at last.
I saw the B&O EQ had a firmware update à couplé of weeks ago that did just that (not sure what qualcom chip they use)

@ ,Evshrug ,: ,Do you know how many user sound profilés from soundid can be stored at the same time on the buds?
It could be great if we could use a 5s long pression on the left earbud to activate (or toggle between different) profile (None, user profile, flat,) that way we would only need soundid app for updating firmware or redo/ make another sound profile.

Yes, B&O EQ do use same QCC5141 chip

 

[Markttp]

- Switching to the SoundID equalizer currently stops playback and the realtime EQ preview only works for the provided demo samples. I don't know if this is a limitation of Android but it would be great if I could change the EQ settings during normal playback and the settings would then be applied in realtime.


If would be really great if you could offer replacement filters additionally to replacement ear-tips.

EDIT: I retract below findings. I've tried to replicate several times and although I can start stream again, the sound isn't affected until any changes are 'uploaded to headphones'. I must have been mistaken.

I noticed this issue with trying to EQ sound using SoundID app.

However, recently, I tried it again and had a much better experience. I was streaming music, then started SoundID app, went to the screen where you can pick custom EQ and the streamed music stopped playing.

But I pulled down notification bar, and pressed play on the little dashboard you get and the streamed music restarted AND after sliding notifications back up (so I didn't actually leave the SoundID app at any point) it allowed me to make changes to the custom EQ which I could hear in real time in my own streamed music.

 

[joe75]

I'd agree that less charge seems to be disappearing now with buds just sitting in case.

[...]

So far the update seems quite solid.I have charged them once the 8th and just opened and got them out of the case each day for a few seconds.
And today 11th, it s still showing 4 bars...before the update it would have probably been completely empty in a 4 days span...
I will be able to enjoy them again now...

PS : they are not my main TWS and i dont use TWS every day, so that s why they can sometimes stay in the drawer for a few days and having the dispeasure of having to charge them again.

Hope we will get some detailed info about the time limit before they go back into sleep...

Thanks Grell Team for this much needed update!

 

[Evshrug]

I haven't been able to leave the buds alone as much as I would like to (to test out case) lol,

Haha! This is the best outcome

So, the battery standby improvement is the noticeable change in this firmware update. Previously, the mode setup was to use standby mode for 48 hours, then to switch to a deep sleep mode due to inactivity. Well, we guessed people liked to use the headphones more often than once every two days (awesome!), and this firmware changed the deep sleep mode to start after 2 hours of inactivity. We tested the change for a few days to make sure it could reconnect quickly to a phone from deep sleep mode… it worked ok, so we made the change!

Glad to read people are enjoying their grells!!!

 

[robo24]

Haha! This is the best outcome

So, the battery standby improvement is the noticeable change in this firmware update. Previously, the mode setup was to use standby mode for 48 hours, then to switch to a deep sleep mode due to inactivity. Well, we guessed people liked to use the headphones more often than once every two days (awesome!), and this firmware changed the deep sleep mode to start after 2 hours of inactivity. We tested the change for a few days to make sure it could reconnect quickly to a phone from deep sleep mode… it worked ok, so we made the change!

Glad to read people are enjoying their grells!!!

The little bit I've used them since this update, they've not had one side dropping out at random anymore so there's progress there too!

 

[joe75]

Haha! This is the best outcome

So, the battery standby improvement is the noticeable change in this firmware update. Previously, the mode setup was to use standby mode for 48 hours, then to switch to a deep sleep mode due to inactivity. Well, we guessed people liked to use the headphones more often than once every two days (awesome!), and this firmware changed the deep sleep mode to start after 2 hours of inactivity. We tested the change for a few days to make sure it could reconnect quickly to a phone from deep sleep mode… it worked ok, so we made the change!

Glad to read people are enjoying their grells!!!

Thans for giving the détail about the standby time reduced from 48hours to 2 hours.
It was certainly a much needed upgrade..!
Does this also work when the buds are out of the case?

I do believe though that without an app that ennables to change the value , it could have been closer to between 15 ton 30 minutes like most otherr earuds instead of 2 hours (honestly when put back in the case was hoping it would be instantaneous)
But again thabs for the upgrade, it is already much better

 

[robo24]

The little bit I've used them since this update, they've not had one side dropping out at random anymore so there's progress there too!

Well I spoke too soon and cursed myself. Shortly after this post. The right one stopped playing any music and simply keeps repeating "Power On". The left one will play. Doesn't matter if it's my iPhone or iMac, fully charged or not, connected via Bluetooth and/or with the Sound ID app. Sound ID now only tells me Update Failed when I try to change anything, and now sitting here the left one is picking up radio noise for the first time and that's all I can hear. Is there some way to hard reset these and hopefully get them working again?

I tried both types of reset as advised on the troubleshooting page and neither thing does anything.