Delays

[makekyf]

Hello,

I recently purchased an XLR microphone and audio interface, mainly to record videos. So I've set up both and 'tuned' them through OBS, which I use to record my videos. However, I am so pleased with the sound quality, that I'd like to use the setup for calling, Zoom, et cetera, as well. I've installed VB-Audio Cable and all works well, except for a huge lag. E.g. I speak and the other person only hears me about 3 seconds later. Now, I've done some digging on the forum, and I'm fairly sure it's a latency issue, but I'm not sure if that's true. Could someone confirm whether or not it is a latency issue and if so, how I should adjust it in order to get rid of the lag, or at least improve it substantially?

P.s. I work on an M1-based Macbook Pro, and I'm fairly sure I can only adjust the Latency in the software. The lowest I can go for the mic to work, is 1536 smp, I think.


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[Vincent Burel]

as you can see on your screenshot, the VB-CABLE is currently using an internal buffer size of 7168 sample at 48kHz.
it makes 150 ms of buffer.
since the stream cannot use more than half of this buffer, you cannot get more than 70 ms delay with VB-CABLE.
(meaning less than 3% of your 3 second = 3000 ms).

so there is something else, generating delay.

[makekyf]

as you can see on your screenshot, the VB-CABLE is currently using an internal buffer size of 7168 sample at 48kHz.
it makes 150 ms of buffer.
since the stream cannot use more than half of this buffer, you cannot get more than 70 ms delay with VB-CABLE.
(meaning less than 3% of your 3 second = 3000 ms).

so there is something else, generating delay.

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for the swift and clear reply. Much appreciated!

To be honest, I don't know much about audio, and the settings don't make much sense to me either. Would it be okay for me to set the latency at 1536, or would that negatively impact the delay and/or the audio quality? Keeping it at this setting seemingly decreases the delay when I make a short recording through Quicktime. To be a tad more specific, the delays occur in a web app, like Zoom, WhatsApp, et cetera, through Chrome. Other mics (Jabra Bluetooth headset) work perfectly fine without any delays on these apps, though.

[makekyf]

Not sure if this is allowed, but: bump.

[Vincent Burel]

no we do not recommend to change the latency to 1536 because it can create other problems and won't change anything on your overall latency.
if you change the latency from 7168 to 1536 sample on VB-CABLE you can expect to earn 70 - 32 ms = 38ms ...
what is representing 38ms when you have 2000ms or 3000ms latency on your current system ?

you will see no change and will take the risk to get a unstable audio stream.

[makekyf]

Gotcha. I'll try to figure out where the delay comes from and how I can decrease it. Thanks again for your efforts, much appreciated.