Measure audio latency.

What latency actually is

Latency here means the round-trip time between a sound leaving your speakers and your microphone picking it up — but the same underlying delay also governs how long it takes for your own voice to travel through your computer, out to whoever you're talking to, and (with monitoring on) back into your own ears. It's made up of several stacked delays: the audio driver's buffer, the operating system's mixing layer, any Bluetooth codec doing its own encode/decode, and finally the acoustic travel time from speaker to mic, which is real but tiny (about 3ms per meter of air). None of these show up individually in normal use — you only notice the sum.

Why it matters differently depending on what you're doing

A video call tolerates a surprising amount of latency — up to 150-200ms round trip still feels like a normal conversation, because there's no strict timing reference to compare against; you just perceive a very slight pause. Music production is far less forgiving: if you're playing an instrument while monitoring yourself through software, anything past about 10-15ms starts to feel like a slap-back echo, because your brain is comparing the delayed sound directly against the note you just physically played. Gaming sits in between — competitive, fast-reaction games make latency very noticeable through audio cues (footsteps, gunfire), while single-player or turn-based games barely register it at all.

Typical acceptable ranges

As a rough scale: under 30ms is effectively imperceptible for almost everyone, in almost any use case. 30-100ms is noticeable if you're specifically listening for it but doesn't disrupt a normal call or casual recording. Past 150-200ms, most people describe the delay as distinctly "laggy" — conversations start to get talked over, and live monitoring becomes actively distracting rather than just imperfect.

Common causes of high latency

• Bluetooth audio codecs — the default SBC codec used by most Bluetooth headphones can add 150-250ms on its own, because it buffers audio in chunks before transmitting. Codecs built for lower latency (aptX Low Latency, some game-mode presets) cut this substantially if your device and headphones both support one.
• USB audio buffer size— audio interfaces let you set a buffer size (often in samples: 64, 128, 256, 512...). A smaller buffer means lower latency but more risk of audio glitches if your computer can't keep up; a larger buffer is safer but adds delay.
• Driver issues— generic OS audio drivers add more overhead than a manufacturer's dedicated low-latency driver (ASIO on Windows, Core Audio on macOS handles this natively). Outdated drivers are also a common, overlooked source of extra delay.
• Wireless interference — a congested 2.4GHz band (crowded Wi-Fi, other Bluetooth devices nearby) can force retransmissions, which shows up as inconsistent, spiking latency rather than a steady number.

How to reduce it

Switch to a wired connection wherever latency actually matters — it removes the Bluetooth codec delay entirely. If you have to use Bluetooth, check whether your headphones and OS support a low-latency codec and enable it. On an audio interface, lower the buffer size until you hear glitches, then back off one step. And keep drivers current — a driver update is a five-minute fix that regularly resolves latency complaints that looked like a hardware problem. If the mic input itself sounds off rather than delayed, run our full microphone test first, or check mic permissions if it's not picking up anything at all.