Men Muheim wrote: > > > Thats true, but doesn't match my experience of trying to play with 512 > > sample buffers... although that probably doesn't equate to 512 samples > of > > latency, its probably more. > > It is more indeed! > > An ALSA audio interface normally uses two double-buffers. One for the > input and one for the output. 512 samples is the size of one half of the > double buffer. Therefore the minimum delay in your test was 2*512/48kHz > = 21.3ms. Usually the ADC/DAC adds another 1-2ms.
now that i read this, i probably need to correct my "comfortable latency" estimate by a few msec, but the basic point still stands. btw, when i do P.A. jobs, i have taken to setting up delay lines by ear, and only measure the distance afterwards to check. guess what ? i'm always correct within 3 msec, a little worse if the room has a lot of reverb. it's not hard to hear. at more than 5-8 msec, you feel that beats become fuzzy, and below that, you can judge by sound coloration (comb filter). granted, it's a slightly different situation, since you have both a delayed and an undelayed signal combined, but it goes to show you can hear quite a bit. i know a drummer who claims to listen for the sound color of snare and ride together to check if he's in sync...
