Sound, especially on the pc, is creating lag for various reasons which results in, the worst case, not beeing lip sync which is easily noticeable when watching movies - but in a lesser way noticeable when playing games. Its a subjective view if you notice this delay - me for myself, beeing a gamer, am quiet picky. In my experience the delay is noticeable starting with 15ms for SOME people.
my goal: 5.1 latency free pc audio with a av receiver.
In my testings it was not possible to archive anything like latency free audio output with the modded realtek drivers.
Summary
There a 3 sources to produce lag:
- Audio Source: Audio processing on the pc side
- Audio Destination: Audio processing on the output (avr) side
- Connection: Compressing and Decompressing for transferring the audio
Connection
As a result TosLink 5.1. is the worst connection method - it needs compression and this takes time.
5.1 Analog Audio is a good option - but modern AVR missing multichannel analog in and even my Denon 3010 got one, there is no audio post processing possible.
HDMI is the best option: no compression, digital and AVR can process the sound to make it sound really good. (depending on the avr)
Audio Source
Soundblaster Z 5.1 Analog = 40ms latency
Soundblaster Xi-Fi 5.1 Analog = 80ms latency
Mainboard 5.1 Analog (realtek), modded driver = 80+ms latency
Mainboard 5.1 Analog (realtek), default driver = no latency
HDMI, no driver processing = no latency
Audio Destination
AVR pure direct = 0-20ms, depends on the avr
AVR processing (default) = pure direct + 20-30ms
Test-Method
I tested several setups and measured this delay the following way:
I clicked within a "music-keyboard" software on a pianokey which results in one tone audio output. While doing this, i recorded the audio output with my android phone,uploaded the wav file and looked at the time between the mouse-click-sound and the audio output graphically.
The "baseline" (best possible result) was measured on a notebook with its integrated speakers (win10 default audio driver).
Hardware
MSI Ace Z390 with Realtek ACL 1220 Chip
Creative Soundbaster Z / XiFi USB
Denon AVR 3010 / Denon AVR x3100W / Teufel Decoderstation 5
Samsung Galaxy S9
Nvidia RTX 2070 Super (for hdmi audio out)
Software
Clean Windows 10
OceanAudio Wav Editor
X-VisualMusic "Piano Software"
Soundrecorder on the Android Device
As a result i go with the hdmi avr default processing solution.
Direct ("pure direct") passthrough on the avr side results in almost no latency (at least on the denon 3010) but sounds much worse than with processing.
Using anything like modded realtek driver, TosLink or even Creative Soundblaster (behind a AVR which additionally adds latency) is not the best way to get latency free pc audio. At least for gaming.
my goal: 5.1 latency free pc audio with a av receiver.
In my testings it was not possible to archive anything like latency free audio output with the modded realtek drivers.
Summary
There a 3 sources to produce lag:
- Audio Source: Audio processing on the pc side
- Audio Destination: Audio processing on the output (avr) side
- Connection: Compressing and Decompressing for transferring the audio
Connection
As a result TosLink 5.1. is the worst connection method - it needs compression and this takes time.
5.1 Analog Audio is a good option - but modern AVR missing multichannel analog in and even my Denon 3010 got one, there is no audio post processing possible.
HDMI is the best option: no compression, digital and AVR can process the sound to make it sound really good. (depending on the avr)
Audio Source
Soundblaster Z 5.1 Analog = 40ms latency
Soundblaster Xi-Fi 5.1 Analog = 80ms latency
Mainboard 5.1 Analog (realtek), modded driver = 80+ms latency
Mainboard 5.1 Analog (realtek), default driver = no latency
HDMI, no driver processing = no latency
Audio Destination
AVR pure direct = 0-20ms, depends on the avr
AVR processing (default) = pure direct + 20-30ms
Test-Method
I tested several setups and measured this delay the following way:
I clicked within a "music-keyboard" software on a pianokey which results in one tone audio output. While doing this, i recorded the audio output with my android phone,uploaded the wav file and looked at the time between the mouse-click-sound and the audio output graphically.
The "baseline" (best possible result) was measured on a notebook with its integrated speakers (win10 default audio driver).
Hardware
MSI Ace Z390 with Realtek ACL 1220 Chip
Creative Soundbaster Z / XiFi USB
Denon AVR 3010 / Denon AVR x3100W / Teufel Decoderstation 5
Samsung Galaxy S9
Nvidia RTX 2070 Super (for hdmi audio out)
Software
Clean Windows 10
OceanAudio Wav Editor
X-VisualMusic "Piano Software"
Soundrecorder on the Android Device
As a result i go with the hdmi avr default processing solution.
Direct ("pure direct") passthrough on the avr side results in almost no latency (at least on the denon 3010) but sounds much worse than with processing.
Using anything like modded realtek driver, TosLink or even Creative Soundblaster (behind a AVR which additionally adds latency) is not the best way to get latency free pc audio. At least for gaming.
PC Audio Out | Driver | Input | Input Mode | difference to baseline | comment |
Notebook | Windows Realtek | NB Speaker | 0 | +-10 | |
HDMI | Nvidia, no enhancements | Denon 3010 | Direct | 0 | +-10 |
HDMI | Nvidia | Denon 3010 | Default | 25 | Denon processing is adding 20-25ms, Nvidia Audio enhancements 5ms |
Realtek Analog 5.1 | Windows Default | Denon 3010 | Direct | 0 | same with HDMI |
SBZ Analog 5.1 | Creative | Denon 3010 | Direct | 40 | Creative Driver is adding 40ms |
SBZ TosLink | Creative | Denon 3010 | Direct | too much | Creative Driver is adding 40ms + TosLink compress |
Realtek Analog 5.1 | AAF 6.0.89000 | Denon 3010 | Direct | 100 | Modded Driver Adds 100ms |
HDMI | Nvidia, no enhancements | Denon X3100W | Direct | 20 | Denon X3100W is adding 20 by default, without processing |
HDMI | Nvidia, no enhancements | Denon X3100W | Game | 43 | Denon X3100W is adding 20 by default + 20ms in GameMode (+20ms in normal mode) |