Mac M1 Latency issue: headphone audio is quicker than speakers

AshFernando

hi, need help with my setup. MacBook Air M1 with Kontrol S2. The audio through the headphones is just a little quicker than that coming through the speakers. I have tried to mess around with the latency but still can’t get it to match up. It was fine when I was using an older Mac, but i recently upgraded to the M1 and moved to Traktor Pro 3 as well. Now I have this issue. Anyone know a fix?? I have a gig tomorrow….

thanks, Ash

Jon Watte

I don't know of a good solution -- this may be M1 audio hardware just being high-buffer-size.

That being said, what I would do for testing:

1) Record a very percussive sound (transient) that's just, say, 10 samples long. Play it out through both systems at once, and record it through a microphone, so you can measure the amount of time delay.

2) Use a cheap USB audio device instead of built-in speakers. You know, the $20 Amazon kind (or you can buy one at your local Best Buy or Target or similar, depending on where you are.) This will isolate whether the problem is M1 audio hardware, or not.

3) If the S2 interface is just constantly 50 milliseconds ahead of headphones, then place your PA speakers (assuming they're fed by the S2) 50 feet away from the computer! By the time the sound makes it from the speakers to the computer, the headphones will be playing it, because sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond. Getting a good measurement from step 1) will help with this. (Also, entirely depending on venue, this may be a good thing, or it may not even be possible.) Or rent a physical digital delay device, to delay the signal out from the S2 interface.

Jon Watte

I don't know of a good solution -- this may be M1 audio hardware just being high-buffer-size.

That being said, what I would do for testing:

1) Record a very percussive sound (transient) that's just, say, 10 samples long. Play it out through both systems at once, and record it through a microphone, so you can measure the amount of time delay.

2) Use a cheap USB audio device instead of built-in speakers. You know, the $20 Amazon kind (or you can buy one at your local Best Buy or Target or similar, depending on where you are.) This will isolate whether the problem is M1 audio hardware, or not.

3) If the S2 interface is just constantly 50 milliseconds ahead of headphones, then place your PA speakers (assuming they're fed by the S2) 50 feet away from the computer! By the time the sound makes it from the speakers to the computer, the headphones will be playing it, because sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond. Getting a good measurement from step 1) will help with this. (Also, entirely depending on venue, this may be a good thing, or it may not even be possible.) Or rent a physical digital delay device, to delay the signal out from the S2 interface.

AshFernando

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond mate.

The funny thing was that I didn’t have this issue when I plugged into the PA system at the gig. So you’re definitely right, it’s something to do with my amp and speaker setup at home. I’ll have another mess around and see if I can adjust any of the settings on the amp.

Thanks again, really appreciate it.