Updated Latency Measurements

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A few days ago, I got a mail from Dan Galpin as an answer to my previous blog entry
The audio latency of the new Nexus 7 (2013) is not 40ms!. He mentioned this tip:
„Also, always measure latency through the headphone jack, because it’s quite common to have to postprocess audio for the (poor-quality) speakers in devices.“

OK, time for some additional measurements. I also used this opportunity to check some possible optimizations to my apps that could improve latency. Those optimizations are not part of the official releases so far and since they implicate larger changes, they probably will not for some time. However, the measurements show what can be achieved. I also added values for an Acer A500 as example of a „third-level device“.
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The audio latency of the new Nexus 7 (2013) is not 40ms!

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There have been many rumors before the release of the new Nexus 7 (2013). Personally, I was interested in one specific detail: audio latency (the time needed to output audio data). It’s the main reason why Android is not a good platform for interactive music apps like virtual instruments (see issue 3434).

For a long time, I could not find information about it.

Then, a day before the official announcement, android police leaked some information: they claimed a latency of 40ms as reported by Caustic 2. This number made it into many other articles. So many actually, I first thought: „Great, finally, there seems to be some interest in latency on Android. That may cause some pressure for the manufacturers“.

However, that number is totally flawed.
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