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Audio latency test: Oboe vs Web Audio

I built a native audio engine (Oboe/AAudio) inside NOVA Synth to see whether it could cut latency on Android. Results and conclusions, with the numbers.

In short

The native engine works and plays without crackling, but on the two phones tested it gives no audible advantage: Android does not grant the exclusive low-latency mode (MMAP). That is why I decided to stop the full port.

Measured latency (audio stream)

Oppo A77 · buffer ×118.6 ms

Oppo A77 · buffer ×225.6 ms

Oppo Reno · buffer ×140.7 ms

Google reference: pro-audio target20 ms

Reference: top-20 phones average (2021)≈39 ms

Audio-stream latency as reported by Oboe on the phones listed. It does not include touchscreen delay. Google references: a 20 ms round-trip target for pro audio; Google's 2021 test showed 28–56 ms across the top 20 phones.

What was tested

Native Oboe 1.8.0 engine (AAudio), float stereo output, lock-free queue between the UI and the audio thread.
Side-by-side Oboe / Web Audio comparison with keys and pads, buffer ×1 to ×4.
Exclusive mode was requested: both phones answered Shared, without MMAP.

Conclusion

The limit is the system, not the engine: until the phone grants Exclusive/MMAP, a native engine cannot go below the floor set by Android. On phones that do grant it the result may differ and remains to be verified.