KVR Audio

freddo · Post by **freddo** » Wed Jul 09, 2025 3:51 pm

I'm wanting to upgrade my PC to a mini PC, specifically the ASUS NUC 15 PRO+

I'm very much a hobby musician. I'm upgrading from an intel core i7 11700 Acer desktop. I don't want or need high end sound quality. PC audio is fine. But I'm worried about whether bluetooth audio will create too much latency? The only other way I can get audio out of this thing is to use the headphone out from my monitor, which will be connected via HDMI. Again, I'm concerned about latency. Would either of these methods make it unusable?

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Wed Jul 09, 2025 4:11 pm

My advice would be to get an ASIO audio interface if you're concerned about latency. These days even the cheap one's seem to be ok. Alternatively, you could give ASIO4ALL a try ...

freddo · Post by **freddo** » Wed Jul 09, 2025 5:44 pm

Thanks, I have that, but it was more to do with the fact that if I get this mini PC, it has to use the HDMI audio out through my monitor. I wondered if that would cause a noticeable delay.

FranklyFlawless · Post by **FranklyFlawless** » Fri Jul 11, 2025 8:02 am

Typical Bluetooth audio codecs have significant audio delays that should be avoided for real-time applications.

dellboy · Post by **dellboy** » Fri Jul 11, 2025 10:25 am

freddo wrote: Wed Jul 09, 2025 3:51 pm I'm wanting to upgrade my PC to a mini PC, specifically the ASUS NUC 15 PRO+

I'm very much a hobby musician. I'm upgrading from an intel core i7 11700 Acer desktop. I don't want or need high end sound quality. PC audio is fine. But I'm worried about whether bluetooth audio will create too much latency? The only other way I can get audio out of this thing is to use the headphone out from my monitor, which will be connected via HDMI. Again, I'm concerned about latency. Would either of these methods make it unusable?

It seems odd that they have not included mic or headphone sockets in the design. You could always use a USB C to 3.5mm headphone adapter if you only want audio out. That mini PC has 5.4 bluetooth and will get down to 20ms second latency which is fine for listening to, but no good for recording audio. If your monitor has a headphone socket it should be ok for listening to output, other than that, buy an audio interface.

uOpt · Post by **uOpt** » Fri Jul 11, 2025 11:28 pm

freddo wrote: Wed Jul 09, 2025 3:51 pm I'm wanting to upgrade my PC to a mini PC, specifically the ASUS NUC 15 PRO+

I'm very much a hobby musician. I'm upgrading from an intel core i7 11700 Acer desktop. I don't want or need high end sound quality. PC audio is fine. But I'm worried about whether bluetooth audio will create too much latency? The only other way I can get audio out of this thing is to use the headphone out from my monitor, which will be connected via HDMI. Again, I'm concerned about latency. Would either of these methods make it unusable?

Bluetooth sucks, don't even try.

The output on your monitor might have acceptable latency, but there isn't much chance that it has good D/A and analog path.

A $20 USB sound device will probably be better.

Pictus · Post by **Pictus** » Sat Jul 12, 2025 10:19 am

IF you want a USB dongle, check
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/foru ... iew.63038/

lfm · Post by **lfm** » Sun Jul 13, 2025 3:07 am

A comment on chips by Cirrus Logic, the CS-series is from Crystal Semiconductor which Cirrus bought, and really good chips.
- I had one DAC from beginning 90's and later 2000 I got a CS4397 based that I purchased on eBay
- just changing capacitors around CS4397 made massive difference
- also got rid of the differential OP-amp that destroyed high end register
- ran it single ended instead, taking signal from one output from chip instead

I also purchased another CS4397 board, which I just throwed away. It's a lot to do with surroundings too.

Since I am sideways on this topic anyway, I enclose a link to the project I followed modifying the DAC
http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/LAMPUCE ... zator.html

If any complaints I would look at surrounding components like capacitors.
- not valid for these dongles of course
- just the overall discussion on Cirrus Hump and stuff seems focused on the chip itself

Back to OP, the output to hdmi is most likely crap latency, as mentioned made for listening.

freddo · Post by **freddo** » Mon Jul 14, 2025 8:24 pm

Thanks for all the replies. I went for the sabrent usb-c to 3.5mm headphone/mic. Will test that with current pc to see if any good.

Ah_Dziz · Post by **Ah_Dziz** » Wed Jul 16, 2025 2:45 am

Using asio for all over an HDMI port is fine. With a decent system you can get around 128 samples latency which is fine for farting around with some synths.

freddo · Post by **freddo** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 10:06 am

Well, I bought the Sabrent USB-C Audio lead, and it works well through my current system. I coulddetect minimal latency, no different from using the default speaker output. Though isn't perfect, it's certainly usable, it's almost difficult to detect actually. So I'm quite happy with that. Thanks for your inputs, it helped a lot.

I did also try using my monitor headphone out, and tbh, there seems to be little difference if any, so it may be that I don't even need that lead after all. But I will keep it as a back up in case the Mini PC is different.

Pictus · Post by **Pictus** » Thu Jul 17, 2025 12:20 pm

freddo wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 10:06 am Well, I bought the Sabrent USB-C Audio lead, and it works well through my current system. I coulddetect minimal latency, no different from using the default speaker output. Though isn't perfect, it's certainly usable, it's almost difficult to detect actually. So I'm quite happy with that. Thanks for your inputs, it helped a lot.

You are welcome.
For lower Windows DPC latency/spikes check
viewtopic.php?t=621326

upgrade to mini PC - no audio output!