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<font face="EB Garamond">Hi David,<br>
<br>
Thanks this was super-informative!<br>
<br>
We can likely rule out the idea that the smaller buffer sizes tax
the computer further, leading to more fan/PSU noise, since the
machine itself is not in the same room as the microphone.<br>
<br>
I am intrigued by your comments about the sampling rate on my
Babyface Pro. I have always set it to 48kHz whenever doing
low-latency audio or any audio that will be transmitted over a
network cable, which I mostly do superstitiously. Is there any
guidance out there about what the correct sampling rate would be
for my device, or about how to determine this answer for myself?<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
AG<br>
</font><br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 1/3/21 2:49 PM, David Kastrup wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:871rf1ssw0.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">"Andrew A. Grathwohl" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:andrew@grathwohl.me"><andrew@grathwohl.me></a> writes:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Hi folks,
I have a question about my microphone audio quality when
participating in a browser-based video conference, i.e., Google Meet and
Jitsi on chromium browser.
Starting last week, I have received numerous reports from coworkers
that my audio is considerably higher quality than normal. Although my
audio input has always been a high end vocal mic, the reports have
indicated that I sound even better than I usually do in these conferences.
My daily driver machine is a self-built Xeon workstation running
Arch Linux with (I think) a well-configured RT kernel and JACK2, whose
configuration if optimized for USB audio interfaces via this guide
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/list_of_jack_frame_period_settings_ideal_for_usb_interface"><https://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/list_of_jack_frame_period_settings_ideal_for_usb_interface></a>
[0]. I use a Peluso mic connected directly to my RME Babyface Pro
interface, which is running via one of my system's USB2 ports.
In pursuit of understanding why this is occurring, I looked at my
JACK2 settings to see if I'd changed anything lately. Sure enough, I
noticed that I have been working at a larger JACK2 hardware buffer size
than normal. I typically set my size to 64 since I do a lot of real-time
audio work, but have had it set to 256 or 512 lately to do some
different kinds of stuff on the system.
So, my question boils down to: is it reasonable to suspect the
hardware buffer size has something to do with these sudden quality
improvement reports from my friends & co-workers? If so, any insights
into why this is the case would be greatly appreciated.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
The question is whether they are mixing up audio quality and connection
quality. Larger buffer sizes may reduce the likelihood of dropout.
They don't really do much else. However, a small buffer size may tax
your computer much more, leading to more noise from the power supply
and/or the computer fan. Depending on where your microphone is
positioned, that can really make a difference.
Another, less likely, source of difference may be a change of sample
rate. Having something like the Babyface Pro work at the correct final
sample rate is likely to be a very good compromise between latency and
quality.
And one thing not to underestimate is that they may attribute a change
elsewhere to quality from you: I remember a Jitsi session where
everyone's audio was plagued with echoes except for one that came across
fine, from a Mac mini user.
Guess whose computer was actually responsible for messing up everyone's
audio with echoes...
</pre>
</blockquote>
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