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I did a latency test of a lot of small portable speakers - JBL, Sony, Ue, Phillips etc... :)
Connected a 3,5mm jack from a Macbook Air to the speakers and put them next to the internal mic and recorded a ping through them to Logic pro X......I put the fastest ones in the top and the most laggy ones on the bottom..
The last two digits in the timeline are ms - so looking at the chart you can see how much latency the different speakers had on my system.
For me the best speaker was Marshall Stockwell which performed better than the internal MacbookSpeaker. The rest were pretty late....
All the best
Comments
That is an interesting test. I had no idea there was so much difference in plain speaker latency. Also, those waveforms look kind of trashed for everything except the internal speaker and the Beats Pill. Am I reading that correctly? Can you hear a noticeable difference in quality when you play back the recorded waveforms?
I was in a store so I turned up the output volume on the speakers which clipped the Internal mic. The waveforms are only usable to view in regards to their starting points, and I as I had a feeling when playing through them - they had a lot of latency....
So far the only ones I have found to have near zero latency has been
Marshall Stockwell
Minirig (semi harsh sounding)
Iloud - ( super harsh sounding)
This just increases my drool for those Marshall portables. They are gorgeous, the Woburn looks amazing.
So is it because the speakers are self-amplified that is causing latency? Passive speakers shouldn’t produce any noticeable latency, right?
Very useful test, thanks for doing this! I have been shocked by the latency of the portable speakers I have here (both Bose)--this shows objectively just how bad it is. LOL at Orion.
Yeah, but not battery powered, right?
Bro, the Woburn is 90W and battery powered! you’re right
Very interesting test!
I believe most Bluetooth capable speakers count on internal sound cards to help restore fidelity to the lossy nature of Bluetooth. My guess here, as I’ve suspected from the “little” speakers I’ve owned, is that even the line input passes through this circuitry in some models. Perhaps the Marshall is wire so that that signal goes straight to the power stage and speakers... hmmmm
My JBL Xtreme doesn't have latency via the AUX in as far as I can tell. I returned a Megaboom because it had terrible latency. Pretty sure the Flip 4 does not have latency via the AUX in either so not sure what's going on with your test.
Boo!
I have a Marshall Stanmore that is really quite impressive and certainly attractive (looks badass and adorable at the same time on top of my Pignose Hog) but when I’m not using headphones or the big PA, I tend to use Bose Soundlink (2? It’s a few years old) as it works fine for me and is battery powered, though I do plug in instead of Bluetooth.
Weird, all the speakers with latency must do an analog to digital conversion, and run some sort of dsp (eq probably?)on the audio. The nice thing about analog processors and amplifiers is they react instantly.
Indeed that seems to be the case. Complex EQ corrections might be cheaper when done in the digital domain today.
Very interesting test, thank you @xmortenx !
+1 for the Xtreme. I do remember comparing it to one of the smaller ones and noticing some latency on that, not sure if it was a flip or a charge, though.
In my JBL Charge 3 latency is horrible for guitar playing...
Any recommendations for current 2020 BT speakers for the lowest latency and natural sound via cord? Can anybody test JBL Xtreme 3, Sony XB43/33 or new Marshalls?
I doubt that you'll get really low latency via BT at all.
This thread is all about connection via cable and I am also asking about it.
I have a background in electronics and electrical engineering.
If this is a wired connection then I can’t think of any reason why there would be any meaningful latency at all.
Does anyone have any ideas? Do any of them use a dsp?
Yes, it is usually ADC -> DSP -> DAC using cable to AUX connection on portable speakers.
I would imagine wired latency would be pretty negligible otherwise it could render them virtually impossible to use in a live situation, any DSP could cause latency but again I would assume it would be minimised to not increase latency beyond useable levels.
I have some Harmon Kardon Studio 5 speakers and wired latency is atrocious. Super loud and bassy, but impossible to compose with.
Yep, this is exactly my problem with JBL Charge 3. Playing/recording live on any instrument is impossible.
I would like to have only one portable speaker for both:
1. Composing/playing via wired connection (with minimal latency and natural sound)
2. Listen to music by BT (latency is irrelevant)
@xmortenx Do you have access to 2020 speakers?
It isn't true that "any dsp" introduces latency that would make something unusable. A lot of musicians play through digital amps and effects chains. So, mere presence of dsp is not the problem.
Looks like Taetro uses a JBL Flip 4 I believe and composes. Might try that. They are $20 off atm.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/jbl-flip-4-portable-bluetooth-speaker-black/5733403.p?skuId=5733403&ref=212&loc=1&extStoreId=490&ref=212&loc=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtqL-BRC0ARIsAF4K3WHEEvyYaoTqh7tlZ3RpqCAiQnh2dYOBwfk9QM3Y9FZ8bn-jI0LaGxIaAra6EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
the Sony SRS-X3 is a fantastic older box, got a few for $50 each a while back. This manages to process the 3.5mm input with no latency.
If i were looking now, I would check out the newer version Sony XB33.
Or if I had a bigger budget I’d look at the Marshall amps ... just guessing they would have tested and designed for no-latency wired performance.
I am exactly thinking about new Sony or Marshall speakers. I am sceptical towards JBL after my experiences with Charge 3 model (huge latency and heavy modified sound).
So, I am asking with hope that somebody has new 2020 models at home and can make test like @xmortenx
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to ask whether there are any low latency wireless speakers suitable for keyboards/groove boxes? So output wirelessly from the 1/4 jacks at the rear into a stereo speaker.
I see there are wireless guitar amps available, but they are mono when wireless, plus not sure if they are great frequency range for other instrument types.
These are the guitar ones I've found:
https://www.nuxefx.com/mighty-air.html
https://www.boss.info/uk/products/katana-air/
https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/guitars_basses/amps_accessories/thr-ii/index.html
I was searching for something similar and came across these - like a wireless guitar jack, but also stereo. I’ve bought some (even cheaper on eBay), not arrived yet. If they have the same minimal latency as my wireless guitar (xvive U2) I’ll be happy, although this time my phone will be stuck on my guitar and stereo output from that to speaker:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08JD7QKJV/ref=pe_942301_45935611_TE_FOCE_n_id
If they really give you the 12ms latency then they look like a useful solution.
I've built one myself by re-purposing the electronics of old wireless headphones with analog RF transmission. They were a little bit noisy on the headphones but they're perfect for loudspeakers. And latency is virtually nonexistent.