diff --git a/src/RemSound.App/MainForm.cs b/src/RemSound.App/MainForm.cs
index bfb7787..08c040e 100644
--- a/src/RemSound.App/MainForm.cs
+++ b/src/RemSound.App/MainForm.cs
@@ -289,7 +289,6 @@ public sealed class MainForm : Form
private readonly AccessibleCheckBox continuousTuneAsioBox = new() { Text = "Continuous auto-tune ASIO latency", AutoSize = true };
private readonly ListBox smoothnessBox = new() { Width = 420, Height = 200, IntegralHeight = false, AccessibleName = "Buffer smoothness (Alt+B)" };
private readonly ListBox artefactBox = new() { Width = 420, Height = 60, IntegralHeight = false, AccessibleName = "Artefact sound type (Alt+A) — controls how audio gaps sound" };
- private readonly AccessibleCheckBox tightLatencyBox = new() { AutoSize = true };
// Priority mode (per profile). Sits as the first control on the Audio profile tab,
// ungrouped above the two GroupBoxes, so it's the first thing focus lands on when the
// user Tabs into the tab. Toggling marks the profile dirty (the setting lives in
@@ -1122,12 +1121,10 @@ public sealed class MainForm : Form
// The receiver-side hook was removed in the 2026-05-06 cleanup since the resampler is
// no longer in the receive path. The dialog checkbox label still says "Lock to audio
// clock" but only affects the sender now.
- var initialTightLatency = settings.LoadTightLatencyMode();
- sender.SetTightLatency(initialTightLatency);
- // Log it so post-test analysis can correlate clicks with tight-latency state without
- // having to infer from sender-engine restarts. Includes the audio mode because what
- // "tight" means is mode-dependent (per-callback ASIO emission vs. WASAPI push-mode).
- logFile.Event($"tight latency at startup: {(initialTightLatency ? "on" : "off")} (audio mode={settings.LoadAudioMode()})");
+ // Lock to audio clock is always on now (no longer a user option) — put the sender into
+ // tight-latency mode unconditionally.
+ sender.SetTightLatency(true);
+ logFile.Event($"tight latency at startup: on (always) (audio mode={settings.LoadAudioMode()})");
// Priority mode (per-profile). Applies every PerformanceMode lever on first launch
// under this profile so the OS doesn't start coasting before the user has tabbed
@@ -4630,40 +4627,10 @@ public sealed class MainForm : Form
panel.Controls.Add(codecAndSendLabel, 0, 0);
panel.Controls.Add(codecRowPanel, 1, 0);
- // === Row 1: Tight latency (sender-side, mode-dependent label) ===
- // Mnemonic was Alt+K until v1.5 (2026-05-15) when the Record menu took Alt+K at
- // the menu-bar level. Replaced with Alt+D — the D in "au&dio" is naturally part of
- // the word, no explicit "(Alt+...)" hint needed. Free on the Audio profile tab
- // (no other Audio-profile control uses D).
- var currentAudioModeForLabel = settings.LoadAudioMode();
- var tightLatencyText = currentAudioModeForLabel switch
- {
- AudioMode.WasapiOnly => "Lock to au&dio clock, WASAPI sender",
- AudioMode.BothIndependent => "Lock to au&dio clock, WASAPI + ASIO senders",
- _ => "Lock to au&dio clock",
- };
- var tightLatencyAccessible = currentAudioModeForLabel switch
- {
- AudioMode.WasapiOnly => "Lock to audio clock (Alt+D) — sender uses the WASAPI capture event for timing instead of a Stopwatch tick. Tightens delay; brief clicks possible if the link can't keep up.",
- AudioMode.BothIndependent => "Lock to audio clock (Alt+D) — both lanes tighten independently. WASAPI lane uses push-mode (single source); ASIO lane emits per callback. Brief clicks possible on either if the link can't keep up.",
- _ => "Lock to audio clock (Alt+D) — sender-side timing tighten.",
- };
- tightLatencyBox.Text = tightLatencyText;
- tightLatencyBox.AccessibleName = tightLatencyAccessible;
- tightLatencyBox.Checked = settings.LoadTightLatencyMode();
- tightLatencyBox.CheckedChanged += (_, _) =>
- {
- settings.SaveTightLatencyMode(tightLatencyBox.Checked);
- sender.SetTightLatency(tightLatencyBox.Checked);
- logFile.Event($"tight latency changed to {(tightLatencyBox.Checked ? "on" : "off")} (audio mode={settings.LoadAudioMode()})");
- MarkProfileDirty();
- };
- var tightLatencyLabel = new Label { Text = tightLatencyText, AutoSize = true, Anchor = AnchorStyles.Left };
- tightLatencyLabel.Click += (_, _) => tightLatencyBox.Focus();
- var tightLatencyContainer = new FlowLayoutPanel { AutoSize = true, Dock = DockStyle.Fill };
- tightLatencyContainer.Controls.Add(tightLatencyBox);
- panel.Controls.Add(tightLatencyLabel, 0, 1);
- panel.Controls.Add(tightLatencyContainer, 1, 1);
+ // "Lock to audio clock" (sender uses the WASAPI capture event for timing instead of a Stopwatch
+ // tick) is now ALWAYS ON and is no longer a user option (Ed, 2026-07-17: nobody ever runs with it
+ // off — off just adds delay). The sender is put into tight-latency mode unconditionally at startup;
+ // the old per-profile checkbox is gone.
group.Controls.Add(panel);
}
@@ -9493,8 +9460,8 @@ public sealed class MainForm : Form
// EffectiveOpusFrameSamples is samples-per-channel at 48 kHz; ÷ 48 → ms, ÷ 2 → half-frame.
return EffectiveOpusFrameSamples(item.Codec, item.OpusFrameSamples, rate) / 96.0;
}
- // PCM
- if (settings.LoadTightLatencyMode() && settings.LoadAudioMode() == AudioMode.AsioOnly)
+ // PCM. Lock to audio clock is always on now, so ASIO-only means per-callback emission.
+ if (settings.LoadAudioMode() == AudioMode.AsioOnly)
{
return 0.5; // per-callback ASIO send → ~one ASIO buffer, hard to know without driver introspection
}
diff --git a/src/RemSound.App/SelfTest.cs b/src/RemSound.App/SelfTest.cs
index caba615..10fff7f 100644
--- a/src/RemSound.App/SelfTest.cs
+++ b/src/RemSound.App/SelfTest.cs
@@ -806,12 +806,15 @@ internal static class SelfTest
/// divergences found auditing the service against the main app.
private static string? ServiceSenderParity()
{
+ // The profile deliberately carries the WRONG audio transport (raw PCM, broadcast frame, Standard
+ // rate) to prove the service IGNORES it and forces its known-good live config (Opus, 2.5 ms frame,
+ // Small packets, lock-to-clock) — the fix for the crackly-service report (Ed, 2026-07-17).
var profile = new Profile
{
Title = "parity",
- Codec = AudioTransportCodec.Opus,
- OpusFrameSamplesPerChannel = 960, // broadcast
- SendRate = SendRate.Tight, // "Small" — should halve the Opus frame to 480
+ Codec = AudioTransportCodec.Pcm,
+ OpusFrameSamplesPerChannel = 960,
+ SendRate = SendRate.Standard,
WasapiSendMode = "devices",
};
profile.SelectedWasapiSendOutputs.Add("fake-device-id"); // a source so ApplyProfile proceeds
@@ -820,17 +823,20 @@ internal static class SelfTest
profile.Password = RemSoundCrypto.Obfuscate(pw);
using var host = new ServiceSendHost(() => profile);
- Check(host.ApplyProfile(profile), "ApplyProfile should proceed with a source + peer + password");
+ // ApplyProfile sets the sender's crypto + codec BEFORE it opens the (fake) device; a device-open
+ // failure is now swallowed inside ApplyProfile, so this returns and the config is readable.
+ host.ApplyProfile(profile);
var cfg = host.SenderConfigForTest;
Check(cfg.Key is { Length: > 0 } && cfg.Key.SequenceEqual(RemSoundCrypto.DeriveKey(pw)),
"the service must set the audio key = DeriveKey(password)");
Check(cfg.Fingerprint is { Length: > 0 } && cfg.Fingerprint.SequenceEqual(RemSoundCrypto.Fingerprint(pw)),
"the service must set the audio FINGERPRINT = Fingerprint(password), or the peer rejects the stream");
- Check(cfg.Codec == AudioTransportCodec.Opus, "codec must round-trip to the sender");
- Check(cfg.Frame == MainForm.EffectiveOpusFrameSamples(AudioTransportCodec.Opus, 960, SendRate.Tight) && cfg.Frame == 480,
- $"the Small send rate must halve the Opus frame like the main app (got {cfg.Frame})");
- return "key + fingerprint + effective Opus frame match the main app";
+ Check(cfg.Codec == AudioTransportCodec.Opus,
+ $"the service must FORCE Opus regardless of the profile codec (got {cfg.Codec})");
+ Check(cfg.Frame == 120,
+ $"the service must force the 2.5 ms live Opus frame (120 samples), regardless of the profile (got {cfg.Frame})");
+ return "service forces Opus + 2.5ms frame + lock-to-clock regardless of profile; crypto matches";
}
/// The lock-screen service's app-yield token: while a hold is active the service must see an
diff --git a/src/RemSound.App/ServiceProfileDialog.cs b/src/RemSound.App/ServiceProfileDialog.cs
index 99da079..2fa2ead 100644
--- a/src/RemSound.App/ServiceProfileDialog.cs
+++ b/src/RemSound.App/ServiceProfileDialog.cs
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@ namespace RemSound.App;
/// The "Configure RemSound service profile" dialog: a self-contained, modal editor for the send-only
/// service profile, built to match the main window — same house controls, same layout rows, and the
/// same screen-reader wiring on the lists (via ), so it reads and
-/// behaves exactly like the real tabs. Tab order mirrors the main window: Connectivity, then Audio send,
-/// then Audio profile. Send-only and WASAPI-only: no receive controls, no ASIO, no "Send my audio"
+/// behaves exactly like the real tabs. Two tabs: Connectivity, then Audio send. The Audio profile tab
+/// was removed (2026-07-17) — codec/packet/lock-to-clock are fixed to known-good live values so nobody
+/// mis-tunes the service. Send-only and WASAPI-only: no receive controls, no ASIO, no "Send my audio"
/// toggle. Edits a clone; nothing is persisted until the caller acts on OK.
///
internal sealed class ServiceProfileDialog : Form
@@ -37,10 +38,13 @@ internal sealed class ServiceProfileDialog : Form
private readonly Label inputsStatus = new() { AutoSize = true, Text = "No input device selected." };
private MnemonicLabel? sendModeLabel, outputsLabel, appsLabel, inputsLabel;
- // --- Audio profile tab ---
- private readonly ComboBox codecBox = new() { DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList, Width = 360, AccessibleName = "Audio codec (Alt+C)" };
- private readonly ListBox sendRateBox = new() { Width = 360, Height = 40, IntegralHeight = false, AccessibleName = "Packet size (Alt+P)" };
- private readonly AccessibleCheckBox tightLatencyBox = new() { AutoSize = true };
+ // No "Audio profile" tab: the service always sends Opus at the live-jamming frame (2.5 ms), Small
+ // packets, and locked to the audio clock — the settings Ed found sound good. They're forced in
+ // SaveToProfile below and again at runtime in ServiceSendHost, so there's nothing to misconfigure
+ // (Ed, 2026-07-17: removed the tab; nobody should be touching these).
+ private const AudioTransportCodec ServiceCodec = AudioTransportCodec.Opus;
+ private const int ServiceOpusFrameSamples = 120; // 2.5 ms at 48 kHz — live latency
+ private const SendRate ServiceSendRate = SendRate.Tight; // "Small" packets
// --- Button row ---
private readonly Button saveButton = new() { Text = "&Save and Close", AutoSize = true, DialogResult = DialogResult.OK };
@@ -69,10 +73,10 @@ internal sealed class ServiceProfileDialog : Form
AccessibleName = "Configure RemSound service profile";
if (Theme.AppIcon is { } icon) Icon = icon;
- // Tabs in the main window's order: Connectivity, Audio send, Audio profile.
+ // Two tabs only now: Connectivity and Audio send. The Audio profile tab was removed — the codec,
+ // packet size and lock-to-clock are fixed to known-good live-jamming values (see fields above).
BuildConnectivityTab();
BuildAudioSendTab();
- BuildAudioProfileTab();
BuildButtonRow();
LoadFromProfile();
@@ -168,33 +172,6 @@ internal sealed class ServiceProfileDialog : Form
tabs.TabPages.Add(page);
}
- private void BuildAudioProfileTab()
- {
- var page = new TabPage("Audio profile");
- var panel = NewPanel();
-
- // Exact same codec choices, packet-size items and lock-to-clock label as the main window.
- codecBox.Items.AddRange(new object[]
- {
- new CodecChoice("PCM 48K 24 bit — uncompressed", AudioTransportCodec.Pcm, 0),
- new CodecChoice("Opus, broadcast quality — loss tolerant", AudioTransportCodec.Opus, 960),
- new CodecChoice("Opus, live latency — for jamming and monitoring", AudioTransportCodec.Opus, 120),
- });
- sendRateBox.Items.Add("Standard (5 ms PCM, 10/20 ms Opus)");
- sendRateBox.Items.Add("Small (2.5 ms PCM, 5/10 ms Opus, LAN only)");
- tightLatencyBox.Text = "Lock to au&dio clock, WASAPI sender";
- tightLatencyBox.AccessibleName = "Lock to audio clock (Alt+D) — sender uses the WASAPI capture event for timing instead of a Stopwatch tick. Tightens delay; brief clicks possible if the link can't keep up.";
-
- FormLayoutRows.AddRow(panel, 0, "Audio &codec (Alt+C)", codecBox, c => c.Focus());
- FormLayoutRows.AddRow(panel, 1, "&Packet size (Alt+P)", sendRateBox, c => c.Focus());
- var tightWrap = new FlowLayoutPanel { AutoSize = true, Dock = DockStyle.Fill };
- tightWrap.Controls.Add(tightLatencyBox);
- panel.Controls.Add(tightWrap, 1, 2);
-
- page.Controls.Add(panel);
- tabs.TabPages.Add(page);
- }
-
private void BuildButtonRow()
{
var outer = new TableLayoutPanel { Dock = DockStyle.Fill, ColumnCount = 1, RowCount = 2 };
@@ -237,10 +214,6 @@ internal sealed class ServiceProfileDialog : Form
sendAllAppsBox.Checked = working.SendAllApplications;
PopulateAppsList();
- SelectCodec();
- sendRateBox.SelectedIndex = Math.Clamp((int)working.SendRate, 0, sendRateBox.Items.Count - 1);
- tightLatencyBox.Checked = working.TightLatencyMode;
-
peersList.Items.Clear();
var allPeers = working.RememberedPeers.Concat(working.SelectedConnectedPeers)
.Where(p => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(p)).Distinct(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase).ToList();
@@ -263,9 +236,12 @@ internal sealed class ServiceProfileDialog : Form
working.SendAllApplications = sendAllAppsBox.Checked;
working.SelectedSendApplications = appsList.CheckedItems.OfType().Select(a => a.ProcessName).Distinct().ToList();
- if (codecBox.SelectedItem is CodecChoice c) { working.Codec = c.Codec; working.OpusFrameSamplesPerChannel = c.OpusFrameSamples; }
- working.SendRate = (SendRate)Math.Max(0, sendRateBox.SelectedIndex);
- working.TightLatencyMode = tightLatencyBox.Checked;
+ // Audio profile is fixed for the service (no tab): Opus live-jamming frame, Small packets, locked
+ // to the audio clock. These are also re-forced at runtime in ServiceSendHost.
+ working.Codec = ServiceCodec;
+ working.OpusFrameSamplesPerChannel = ServiceOpusFrameSamples;
+ working.SendRate = ServiceSendRate;
+ working.TightLatencyMode = true;
// Ticked peers are the ones the service sends to; keep every listed peer as remembered.
working.SelectedConnectedPeers = peersList.CheckedItems.OfType().Distinct().ToList();
@@ -303,14 +279,6 @@ internal sealed class ServiceProfileDialog : Form
}
}
- private void SelectCodec()
- {
- foreach (var item in codecBox.Items.OfType())
- if (item.Codec == working.Codec && (working.Codec == AudioTransportCodec.Pcm || item.OpusFrameSamples == working.OpusFrameSamplesPerChannel))
- { codecBox.SelectedItem = item; return; }
- if (codecBox.Items.Count > 0) codecBox.SelectedIndex = 0;
- }
-
private void ApplySendModeVisibility()
{
var supported = ProcessLoopbackCapture.IsSupported;
diff --git a/src/RemSound.App/ServiceSendHost.cs b/src/RemSound.App/ServiceSendHost.cs
index f75a6e5..f781945 100644
--- a/src/RemSound.App/ServiceSendHost.cs
+++ b/src/RemSound.App/ServiceSendHost.cs
@@ -311,19 +311,30 @@ public sealed class ServiceSendHost : IDisposable
var plainPassword = string.IsNullOrEmpty(profile.Password) ? "" : RemSoundCrypto.Deobfuscate(profile.Password);
sender.AudioKey = string.IsNullOrEmpty(plainPassword) ? null : RemSoundCrypto.DeriveKey(plainPassword);
sender.AudioFingerprint = string.IsNullOrEmpty(plainPassword) ? null : RemSoundCrypto.Fingerprint(plainPassword);
- // Opus frame size follows the send rate the same way the main app does (the "Small" rate
- // halves the Opus frame) — otherwise the service would encode at a different frame than the
- // main app would for the identical profile.
- sender.ConfigureCodec(profile.Codec, MainForm.EffectiveOpusFrameSamples(profile.Codec, profile.OpusFrameSamplesPerChannel, profile.SendRate));
- sender.SetSendRate(profile.SendRate);
- sender.SetTightLatency(profile.TightLatencyMode);
+ // The service's audio transport is FIXED to the known-good live-jamming config, regardless of
+ // what the profile carries (the config dialog no longer exposes these — Ed, 2026-07-17). Raw
+ // PCM sounded hideous over the service; Opus at the 2.5 ms live frame with Small packets and
+ // lock-to-clock is what sounds right. Forcing it here means a stale or hand-edited profile can
+ // never put the service back on a bad codec.
+ const AudioTransportCodec serviceCodec = AudioTransportCodec.Opus;
+ const int serviceOpusFrameSamples = 120; // 2.5 ms at 48 kHz
+ const SendRate serviceSendRate = SendRate.Tight; // "Small" packets
+ sender.ConfigureCodec(serviceCodec, MainForm.EffectiveOpusFrameSamples(serviceCodec, serviceOpusFrameSamples, serviceSendRate));
+ sender.SetSendRate(serviceSendRate);
+ sender.SetTightLatency(true); // lock to audio clock — always on
// Arm the full set to begin with (nothing is known-dead yet); RefreshSendArming then prunes any
// peer the heartbeat can't reach and re-arms it when it recovers.
allEndpoints = endpoints.ToArray();
armedSignature = null;
sender.SetReceivers(endpoints);
sender.Configure(specs);
- sender.Start();
+ // A device-open failure at Start must NOT throw out of the service loop. With lock-to-clock
+ // always on, the WASAPI lane uses push-mode, which opens the endpoint synchronously and throws
+ // (e.g. ArgumentException) if the device id is invalid or the device has vanished. Swallow it:
+ // presence still comes up, and the device-change watcher / self-heal re-open the capture when a
+ // good device appears. Without this guard a disappeared device would crash the whole service.
+ try { sender.Start(); }
+ catch (Exception ex) { log?.Invoke($"service: capture start failed ({ex.GetType().Name}: {ex.Message}) — presence up; will re-open when a device is available"); }
SwapMeterDevices(specs); // endpoint-meter readers for the deaf-capture detector
// Instant self-heal trigger: session-created notification on the default render device.
// Recreated per apply so it re-points at the current default after a device change.
diff --git a/src/RemSound.Core/Profile.cs b/src/RemSound.Core/Profile.cs
index b3fee49..eee527f 100644
--- a/src/RemSound.Core/Profile.cs
+++ b/src/RemSound.Core/Profile.cs
@@ -107,7 +107,11 @@ public sealed class Profile
[JsonPropertyName("OpusFrameMilliseconds")]
public int OpusFrameSamplesPerChannel { get; set; } = 480;
public int SendRateRaw { get; set; } = (int)SendRate.Standard;
- public bool TightLatencyMode { get; set; }
+ /// "Lock to audio clock" — sender uses the WASAPI capture event for timing. As of 2026-07-17
+ /// this is ALWAYS ON and no longer user-configurable (the app forces it true at startup and the
+ /// service forces it per stream); the field is kept only for profile-file backward compatibility.
+ /// Defaults true so any freshly created profile reflects the real behaviour.
+ public bool TightLatencyMode { get; set; } = true;
/// True if this profile asks Windows to keep the RemSound process in
/// high-priority mode while it's running — CPU scheduling, power management, memory
/// priority, working-set lock, and MMCSS thread priority all elevated. Off by default;
diff --git a/src/RemSound.Core/RemSoundSettingsStore.cs b/src/RemSound.Core/RemSoundSettingsStore.cs
index e86ce56..d882c0f 100644
--- a/src/RemSound.Core/RemSoundSettingsStore.cs
+++ b/src/RemSound.Core/RemSoundSettingsStore.cs
@@ -279,21 +279,9 @@ public sealed class RemSoundSettingsStore
Save(s);
}
- /// Tight-latency mode toggle. Sender-side only as of 2026-05-06 (the receiver no
- /// longer has a resampler to bypass). In WasapiOnly + single source mode the sender swaps
- /// from the timer-driven MixingEngine to the audio-clock-locked PushModeWasapiBackend; in
- /// AsioOnly + PCM mode the sender emits one packet per ASIO callback instead of accumulating
- /// to the chosen frame size. Saves a few ms of send-side latency at the cost of brief
- /// clicks if the link can't keep up. Off by default.
- public bool LoadTightLatencyMode(bool defaultValue = false) =>
- Try(() => Load()?.TightLatencyMode) ?? defaultValue;
-
- public void SaveTightLatencyMode(bool value)
- {
- var s = Load() ?? new Settings();
- s.TightLatencyMode = value;
- Save(s);
- }
+ // Tight-latency mode ("Lock to audio clock") is ALWAYS ON as of 2026-07-17 — no longer a user option,
+ // so the Load/Save accessors were removed. The app forces the sender tight at startup and the service
+ // per stream. The Settings cache still round-trips Profile.TightLatencyMode for file compatibility.
/// Priority mode for the current profile. When true, the App's
/// PerformanceMode helper drives every Win32 lever that elevates a process's