This is a great description of the lowest level problem. But for those wondering why iOS doesn't have the problem or why only 10ms is such a difference, the ans

This is a great description of the lowest level problem. But for those wondering why iOS doesn't have the problem or why only 10ms is such a difference, the answer is that this is only the beginning of the problem of Android audio latency. There are still additional problems that add latency that span the entire Android stack from the actual hardware and drivers, to the kernel and scheduler, to the Android implementation of their audio APIs. Anybody who has tried to do any serious audio on Android knows the infamous Bug 3434: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3434 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3434 Google I/O 2013 did a pretty good talk on the problem and shows how there are problems across the entire stack. Glenn Kasten pretty much carries the brunt of all the audio problems with Android. I find it telling that he had to handcraft his own latency measurement device using an oscilloscope and LED because there were no actual tools built into the OS to help them analyze performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3kfEeMZ65c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3kfEeMZ65c Audio has been terrible since Android's inception. It has improved a little over time, but unfortunately, 7 years later is is still pretty much unacceptable for any serious work.