Dear Billy,

Thank you for your message.

If your colleague in Arizona uses a Windows PC, ask them to pick the manufacturer-provided ASIO drivers for their audio interface when selecting the microphone and headphones in FarPlay’s Preferences, as shown in the version of our QuickStart guide customized for Windows users with external audio interfaces. If your colleague doesn’t yet have an external audio interface (maybe they’re just using a headset plugged into their PC), ask them to use this iRig USB mic and its ASIO drivers (unless they need an instrument/line input, in which case ask them to use a Focusrite Scarlett audio interface).

Ask your partner whether they can upgrade to a fiber connection, which could reduce latency from them to you by several ms. If fiber isn’t available, they should see whether an internet connection with at least 50 Mbit/s of upload speed, as we recommend, is available.

I think you might be using a Mac in Connecticut. If so, go to FarPlay’s Preferences > General Options. If your Mac is less than about a decade old, change your Audio Buffer Size to 16 (0.3 ms) to drop your local latency from 7 ms to about 2 ms.

If you’re using a built-in mic on a MacBook from 2016 or later, switch to a wired external mic. The easiest way is to use wired Apple EarPods, which have their own mic. Switching to the external mic on newer Macs eliminates 30 ms of latency (which is not reported in the latency estimate shown in FarPlay).

At both of your locations, make sure an Ethernet cable connects the computer to the router that receives the internet signal where it first comes into the home (avoid wireless repeater/extender routers and Ethernet-over-power adapters), turn Wi-Fi off on your computers, and turn VPN off, if used. Drag the latency slider as far to the left as you can while keeping sound quality acceptable.

For more suggestions, see the “Latency is too high” section of our troubleshooting guide.

Thank you,
David Liao