LatencyMon

LatencyMon is a simple application that lets you analyze if your computer is able to process audio in real time. To do this, the program will analyze the possible causes of buffer performance drops and measure the kernel latency time. At the end, it will show you a very intuitive report with all the information collected, plus its conclusions.

The usefulness of LatencyMon lies in the fact that Windows is not a real-time operating system. All the requests you make to the operating system are carried out following a system based primarily on efficiency, which does not guarantee that they'll be delivered within a specific time frame. This is not a problem for the vast majority of tasks you perform on your computer, but it is a problem for audio applications, because they need to deliver blocks of data to subsystems and hardware devices several times per second. If even one of these data blocks is not delivered on time, the audio is affected.

Keeping that in mind, it's easier to understand the emphasis LatencyMon places on showing whether your computer is capable of handling audio in real time without problems or quality drops. Best of all, obtaining this information is as simple as clicking the start button and waiting a few seconds. The analysis usually takes no more than 10 seconds, so you'll get the answer you were looking for in the blink of an eye.

LatencyMon is an easy-to-use and lightweight application, thanks to which you can collect very specific but very useful information. This information is particularly interesting for anyone who regularly creates content or watches movies and videos on their computers.