diff --git a/ts3-client/desktop/src/main/java/com/ts3client/audio/desktop/WavSoundPlayer.java b/ts3-client/desktop/src/main/java/com/ts3client/audio/desktop/WavSoundPlayer.java
index 0fae90d..643cc58 100644
--- a/ts3-client/desktop/src/main/java/com/ts3client/audio/desktop/WavSoundPlayer.java
+++ b/ts3-client/desktop/src/main/java/com/ts3client/audio/desktop/WavSoundPlayer.java
@@ -28,6 +28,14 @@ public final class WavSoundPlayer implements SoundPlayer {
      * triggered, so it is kept around for a spell of quiet rather than per sound.
      */
     private static final long IDLE_KEEP_OPEN_NANOS = 30_000_000_000L;
+    private static final long FRAME_NANOS = AudioDevices.FRAME_SIZE * 1_000_000_000L / AudioDevices.SAMPLE_RATE;
+    /**
+     * How far ahead of real time the mixer renders. The line would happily take a
+     * few hundred milliseconds at once, but anything written is fixed: a sound that
+     * fires while another plays can only join the mix past what is already queued,
+     * so the lead is kept to a couple of frames, enough to ride out scheduling jitter.
+     */
+    private static final long LEAD_NANOS = 3 * FRAME_NANOS;
     /** Sound files are small; this caps the decoded cache anyway. */
     private static final int MAX_CACHED_FILES = 64;
 
@@ -104,18 +112,29 @@ public final class WavSoundPlayer implements SoundPlayer {
      * Renders the active sounds onto one line, idling (rather than writing silence)
      * between them and giving the device back after {@link #IDLE_KEEP_OPEN_NANOS}.
      *
-     * <p>Idling matters for latency: the line buffers a few hundred milliseconds, so
-     * padding the gaps with silence would queue a sound behind all of it.
+     * <p>Latency matters here because a sound is heard against the click that caused
+     * it: the loop idles rather than writing silence, and while rendering it paces
+     * itself against the clock instead of filling the line, so at any moment no more
+     * than {@link #LEAD_NANOS} of audio is committed and a newly fired sound starts
+     * right behind it.
      */
     private void mixLoop() {
         AudioPlayback line = null;
         try {
             float[] mix = new float[AudioDevices.FRAME_SIZE];
+            long due = 0;           // when the next frame is due to leave the speaker
             while (awaitVoices()) {
                 if (line == null) {
                     line = AudioDevices.openPlayback(outputDevice, AudioDevices.MAX_CHANNELS);
                     line.start();
                 }
+                long now = System.nanoTime();
+                if (due < now) {
+                    due = now;      // fresh start or fell behind: resync
+                } else if (due - now > LEAD_NANOS) {
+                    Thread.sleep((due - now - LEAD_NANOS) / 1_000_000L);
+                }
+                due += FRAME_NANOS;
                 renderFrame(mix);
                 line.write(toBytes(mix, line.channels()), 0, mix.length * 2 * line.channels());
             }