The host used to wait a fixed 1 s for the hook to publish a format and, on
timeout, fall to loopback permanently with no explanation -- which the now
slower (consensus) measurement made common. Restructure the audio thread to
keep the rings live the whole session and alternate: prefer hooked, and while
it isn't ready run loopback (echo) so guests still hear audio, watching the
ring to promote to the no-echo hooked path the instant the hook publishes a
format. Surface the concrete reason loopback is active (no format yet / not
renderable / no ring) in the Audio panel, in amber.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
BlackMark
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