owntone-server/docs/audio-outputs/local-audio.md

Local audio

Local audio through ALSA

In the config file, you can select ALSA for local audio. This is the default.

When using ALSA, the server will try to synchronize playback with AirPlay. You can adjust the synchronization in the config file.

For most setups the default values in the config file should work. If they don't, there is help here

Local audio, Bluetooth and more through PulseAudio

In the config file, you can select PulseAudio for local audio. In addition to local audio, PulseAudio also supports an array of other targets, e.g. Bluetooth or DLNA. However, PulseAudio does require some setup, so here is a separate page with some help on that: PulseAudio

Note that if you select PulseAudio the "card" setting in the config file has no effect. Instead all sound cards detected by PulseAudio will be listed as speakers by OwnTone.

You can adjust the latency of PulseAudio playback in the config file.