diff --git a/crates/oak-app/src/oakui/audio_thread.rs b/crates/oak-app/src/oakui/audio_thread.rs
index bb0750a49..6bd385ddc 100644
--- a/crates/oak-app/src/oakui/audio_thread.rs
+++ b/crates/oak-app/src/oakui/audio_thread.rs
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ struct AudioJob {
 	params: AudioTicketParams,
 	start_ts: i64,
 	done: mpsc::Sender<(i64, RenderedAudio)>,
+	/// When the job was queued (diagnostics: submit→render latency).
+	enqueued: std::time::Instant,
 }
 
 /// The audio-render thread's job queue (set on first use; the sender is
@@ -59,8 +61,13 @@ pub fn submit(
 	done: mpsc::Sender<(i64, RenderedAudio)>,
 ) -> Result<(), String> {
 	let tx = ensure_thread();
-	tx.send(AudioJob { params, start_ts, done })
-		.map_err(|_| "the audio render thread has exited".to_string())
+	tx.send(AudioJob {
+		params,
+		start_ts,
+		done,
+		enqueued: std::time::Instant::now(),
+	})
+	.map_err(|_| "the audio render thread has exited".to_string())
 }
 
 /// The queue sender, starting the render thread on first use.
@@ -83,6 +90,8 @@ fn ensure_thread() -> mpsc::Sender<AudioJob> {
 /// The render loop: one job at a time; failures degrade to silence.
 fn render_loop(rx: mpsc::Receiver<AudioJob>) {
 	while let Ok(job) = rx.recv() {
+		let wait_ms = job.enqueued.elapsed().as_millis();
+		let t0 = std::time::Instant::now();
 		let data = match oak_render::eval::render_audio_samples(&job.params) {
 			Ok(TicketPayload::Audio(samples)) => RenderedAudio {
 				data: samples.samples,
@@ -91,6 +100,11 @@ fn render_loop(rx: mpsc::Receiver<AudioJob>) {
 			},
 			_ => silence_for(&job.params),
 		};
+		let ms = t0.elapsed().as_millis();
+		super::real::audio_dbg(&format!(
+			"chunk {} render: waited {wait_ms}ms, rendered in {ms}ms",
+			job.start_ts
+		));
 		let _ = job.done.send((job.start_ts, data));
 	}
 }
diff --git a/crates/oak-audio/src/outputdevice.rs b/crates/oak-audio/src/outputdevice.rs
index 7250e8cff..e4f2dc64d 100644
--- a/crates/oak-audio/src/outputdevice.rs
+++ b/crates/oak-audio/src/outputdevice.rs
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ use crate::previewdevice::PreviewAudioDevice;
 /// (clamped to the device's supported range).
 const FRAMES_PER_BUFFER: u32 = 512;
 
+/// OAK_DEBUG_AUDIO-gated diagnostics for the output stream.
+fn stream_dbg_enabled() -> bool {
+	static ENABLED: std::sync::OnceLock<bool> = std::sync::OnceLock::new();
+	*ENABLED.get_or_init(|| std::env::var_os("OAK_DEBUG_AUDIO").is_some())
+}
+
 /// An open (or openable) cpal output stream.
 pub struct PortAudioOutput {
 	/// Audio host/session (created lazily; `None` when unavailable).
@@ -103,6 +109,14 @@ impl PortAudioOutput {
 		let output_device = resolve_device(&host, device)
 			.ok_or_else(|| "no output device available".to_string())?;
 		let config = pick_config(&output_device, rate, channels)?;
+		if stream_dbg_enabled() {
+			eprintln!(
+				"[audio-stream] config: {} Hz, {} ch, buffer {:?}",
+				u32::from(config.sample_rate),
+				config.channels,
+				config.buffer_size
+			);
+		}
 
 		// The callback pulls whole frames from the shared device and
 		// advances the output clock (underrun → silence). `read` locks
@@ -112,8 +126,30 @@ impl PortAudioOutput {
 		let channels_usize = channels.max(1) as usize;
 		let sink_cb = sink.clone();
 		let scratch = RefCell::new(Vec::<u8>::new());
+		// OAK_DEBUG_AUDIO: true device-side request rate (callbacks/s and
+		// frames/s), aggregated once per second — this is the ground truth
+		// for production/consumption mismatch hunts.
+		let dbg_stats = RefCell::new((0u64, 0u64, std::time::Instant::now()));
 		let callback = move |out: &mut [f32], _info: &cpal::OutputCallbackInfo| {
 			let total = out.len();
+			if stream_dbg_enabled() {
+				let mut st = dbg_stats.borrow_mut();
+				st.0 += total as u64;
+				st.1 += 1;
+				let el = st.2.elapsed();
+				if el >= std::time::Duration::from_secs(1) {
+					let secs = el.as_secs_f64();
+					eprintln!(
+						"[audio-stream] callback: {:.1} calls/s, {:.0} samples/s ({} ch)",
+						st.1 as f64 / secs,
+						st.0 as f64 / secs,
+						channels_usize
+					);
+					st.0 = 0;
+					st.1 = 0;
+					st.2 = std::time::Instant::now();
+				}
+			}
 			let mut scratch = scratch.borrow_mut();
 			scratch.resize(total * 4, 0);
 			let got = sink_cb.read(scratch.as_mut_slice());