| Use Case | Best Solution | Root Required? | Latency |
|----------|---------------|----------------|---------|
| Send Android audio to OBS on PC | AudioRelay → VB-Cable (PC) | No | ~20 ms |
| Route music from Phone to Discord (Phone) | Audio Repeater (Mic loopback) | No | ~300 ms |
| Create a true virtual input for Termux audio | ALSA Loopback + tinyalsa | Yes | ~5 ms |
| Record internal audio + microphone | Android 10+ built-in screen recorder | No | Zero (file-based) |
| Real-time effect processing between apps | Not possible without custom ROM | N/A | N/A |
Best for: Musicians, advanced routing, splitting channels. Apps needed: Magisk Module (Audio Modification Library) + Internal Audio Router.
For users with rooted phones (users who have unlocked the bootloader and installed Magisk), the possibilities are endless. Root access bypasses Android's security sandbox, allowing true virtual cabling. virtual audio cable for android
This is the only way to get a true "VB-Cable" experience where you press play on Spotify, and your friend on the other end of a standard phone call hears the song instantly.
Best for: Screen recording with internal audio. | Use Case | Best Solution | Root Required
If you simply want to route all internal audio (games, music, notifications) to a recorder or stream, Google finally added native support in Android 10 via the MediaProjection API.
This is not a cable, but it functions like one. Apps like Screen Recorder or StreamLabs can capture the system’s output mix. Best for: Musicians, advanced routing, splitting channels
How to use it as a virtual cable:
Pros: No root required. Works on any Android 10+ device. Cons: You cannot route only WhatsApp to headphones while routing only YouTube to a recorder. It captures the whole system mix or nothing.
For advanced users with "rooted" devices, the most robust solution involves creating a loopback device at the kernel level.
Copyright 2012 Joel Nielsen |