fix(client-core): pad-audio references the WASAPI module by its mounted name

The Windows build of pf-client-core has been red on main since the
pad-audio merge (#23): pad_audio.rs calls
`crate::audio_wasapi::device_by_id`, but lib.rs mounts audio_wasapi.rs AS
`crate::audio` via the #[path] per-OS swap — the `audio_wasapi` module
name never exists. Windows-gated call site, so every Linux leg stayed
green while both `windows / build` targets failed E0433.

One-line rename to the mounted path (+ the comment that pointed readers
at the phantom name). Verification is the PR's own windows leg — the
crate builds on no other platform this path compiles on.

Cargo.lock

@@ -2893,6 +2893,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "ureq",
  "wasapi",
  "windows 0.62.2 (git+https://github.com/microsoft/windows-rs?rev=acb5a1a7441033d9312b16842af02eb0c2b403dc)",
+ "winreg",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3346,6 +3347,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "opus",
  "punktfunk-core",
  "tracing",
+ "uac-host",
+ "usbfs-iso",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -4985,6 +4988,14 @@ version = "1.20.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b6f5e870be6c3b371b77fe0ee0bafb859fa4964b4404c27de1d380043c4dda20"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "uac-host"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "git+https://github.com/unom-io/usbfs-iso?rev=f3de1fd62cec271d07f45664dc464f23e423e721#f3de1fd62cec271d07f45664dc464f23e423e721"
+dependencies = [
+ "usbfs-iso",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "uds_windows"
 version = "1.2.1"
@@ -5064,6 +5075,14 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "usbfs-iso"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "git+https://github.com/unom-io/usbfs-iso?rev=f3de1fd62cec271d07f45664dc464f23e423e721#f3de1fd62cec271d07f45664dc464f23e423e721"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "usbip-sim"
 version = "0.8.0"

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/ControllersScreen.kt

@@ -410,17 +410,68 @@ private fun DsRow(usbDev: android.hardware.usb.UsbDevice) {
                         Text("Grant USB access")
                     }
                 }
-                else -> Text(
-                    if (model == DsDevice.Model.DUALSHOCK4) {
-                        "Ready — captured at stream start: rumble, lightbar and gyro are " +
-                            "driven directly."
-                    } else {
-                        "Ready — captured at stream start: rumble, adaptive triggers, lightbar " +
-                            "and gyro are driven directly."
-                    },
-                    style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodySmall,
-                    color = MaterialTheme.colorScheme.onSurfaceVariant,
-                )
+                else -> {
+                    Text(
+                        if (model == DsDevice.Model.DUALSHOCK4) {
+                            "Ready — captured at stream start: rumble, lightbar and gyro are " +
+                                "driven directly."
+                        } else {
+                            "Ready — captured at stream start: rumble, adaptive triggers, lightbar " +
+                                "and gyro are driven directly."
+                        },
+                        style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodySmall,
+                        color = MaterialTheme.colorScheme.onSurfaceVariant,
+                    )
+                    // Pad-audio self test. Deliberately reachable WITHOUT a stream: it exists to
+                    // answer "can this phone drive this pad's audio endpoint at all", and gating
+                    // that behind a live session would make it depend on the very thing one wants
+                    // to rule out when a session misbehaves. DualSense only — the DS4 has no
+                    // 4-channel haptics device.
+                    if (model != DsDevice.Model.DUALSHOCK4) {
+                        var testing by remember { mutableStateOf(false) }
+                        var result by remember { mutableStateOf<String?>(null) }
+                        result?.let {
+                            Text(
+                                it,
+                                style = MaterialTheme.typography.bodySmall,
+                                color = MaterialTheme.colorScheme.onSurfaceVariant,
+                            )
+                        }
+                        OutlinedButton(
+                            enabled = !testing,
+                            onClick = {
+                                testing = true
+                                result = null
+                                Thread({
+                                    // Its OWN connection: the renderer's descriptor must never be
+                                    // shared with another transfer engine, and that applies to
+                                    // this test as much as to the real path.
+                                    val conn = runCatching { usbManager.openDevice(usbDev) }.getOrNull()
+                                    val fd = conn?.fileDescriptor ?: -1
+                                    val r = if (fd >= 0) {
+                                        io.unom.punktfunk.kit.NativeBridge.nativePadAudioSelfTest(fd, 3, 60)
+                                    } else {
+                                        -1
+                                    }
+                                    conn?.close()
+                                    val msg = when {
+                                        r > 0 -> "Haptics test passed — $r frames to the pad."
+                                        r == -1 -> "Could not open the pad's audio interface. " +
+                                            "Some kernels refuse it; the pad still works normally."
+                                        r == -2 -> "The audio stream stopped part-way."
+                                        else -> "The stream opened but no audio reached the pad."
+                                    }
+                                    android.os.Handler(android.os.Looper.getMainLooper()).post {
+                                        result = msg
+                                        testing = false
+                                    }
+                                }, "pf-pad-selftest-ui").start()
+                            },
+                        ) {
+                            Text(if (testing) "Testing…" else "Test haptics")
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
             }
         }
     }

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsScreen.kt

@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ import io.unom.punktfunk.kit.security.KnownHostStore
 // a controller: up/down moves the focus bar, left/right steps the focused value, A cycles/toggles it,
 // B closes. Both write the same SharedPreferences, so values round-trip with the touch settings.
 
-private class GpRow(
+internal class GpRow(
     val id: String,
     val header: String?,
     val label: String,
@@ -78,6 +78,15 @@ private class GpRow(
     val enabled: Boolean = true,    // dimmed + inert when false (still focusable, for its detail)
 )
 
+/**
+ * The row at [index], or null when it is dimmed. The single place the "disabled ⇒ inert" half of
+ * [GpRow.enabled] is enforced, so the three input paths (pad left/right, A, and a tap on the
+ * already-focused row) cannot drift apart — before this, `enabled` dimmed the label and nothing
+ * else, and every dimmed row still stepped its setting.
+ */
+internal fun liveRow(rows: List<GpRow>, index: Int): GpRow? =
+    rows.getOrNull(index)?.takeIf { it.enabled }
+
 @Composable
 fun GamepadSettingsScreen(
     initial: Settings,
@@ -144,11 +153,13 @@ fun GamepadSettingsScreen(
             when (dir) {
                 NavDir.UP -> if (focus > 0) focus--
                 NavDir.DOWN -> if (focus < rows.lastIndex) focus++
-                NavDir.LEFT -> { adjustDir = -1; rows.getOrNull(focus)?.adjust(-1) }
-                NavDir.RIGHT -> { adjustDir = 1; rows.getOrNull(focus)?.adjust(1) }
+                // A disabled row is INERT, not just dim — the step is refused instead of writing a
+                // setting that has nothing to act on (see `liveRow`).
+                NavDir.LEFT -> { adjustDir = -1; liveRow(rows, focus)?.adjust(-1) }
+                NavDir.RIGHT -> { adjustDir = 1; liveRow(rows, focus)?.adjust(1) }
             }
         },
-        onActivate = { adjustDir = 1; rows.getOrNull(focus)?.activate() },
+        onActivate = { adjustDir = 1; liveRow(rows, focus)?.activate() },
     )
     // Keep the focused row on screen, but only SCROLL when it's actually off-screen — so entering the
     // screen (focus on the first row) leaves the "Settings" heading visible instead of jumping past it.
@@ -186,7 +197,10 @@ fun GamepadSettingsScreen(
             }
             itemsIndexed(rows, key = { _, r -> r.id }) { index, row ->
                 SettingRowView(row, focused = index == focus, adjustDir = adjustDir, onClick = {
-                    if (focus == index) { adjustDir = 1; row.activate() } else focus = index
+                    // Same inertness as the pad path above — tapping a dimmed row focuses it (so
+                    // its detail explains itself) but never flips it.
+                    if (focus != index) focus = index
+                    else if (row.enabled) { adjustDir = 1; row.activate() }
                 })
             }
             }
@@ -340,7 +354,7 @@ private fun SettingRowView(row: GpRow, focused: Boolean, adjustDir: Int, onClick
 /** Build the console settings rows from the current [Settings], writing through [update].
  * [hasBodyVibrator] gates the "Rumble on this phone" row (absent on TVs); [av1Capable] gates the
  * AV1 codec entry (see `codecOptionsFor`). */
-private fun buildSettingsRows(
+internal fun buildSettingsRows(
     s: Settings,
     hasBodyVibrator: Boolean,
     av1Capable: Boolean,
@@ -348,13 +362,14 @@ private fun buildSettingsRows(
 ): List<GpRow> {
     fun <T> choice(
         id: String, header: String?, label: String, detail: String,
-        options: List<Pair<T, String>>, current: T, write: (T) -> Unit,
+        options: List<Pair<T, String>>, current: T, enabled: Boolean = true, write: (T) -> Unit,
     ): GpRow {
         val idx = options.indexOfFirst { it.first == current }
         return GpRow(
             id, header, label,
             value = options.getOrNull(idx)?.second ?: "—",
             detail = detail,
+            enabled = enabled,
             adjust = { delta ->
                 if (idx < 0) {
                     options.firstOrNull()?.let { write(it.first) } != null
@@ -371,11 +386,12 @@ private fun buildSettingsRows(
     }
     fun toggle(
         id: String, header: String?, label: String, detail: String,
-        value: Boolean, write: (Boolean) -> Unit,
+        value: Boolean, enabled: Boolean = true, write: (Boolean) -> Unit,
     ): GpRow = GpRow(
         id, header, label,
         value = if (value) "On" else "Off",
         detail = detail,
+        enabled = enabled,
         adjust = { delta -> val target = delta > 0; if (value != target) { write(target); true } else false },
         activate = { write(!value) },
         toggled = value,
@@ -478,22 +494,26 @@ private fun buildSettingsRows(
                 "so games don't see two of them.",
             s.gamepadForwarding,
         ) { update(s.copy(gamepadForwarding = it)) },
+        // Everything below the master switch follows it — dim and inert while nothing is being
+        // forwarded, the same relationship the touch settings draw with `enabled =`. This screen
+        // had the capability (`GpRow.enabled`) and used it only for the profiles placeholder, so
+        // the pad rows kept stepping settings that had nothing to act on.
         choice(
             "padType", null, "Controller type",
             "The virtual pad the host creates — Automatic matches this controller.",
-            GAMEPAD_OPTIONS, s.gamepad,
+            GAMEPAD_OPTIONS, s.gamepad, enabled = s.gamepadForwarding,
         ) { update(s.copy(gamepad = it)) },
         choice(
             "systemButtons", null, "Guide button",
             "Where the guide (Xbox/PS) and share presses go while streaming — Automatic " +
                 "sends them to the host whenever this device delivers them.",
-            SYSTEM_BUTTON_OPTIONS, s.systemButtons,
+            SYSTEM_BUTTON_OPTIONS, s.systemButtons, enabled = s.gamepadForwarding,
         ) { update(s.copy(systemButtons = it)) },
         choice(
             "guideGesture", null, "Hold Select for guide",
             "Hold Select alone to press the host's guide button — keep holding for a " +
                 "Gaming-Mode host's quick-access menu. A Select tap still goes through.",
-            GUIDE_GESTURE_OPTIONS, s.guideGesture,
+            GUIDE_GESTURE_OPTIONS, s.guideGesture, enabled = s.gamepadForwarding,
         ) { update(s.copy(guideGesture = it)) },
     ) + listOfNotNull(
         if (hasBodyVibrator) {
@@ -513,8 +533,18 @@ private fun buildSettingsRows(
             "sc2", null, "Steam Controller 2 passthrough",
             "Capture a Steam Controller 2 (wired, Puck dongle, or paired Bluetooth) and stream " +
                 "it as-is — Steam on the host drives it like the physical pad.",
-            s.sc2Capture,
+            s.sc2Capture, enabled = s.gamepadForwarding,
         ) { update(s.copy(sc2Capture = it)) },
+        // The SC2 row's twin, and missing here until now: the touch settings have carried both
+        // side by side, so a couch user on a TV box — where there IS no touch interface to fall
+        // back to — could turn on SC2 passthrough but not the Sony one. Same no-vibrator-gate
+        // reasoning: this capture renders feedback on the CONTROLLER's motors, not this device's.
+        toggle(
+            "dsCapture", null, "DualSense / DualShock passthrough (USB)",
+            "Drive a USB-connected Sony pad directly — rumble on any phone, plus adaptive " +
+                "triggers, lightbar and gyro.",
+            s.dsCapture, enabled = s.gamepadForwarding,
+        ) { update(s.copy(dsCapture = it)) },
     )
 }
 

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/HostConnect.kt

@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ suspend fun connectToHost(
             // The host's approval-list / trust-store label for this device — the same
             // Build.MODEL convention the pairing dialogs use for nativePair.
             Build.MODEL ?: "Android",
+            // Tier-A pad audio: ask for the 0xD1 plane only when a setting would render it, so a
+            // user with it off does not make the host provision endpoints it will never feed.
+            settings.padHaptics || settings.padSpeaker,
         )
     }
 }

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/Settings.kt

@@ -170,6 +170,26 @@ data class Settings(
      */
     val dsCapture: Boolean = true,
 
+    /**
+     * Render the host's DualSense **voice-coil haptics** on a captured USB pad (tier A).
+     *
+     * The pad's own 4-channel audio device carries them, driven directly over usbfs — Android's
+     * audio framework denylists that device by VID/PID, so there is no supported route to it. The
+     * two kinds are arbitrated rather than mixed, and on evidence: wire rumble is suppressed only
+     * while haptics frames are actually arriving, so a title that drives classic rumble and sends
+     * no haptics audio keeps rumbling. Off, or on an uncaptured/Bluetooth pad, the pad stays on
+     * ordinary rumble (tier C), which on this client already drives the same actuators.
+     */
+    val padHaptics: Boolean = true,
+
+    /**
+     * Render the pad's **built-in speaker** on a captured USB pad. Independent of [padHaptics] —
+     * the host sends the two as separate streams and either can play alone. Off by default: the
+     * speaker is a small, easily-startling loudspeaker in the user's hands, and unlike haptics it
+     * duplicates audio they are already hearing.
+     */
+    val padSpeaker: Boolean = false,
+
     /**
      * How a physical mouse drives the host — the cross-client mouse model (see [MouseMode]).
      * [MouseMode.DESKTOP] (default here) points absolutely; [MouseMode.CAPTURE] locks the pointer
@@ -271,6 +291,8 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
         rumbleOnPhone = prefs.getBoolean(K_RUMBLE_ON_PHONE, false),
         sc2Capture = prefs.getBoolean(K_SC2_CAPTURE, true),
         dsCapture = prefs.getBoolean(K_DS_CAPTURE, true),
+        padHaptics = prefs.getBoolean(K_PAD_HAPTICS, true),
+        padSpeaker = prefs.getBoolean(K_PAD_SPEAKER, false),
         mouseMode = prefs.getString(K_MOUSE_MODE, null)
             ?.let { name -> MouseMode.entries.firstOrNull { it.storedName == name } }
             // Migration: the pre-enum Boolean "pointer_capture" (true = lock the pointer). Its
@@ -308,6 +330,8 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
             .putBoolean(K_RUMBLE_ON_PHONE, s.rumbleOnPhone)
             .putBoolean(K_SC2_CAPTURE, s.sc2Capture)
             .putBoolean(K_DS_CAPTURE, s.dsCapture)
+            .putBoolean(K_PAD_HAPTICS, s.padHaptics)
+            .putBoolean(K_PAD_SPEAKER, s.padSpeaker)
             .putString(K_MOUSE_MODE, s.mouseMode.storedName)
             .putBoolean(K_INVERT_SCROLL, s.invertScroll)
             .apply()
@@ -355,6 +379,8 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
         const val K_RUMBLE_ON_PHONE = "rumble_on_phone"
         const val K_SC2_CAPTURE = "sc2_capture"
         const val K_DS_CAPTURE = "ds_capture"
+        const val K_PAD_HAPTICS = "pad_haptics"
+        const val K_PAD_SPEAKER = "pad_speaker"
         const val K_MOUSE_MODE = "mouse_mode"
 
         /** Legacy Boolean the [K_MOUSE_MODE] enum replaced — read once for migration, never written. */

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/SettingsScreen.kt

@@ -896,6 +896,22 @@ private fun ControllerSettings(s: Settings, update: (Settings) -> Unit, onOpenCo
                 enabled = s.gamepadForwarding,
                 onCheckedChange = { on -> update(s.copy(dsCapture = on)) },
             )
+            // Both only ever apply to a captured pad, so they follow that row and gate on it.
+            ToggleRow(
+                title = "Controller haptics",
+                subtitle = "Play the host's fine-grained DualSense haptics on the pad itself — " +
+                    "the pad keeps ordinary rumble for games that don't send them",
+                checked = s.padHaptics,
+                enabled = s.gamepadForwarding && s.dsCapture,
+                onCheckedChange = { on -> update(s.copy(padHaptics = on)) },
+            )
+            ToggleRow(
+                title = "Controller speaker",
+                subtitle = "Play audio the game sends to the controller's own speaker",
+                checked = s.padSpeaker,
+                enabled = s.gamepadForwarding && s.dsCapture,
+                onCheckedChange = { on -> update(s.copy(padSpeaker = on)) },
+            )
         }
     }
 }

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/StreamScreen.kt

@@ -507,6 +507,28 @@ fun StreamScreen(session: ActiveSession, onDisconnect: () -> Unit) {
         var dsUsbReceiver: BroadcastReceiver? = null
         if (ds != null) {
             feedback.sink = ds
+            // Tier-A pad audio: render the host's 0xD1 streams on the pad's own 4-channel USB
+            // audio device. Bound here rather than inside DsCapture because the session handle
+            // lives at this layer; DsCapture decides WHEN (it knows the wire index and the link
+            // lifetime), this decides WHETHER.
+            if (initialSettings.padHaptics || initialSettings.padSpeaker) {
+                ds.padAudio = object : DsCapture.PadAudioHook {
+                    override fun start(pad: Int, fd: Int) {
+                        val ok = NativeBridge.nativeStartPadAudio(
+                            handle,
+                            pad,
+                            fd,
+                            initialSettings.padHaptics,
+                            initialSettings.padSpeaker,
+                        )
+                        Log.i("punktfunk", "pad audio on pad $pad: ${if (ok) "started" else "unavailable"}")
+                    }
+
+                    // Returns only once the render thread is joined — DsCapture calls this before
+                    // closing the connection whose descriptor that thread borrows.
+                    override fun stop(pad: Int) = NativeBridge.nativeStopPadAudio(handle, pad)
+                }
+            }
             val usbManager = context.getSystemService(Context.USB_SERVICE) as UsbManager
             val usbDev = ds.findUsbDevice()
             when {

clients/android/app/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/GamepadSettingsRowsTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+package io.unom.punktfunk
+
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertFalse
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNull
+import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
+import org.junit.Test
+
+/**
+ * The controller-navigable settings rows: what the master forwarding switch governs, and that a
+ * governed row is inert rather than merely dim.
+ *
+ * The touch settings and the desktop console have carried this relationship for a while (`enabled =
+ * s.gamepadForwarding` / `RowSpec.enabled`); this screen dimmed nothing and stepped everything, so
+ * these tests pin both halves — the flag AND the refusal to write.
+ */
+class GamepadSettingsRowsTest {
+
+    /** Rows for a given forwarding state, capturing whatever a row writes back. */
+    private fun rows(
+        forwarding: Boolean,
+        sink: MutableList<Settings> = mutableListOf(),
+    ): List<GpRow> = buildSettingsRows(
+        Settings(gamepadForwarding = forwarding),
+        hasBodyVibrator = true,
+        av1Capable = true,
+    ) { sink += it }
+
+    private fun row(rows: List<GpRow>, id: String): GpRow =
+        rows.first { it.id == id }
+
+    /** Every row that only means something while a controller is actually being forwarded. */
+    private val governed = listOf("padType", "systemButtons", "guideGesture", "sc2", "dsCapture")
+
+    @Test
+    fun `forwarding off dims every row that depends on it`() {
+        val off = rows(forwarding = false)
+        for (id in governed) {
+            assertFalse("$id should be dimmed with forwarding off", row(off, id).enabled)
+        }
+        // The master switch itself stays live — otherwise it could never be turned back on.
+        assertTrue(row(off, "padForward").enabled)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `forwarding on leaves them all live`() {
+        val on = rows(forwarding = true)
+        for (id in governed) {
+            assertTrue("$id should be live with forwarding on", row(on, id).enabled)
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a dimmed row is inert - liveRow withholds it and nothing is written`() {
+        val writes = mutableListOf<Settings>()
+        val off = rows(forwarding = false, sink = writes)
+        for (id in governed) {
+            val i = off.indexOfFirst { it.id == id }
+            assertNull("$id must not be reachable while dimmed", liveRow(off, i))
+            // What the screen actually does on left/right/A — the whole point is that it no-ops.
+            liveRow(off, i)?.adjust(1)
+            liveRow(off, i)?.adjust(-1)
+            liveRow(off, i)?.activate()
+        }
+        assertEquals("a dimmed row wrote a setting", emptyList<Settings>(), writes)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the same rows do write once forwarding is on`() {
+        val writes = mutableListOf<Settings>()
+        val on = rows(forwarding = true, sink = writes)
+        val i = on.indexOfFirst { it.id == "sc2" }
+        assertNotNull(liveRow(on, i))
+        liveRow(on, i)?.activate()
+        assertEquals(1, writes.size)
+        assertFalse("activate flips the toggle", writes[0].sc2Capture)
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * R18: the Sony passthrough toggle the touch settings have always had. It matters most exactly
+     * where this screen is the only one reachable — a TV box has no touch interface to fall back to.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun `the DualSense passthrough toggle is present, next to its SC2 twin`() {
+        val on = rows(forwarding = true)
+        val ids = on.map { it.id }
+        assertTrue("dsCapture row is missing", "dsCapture" in ids)
+        assertEquals(
+            "the two passthrough rows belong side by side",
+            ids.indexOf("sc2") + 1,
+            ids.indexOf("dsCapture"),
+        )
+        // Drawn as a switch, and reading the persisted default.
+        assertEquals(true, row(on, "dsCapture").toggled)
+    }
+}

clients/android/kit/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/DsCapture.kt

@@ -23,8 +23,9 @@ import android.view.InputDevice
  * Input: parse ([DsDevice.parseState]) → typed mirror on an [GamepadRouter.ExternalPad] (buttons
  * diffed, axes on-change — the exit chord participates like any pad) + the rich plane (touch
  * normalized to the wire's 0..65535 screen space on-change; motion forwarded per report in raw
- * device units, the wire's contract). The wire slot is claimed lazily on the FIRST parsed report
- * and freed on unplug/[stop], so indices never leak.
+ * device units, the wire's contract). The wire slot is claimed when the capture engages, with the
+ * first parsed report as the fallback for a claim that found no free index, and freed on
+ * unplug/[stop], so indices never leak.
  *
  * Feedback: implements [GamepadFeedback.PadFeedbackSink] — rumble / trigger / lightbar / player
  * LED events addressed to this pad's wire index become USB output reports on the physical pad
@@ -78,6 +79,33 @@ class DsCapture(
     @Volatile
     var onActiveChanged: ((active: Boolean) -> Unit)? = null
 
+    /**
+     * Tier-A pad audio, bound by the app layer (which owns the session handle).
+     *
+     * [start] is called once the router has assigned this pad a wire index, which the host uses to
+     * address the `0xD1` stream. [stop] is called **before** the USB link closes — on [stop] and on
+     * unplug alike — and must not return until nothing is still writing to the descriptor.
+     */
+    interface PadAudioHook {
+        fun start(pad: Int, fd: Int)
+        fun stop(pad: Int)
+    }
+
+    @Volatile
+    var padAudio: PadAudioHook? = null
+
+    /** True once [PadAudioHook.start] has run for the current capture, so it fires exactly once. */
+    @Volatile private var padAudioStarted = false
+
+    /**
+     * The renderer's OWN connection to the pad.
+     *
+     * It must not share [usb]'s descriptor: two transfer engines on one usbfs descriptor reap each
+     * other's completions (see [HidUsbLink.openAuxConnection]), which strands both the HID reader
+     * and the audio ring. Closed only after the hook's stop has returned.
+     */
+    @Volatile private var padAudioConn: android.hardware.usb.UsbDeviceConnection? = null
+
     val isActive: Boolean get() = model != null
 
     /** First attached Sony USB pad, for the permission flow. Needs no permission to enumerate. */
@@ -105,12 +133,17 @@ class DsCapture(
         // (the same init hid-playstation/SDL send on open).
         if (m != DsDevice.Model.DUALSHOCK4) usb.writeRaw(0, DsDevice.ds5InitReport(m))
         Log.i(TAG, "Sony pad captured over USB: PID=0x%04x model=%s".format(dev.productId, m))
+        ensureSlot(m)
         onActiveChanged?.invoke(true)
         return true
     }
 
     /** Stop the link and free the wire slot (host tears the virtual pad down). Idempotent. */
     fun stop() {
+        // Before anything touches the link: the pad-audio renderer borrows this connection's
+        // descriptor, and `usb.stop()` closes it. The hook does not return until its thread is
+        // joined, so ordering this first is what makes the borrow sound.
+        stopPadAudio()
         val m = model
         if (m != null) {
             // The interfaces are about to release with the kernel driver still detached — a
@@ -136,16 +169,112 @@ class DsCapture(
     private fun onReport(report: ByteArray, len: Int) {
         val m = model ?: return
         if (!DsDevice.parseState(m, report, len, state)) return
-        val p = pad ?: router.openExternal(m.pref)?.also {
-            pad = it
-            Log.i(TAG, "captured $m → wire pad ${it.index}")
-        } ?: return // all 16 wire indices taken — drop until one frees
+        // Normally claimed already, at capture time; this is the retry for a capture that engaged
+        // while every wire index was taken.
+        val p = pad ?: ensureSlot(m) ?: return // all 16 taken — drop until one frees
         mirrorTyped(p)
         mirrorRich(p, m)
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Claim this capture's wire slot and start pad audio on it. Idempotent; null when all 16
+     * indices are taken.
+     *
+     * Claimed when the capture engages rather than on the first report, because a pad that reports
+     * nothing is still a pad: with the lazy claim, a captured-but-silent pad left the host with no
+     * arrival, hence no virtual pad, no pad-audio capability and so no `0xD1` — a renderer sitting
+     * at zero frames, indistinguishable from a broken pipeline (it took a physical replug to
+     * clear). Callable from the main thread (capture start) and the link thread (the fallback).
+     */
+    @Synchronized
+    private fun ensureSlot(m: DsDevice.Model): GamepadRouter.ExternalPad? {
+        pad?.let { return it }
+        val p = router.openExternal(m.pref) ?: return null
+        pad = p
+        Log.i(TAG, "captured $m → wire pad ${p.index}")
+        // The wire index exists from here on, and the host addresses pad audio by it.
+        startPadAudio(p.index)
+        return p
+    }
+
+    /** Hand the renderer its own descriptor. Caller holds the monitor; fires once per capture. */
+    private fun startPadAudio(index: Int) {
+        val hook = padAudio ?: return
+        if (padAudioStarted) return
+        // A dedicated connection, NOT usb.fileDescriptor — see padAudioConn.
+        val conn = usb.openAuxConnection()
+        val fd = conn?.fileDescriptor ?: -1
+        if (fd < 0) {
+            conn?.close()
+            Log.w(TAG, "pad audio: could not open a second USB connection")
+            return
+        }
+        padAudioConn = conn
+        padAudioStarted = true
+        // Real-world self test, opt-in: `adb shell setprop debug.punktfunk.pad_audio_selftest 3`
+        // drives the voice coils for N seconds through the actual client path before the renderer
+        // takes over — the one check that proves the descriptor, the interface claim and the write
+        // path all work on THIS device, without needing a host to be streaming. Same convention as
+        // debug.punktfunk.force_parts.
+        val secs = runCatching {
+            Class.forName("android.os.SystemProperties")
+                .getMethod("get", String::class.java, String::class.java)
+                .invoke(null, "debug.punktfunk.pad_audio_selftest", "0") as String
+        }.getOrNull()?.toIntOrNull() ?: 0
+        if (secs > 0) {
+            // Diagnostic mode: the self test OWNS this descriptor for the capture, and the renderer
+            // must not also drive it — two engines on one usbfs descriptor reap each other's
+            // completions, which is precisely the fault this test exists to expose.
+            Thread({
+                val r = NativeBridge.nativePadAudioSelfTest(fd, secs, 60)
+                Log.i(TAG, "pad audio self-test → ${if (r > 0) "PASS ($r frames)" else "FAIL ($r)"}")
+            }, "pf-pad-selftest").start()
+        } else {
+            // B6: hand the coils back before the first haptics frame. Any rumble earlier in this
+            // session asserted HAPTICS_SELECT, which firmware-mutes them, and nothing else ever
+            // clears it — so without this the stream renders into a muted actuator and looks for
+            // all the world like the host is sending nothing.
+            restoreAudioHaptics()
+            hook.start(index, fd)
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * B6: clear the rumble/haptics-select bits so the pad's voice coils answer the audio-haptics
+     * path again. EP0-direct, like the other out-of-band writes here: this has to land even when
+     * the interrupt-OUT queue is busy or draining, and it is idempotent.
+     */
+    private fun restoreAudioHaptics() {
+        val m = model ?: return
+        if (m == DsDevice.Model.DUALSHOCK4) return // no voice coils, no audio-haptics path
+        if (!usb.writeControl(DsDevice.ds5AudioHapticsReport(m))) {
+            Log.w(TAG, "pad audio: could not hand the coils back to audio haptics")
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Stop the renderer, then close the connection whose descriptor it borrows — in that order.
+     *
+     * Runs on [stop] and on unplug alike. Skipping it on unplug left the render thread writing to a
+     * descriptor whose device was gone, leaked the connection, and — because the started flag stayed
+     * set and the native tier-A registry stayed armed for that index — cost the pad both its pad
+     * audio and its wire rumble on the way back in.
+     */
+    @Synchronized
+    private fun stopPadAudio() {
+        if (!padAudioStarted) return
+        padAudioStarted = false
+        // The hook's stop joins the render thread, so nothing is using the descriptor once it
+        // returns — only then is it safe to close the connection that owns it.
+        pad?.let { padAudio?.stop(it.index) }
+        padAudioConn?.close()
+        padAudioConn = null
+    }
+
     private fun onLinkClosed() {
         Log.i(TAG, "Sony USB link closed (unplug)")
+        // Before releaseSlot(), which forgets the wire index the renderer is addressed by.
+        stopPadAudio()
         disarmBackstop()
         val wasActive = model != null
         model = null
@@ -238,6 +367,10 @@ class DsCapture(
             // write — as this used to — meant a discarded stop left the motors running with
             // nothing scheduled to try again; a USB pad holds its last level until told zero.
             if (sent) disarmBackstop() else armBackstop(STOP_RETRY_MS)
+            // B6: the stop report just re-asserted HAPTICS_SELECT on its way past, so if a
+            // haptics stream is live the coils it drives were muted by the very write that
+            // silenced the motors. Give them back.
+            if (sent && padAudioStarted) restoreAudioHaptics()
         }
     }
 

clients/android/kit/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/DsDevice.kt

@@ -276,11 +276,26 @@ object DsDevice {
      * the classic compat-vibration path AND `VIBRATION2` (firmware ≥ 2.24's full-range replot;
      * older firmware ignores the unknown flag2 bit) — the host parser accepts either.
      */
+    /**
+     * B6: hand the voice coils back to the audio-haptics path.
+     *
+     * Every [ds5RumbleReport] asserts `HAPTICS_SELECT` (flag0 bit1), which is SDL's
+     * "disable audio haptics" bit — the firmware mutes the coils the 0xD1 haptics stream drives.
+     * Until now NOTHING ever cleared it again, so a single rumble anywhere in a session left tier-A
+     * haptics silent for the rest of that pad's life, with no error and nothing in a log.
+     *
+     * The undo is a report whose flag0 has BOTH bits clear (SDL's own comment: "Leaving emulated
+     * rumble bits off will restore audio haptics"). No other valid flag is set, so nothing else
+     * about the pad's state is touched. Mirrors `Ds5Feedback::audio_haptics_packet` on the desktop
+     * client, which is the same packet one transport over.
+     */
+    fun ds5AudioHapticsReport(model: Model): ByteArray = newDs5(model)
+
     fun ds5RumbleReport(model: Model, low: Int, high: Int): ByteArray = newDs5(model).also {
         it[1] = (DS5_FLAG0_COMPAT_VIBRATION or DS5_FLAG0_HAPTICS_SELECT).toByte()
         it[39] = DS5_FLAG2_VIBRATION2.toByte()
-        it[3] = amp8(high).toByte()
-        it[4] = amp8(low).toByte()
+        it[3] = wireAmplitudeToByte(high).toByte()
+        it[4] = wireAmplitudeToByte(low).toByte()
     }
 
     /**
@@ -324,17 +339,11 @@ object DsDevice {
         ByteArray(Model.DUALSHOCK4.outputSize).also {
             it[0] = 0x05
             it[1] = (DS4_FLAG0_MOTORS or DS4_FLAG0_LED).toByte()
-            it[4] = amp8(high).toByte()
-            it[5] = amp8(low).toByte()
+            it[4] = wireAmplitudeToByte(high).toByte()
+            it[5] = wireAmplitudeToByte(low).toByte()
             it[6] = r.toByte()
             it[7] = g.toByte()
             it[8] = b.toByte()
         }
 
-    // Wire u16 amplitude → motor byte; a nonzero command never collapses to 0 (parity with the
-    // vibrator path's toAmplitude).
-    private fun amp8(v16: Int): Int {
-        val a = (v16 ushr 8) and 0xFF
-        return if (v16 != 0 && a == 0) 1 else a
-    }
 }

clients/android/kit/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/GamepadFeedback.kt

@@ -131,15 +131,9 @@ class GamepadFeedback(
             var failures = 0L
             while (running) {
                 val ev = NativeBridge.nativeNextRumble(handle)
-                if (ev < 0L) continue // timeout / closed
-                // ev bits 49..52 = wire pad index; bits 32..47 = backstop duration (ms);
-                // 16..31 = low; 0..15 = high. These are EFFECTIVE commands from the core's shared
-                // rumble policy engine — it owns every lease/staleness/close decision (uniform
-                // across all clients; the old 60 s legacy-host exposure is gone) and emits
-                // explicit zeros, so apply verbatim: (0, 0) = cancel, non-zero = one-shot for
-                // the backstop (the hardware net under a stalled poll thread).
-                val pad = ((ev ushr 49) and 0xFL).toInt()
-                val backstopMs = ((ev ushr 32) and 0xFFFF)
+                // Layout + semantics live in `unpackRumbleEvent` (RumbleWire.kt), tested there
+                // against the Rust packer.
+                val cmd = unpackRumbleEvent(ev) ?: continue // timeout / closed
                 // Rendering is binder calls into the vibrator service, and every one of them can
                 // throw unchecked — DeadSystemRuntimeException when system_server goes down, and
                 // the ordinary RuntimeException a dying service wraps its RemoteException in.
@@ -147,12 +141,7 @@ class GamepadFeedback(
                 // nothing noticed and nothing restarted it, and rumble was gone for the rest of
                 // the session. Losing a single command is recoverable; losing the loop is not.
                 runCatching {
-                    renderRumble(
-                        pad,
-                        ((ev ushr 16) and 0xFFFF).toInt(),
-                        (ev and 0xFFFF).toInt(),
-                        backstopMs,
-                    )
+                    renderRumble(cmd.pad, cmd.low, cmd.high, cmd.backstopMs)
                 }.onFailure { failures = noteRenderFailure("rumble", it, failures) }
             }
         }, "pf-rumble").apply { isDaemon = true; start() }
@@ -292,8 +281,8 @@ class GamepadFeedback(
             return
         }
         val bind = rumbleBindFor(pad) ?: return
-        val lo = toAmplitude(low)
-        val hi = toAmplitude(high)
+        val lo = wireAmplitudeToByte(low)
+        val hi = wireAmplitudeToByte(high)
         val m = bind.vm
         if (m != null) {
             if (lo == 0 && hi == 0) {
@@ -342,8 +331,8 @@ class GamepadFeedback(
      */
     private fun renderDeviceRumble(low: Int, high: Int, durationMs: Long) {
         val v = deviceVibrator ?: return
-        val lo = toAmplitude(low)
-        val hi = toAmplitude(high)
+        val lo = wireAmplitudeToByte(low)
+        val hi = wireAmplitudeToByte(high)
         if (lo == 0 && hi == 0) {
             runCatching { v.cancel() } // (0,0) = stop
             return
@@ -357,12 +346,6 @@ class GamepadFeedback(
         }
     }
 
-    // 0..0xFFFF → 1..255 (high byte); a nonzero motor never collapses to 0.
-    private fun toAmplitude(v16: Int): Int {
-        val a = (v16 ushr 8) and 0xFF
-        return if (v16 != 0 && a == 0) 1 else a
-    }
-
     // One-shot held for `durationMs` — the host's v2 TTL (renewed while the level holds), so it
     // self-terminates on a lost stop; cancel on zero. Floor the duration at 1 ms: `createOneShot`
     // throws IllegalArgumentException on a non-positive duration, and a lease can carry ttl_ms==0

clients/android/kit/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/HidUsbLink.kt

@@ -98,6 +98,40 @@ class HidUsbLink(
     /** First attached matching device, or null. Does not need USB permission to enumerate. */
     fun findDevice(): UsbDevice? = usb.deviceList.values.firstOrNull(config.deviceMatch)
 
+    /**
+     * Open a SECOND connection to the same device, for a consumer that needs its own descriptor.
+     *
+     * **Not a convenience — a correctness requirement.** `UsbDeviceConnection.requestWait()`
+     * returns *any* completed request on that connection, and the same is true of the usbfs reap
+     * ioctl underneath it: two independent transfer engines sharing one descriptor steal each
+     * other's completions. This link's reader owns its connection exclusively (see the note on
+     * [outQueue]), so anything else driving transfers on this device — the isochronous audio
+     * renderer — must open its own.
+     *
+     * usbfs allows the same device to be opened many times, and claims are per (descriptor,
+     * interface), so a claim made on this connection does not conflict with one made on that.
+     *
+     * The caller owns the returned connection and must close it.
+     */
+    fun openAuxConnection(): UsbDeviceConnection? {
+        val dev = device ?: return null
+        return usb.openDevice(dev)
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The open connection's usbfs file descriptor, or -1 when the link is not running.
+     *
+     * Handed to native code that drives interfaces this link deliberately does NOT claim — the
+     * pad's isochronous audio endpoint (see `pad_audio` on the native side), which Android's own
+     * USB API cannot reach because `UsbRequest` rejects anything that is not bulk or interrupt.
+     * usbfs claims are per interface, so a native claim of the audio interface leaves this link's
+     * HID claim untouched.
+     *
+     * **The borrower must stop using it before [stop] runs**: closing the connection while a
+     * transfer is in flight pulls the descriptor out from under the kernel.
+     */
+    val fileDescriptor: Int get() = connection?.fileDescriptor ?: -1
+
     /**
      * Claim [dev]'s controller interface(s) and start the read loop. The caller has already
      * obtained USB permission. Returns false when nothing could be claimed.

clients/android/kit/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/NativeBridge.kt

@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@ object NativeBridge {
          *  list and trust store show for it, same convention as [nativePair]'s `name`. `null`/blank ⇒
          *  the host falls back to a fingerprint-derived "device abcd1234" label. */
         deviceName: String?,
+        /** Advertise `CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` — the SESSION-level negotiation for the 0xD1 per-pad
+         *  DualSense plane. Without it the host never sets `HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` and emits nothing,
+         *  so a captured pad's own render capabilities would have nothing to gate. */
+        padAudioOk: Boolean,
     ): Long
 
     /** 64-hex SHA-256 of the cert the host presented on [handle]; valid after a successful connect. */
@@ -332,6 +336,46 @@ object NativeBridge {
      */
     external fun nativeSetMicMuted(handle: Long, muted: Boolean)
 
+    /**
+     * Start tier-A DualSense pad audio: render the host's `0xD1` streams on the pad's own
+     * 4-channel USB audio device.
+     *
+     * [fd] is an open [android.hardware.usb.UsbDeviceConnection]'s file descriptor. Native code
+     * **borrows** it — it claims the pad's audio interface through usbfs (which leaves any HID
+     * claim on the same device alone) and never closes the descriptor. The caller must keep the
+     * connection open until [nativeStopPadAudio] returns.
+     *
+     * This also declares the pad's render capability to the host; without it no `0xD1` is sent.
+     *
+     * Returns false when there is nothing to render. A kernel that refuses the interface claim is
+     * NOT reported here — the renderer discovers that on its own thread and the session simply
+     * carries on without tier A, because some OEM kernels refuse and no app-side fix exists.
+     */
+    external fun nativeStartPadAudio(
+        handle: Long,
+        pad: Int,
+        fd: Int,
+        haptics: Boolean,
+        speaker: Boolean,
+    ): Boolean
+
+    /**
+     * Stop tier-A pad audio and join its render thread, and hand the pad back to wire rumble.
+     *
+     * Returns only once the thread is joined — so the `UsbDeviceConnection` may be closed as soon
+     * as this returns, and not before.
+     */
+    external fun nativeStopPadAudio(handle: Long, pad: Int)
+
+    /**
+     * Drive the pad with a test tone through the real render path — no host, no session.
+     *
+     * [fd] must come from a connection **nothing else is driving transfers on**: two engines on
+     * one usbfs descriptor reap each other's completions. Blocks for roughly [seconds]; run it off
+     * the main thread. Returns sample frames written, or negative on failure.
+     */
+    external fun nativePadAudioSelfTest(fd: Int, seconds: Int, hz: Int): Int
+
     /**
      * Is a mic capture actually RUNNING — i.e. did [nativeStartMic] open a stream, and has
      * [nativeStopMic] not been called since? Offer the in-stream mute control on THIS rather than

clients/android/kit/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/RumbleWire.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+package io.unom.punktfunk.kit
+
+/**
+ * The two conversions every rumble path in this module needs, in one place.
+ *
+ * Both used to be transcribed per call site: [wireAmplitudeToByte] existed twice, byte-identical,
+ * in `GamepadFeedback` and `DsDevice`; [unpackRumbleEvent] was inline bit-shifting in the poll loop
+ * with no test on either side of the JNI boundary. Neither is complicated — which is exactly why a
+ * silent divergence between copies would have been hard to notice.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Wire amplitude (`0..0xFFFF`) → an 8-bit motor/vibrator level.
+ *
+ * The high byte, except that a **nonzero command never collapses to zero**: anything below 0x0100
+ * would otherwise round to silence, turning a weak-but-real rumble into no rumble at all. 1 is
+ * imperceptibly light, but it moves.
+ */
+internal fun wireAmplitudeToByte(v16: Int): Int {
+    val a = (v16 ushr 8) and 0xFF
+    return if (v16 != 0 && a == 0) 1 else a
+}
+
+/** One effective rumble command, as packed by the native side's `nativeNextRumble`. */
+internal data class RumbleCmd(val pad: Int, val low: Int, val high: Int, val backstopMs: Long)
+
+/**
+ * Unpack `NativeBridge.nativeNextRumble`'s `jlong`, or null for the timeout/closed sentinel.
+ *
+ * Layout, mirroring `clients/android/native/src/feedback.rs::pack_rumble`:
+ * bits 49..52 = wire pad index, 32..47 = backstop duration (ms), 16..31 = low, 0..15 = high.
+ * The pad field is 4 bits because `punktfunk_core::input::MAX_PADS` is 16 — the Rust side has a
+ * compile-time assertion tying the two together, so this can't silently start truncating.
+ *
+ * These are EFFECTIVE commands from the core's shared rumble policy engine: it owns every
+ * lease/staleness/close decision and emits explicit zeros, so apply them verbatim —
+ * `(0, 0)` = cancel, non-zero = one-shot for the backstop.
+ */
+internal fun unpackRumbleEvent(ev: Long): RumbleCmd? {
+    if (ev < 0L) return null // timeout / closed
+    return RumbleCmd(
+        pad = ((ev ushr 49) and 0xFL).toInt(),
+        low = ((ev ushr 16) and 0xFFFF).toInt(),
+        high = (ev and 0xFFFF).toInt(),
+        backstopMs = (ev ushr 32) and 0xFFFF,
+    )
+}

clients/android/kit/src/test/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/kit/RumbleWireTest.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+package io.unom.punktfunk.kit
+
+import org.junit.Assert.assertEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNotEquals
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNull
+import org.junit.Test
+
+/**
+ * The Kotlin half of the rumble JNI boundary. The Rust half is pinned by `pack_rumble_tests` in
+ * `clients/android/native/src/feedback.rs`; the two suites describe the same layout from opposite
+ * sides, which is the only thing that catches one of them drifting.
+ */
+class RumbleWireTest {
+
+    /** `pack_rumble` from the native side, transcribed — the packer these tests unpack. */
+    private fun pack(pad: Int, low: Int, high: Int, backstopMs: Int): Long =
+        ((pad and 0xF).toLong() shl 49) or
+            ((backstopMs.coerceAtMost(0xFFFF)).toLong() shl 32) or
+            (low.toLong() shl 16) or
+            high.toLong()
+
+    @Test
+    fun `every field round-trips at its extremes`() {
+        val cases = listOf(
+            listOf(0, 0, 0, 0),
+            listOf(15, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF),
+            listOf(1, 0x1234, 0x5678, 500),
+            listOf(7, 0, 0xFFFF, 2000),
+        )
+        for ((pad, low, high, backstop) in cases) {
+            val cmd = unpackRumbleEvent(pack(pad, low, high, backstop))!!
+            assertEquals("pad", pad, cmd.pad)
+            assertEquals("low", low, cmd.low)
+            assertEquals("high", high, cmd.high)
+            assertEquals("backstop", backstop.toLong(), cmd.backstopMs)
+        }
+    }
+
+    /** MAX_PADS is 16, so all 16 indices must survive the 4-bit field without aliasing. */
+    @Test
+    fun `all sixteen pad indices are distinct`() {
+        val seen = (0 until 16).map { unpackRumbleEvent(pack(it, 1, 2, 3))!!.pad }
+        assertEquals((0 until 16).toList(), seen)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the negative sentinel is not a command`() {
+        assertNull(unpackRumbleEvent(-1L))
+        assertNull(unpackRumbleEvent(Long.MIN_VALUE))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `a stop is distinguishable from a hold`() {
+        val stop = unpackRumbleEvent(pack(2, 0, 0, 0))!!
+        val hold = unpackRumbleEvent(pack(2, 0x8000, 0x8000, 500))!!
+        assertEquals(0, stop.low)
+        assertEquals(0, stop.high)
+        assertNotEquals(stop, hold)
+    }
+
+    // --- wireAmplitudeToByte (was two byte-identical private copies) ---
+
+    @Test
+    fun `amplitude takes the high byte`() {
+        assertEquals(0xFF, wireAmplitudeToByte(0xFFFF))
+        assertEquals(0x80, wireAmplitudeToByte(0x8000))
+        assertEquals(0x12, wireAmplitudeToByte(0x1234))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `zero stays silent but a weak nonzero never does`() {
+        assertEquals("only a real zero may render as silence", 0, wireAmplitudeToByte(0))
+        // Everything below 0x0100 has a zero high byte — without the floor these all vanish.
+        for (v in listOf(1, 0x0042, 0x00FF)) {
+            assertEquals("wire $v collapsed to silence", 1, wireAmplitudeToByte(v))
+        }
+        assertEquals(1, wireAmplitudeToByte(0x0100)) // first value that reaches 1 on its own
+    }
+}

clients/android/native/Cargo.toml

@@ -64,6 +64,14 @@ libc = "0.2"
 # host + Linux client use. audiopus_sys vendors libopus (pure C) and builds it static via cmake —
 # the cargo-ndk build sets LIBOPUS_STATIC=1/LIBOPUS_NO_PKG=1 so it links the bundled lib, not the host's.
 opus = "0.3"
+# Tier-A pad audio (WP9). Android's audio framework denylists the DualSense's output by VID/PID,
+# so the pad's isochronous endpoint is driven directly on the fd `UsbDeviceConnection` hands over.
+# Our own crates, developed openly because the hole they fill — isochronous USB in Rust — is an
+# ecosystem-wide one: https://github.com/unom-io/usbfs-iso
+# Pinned by revision rather than floating: this is a transport under a real-time deadline and it
+# should move when we choose to. Becomes a plain version dependency once the crates are published.
+uac-host = { git = "https://github.com/unom-io/usbfs-iso", rev = "f3de1fd62cec271d07f45664dc464f23e423e721" }
+usbfs-iso = { git = "https://github.com/unom-io/usbfs-iso", rev = "f3de1fd62cec271d07f45664dc464f23e423e721" }
 
 [lints]
 workspace = true

clients/android/native/src/feedback.rs

@@ -18,6 +18,29 @@ use std::time::Duration;
 /// observes its `running=false` flag promptly on teardown.
 const PULL_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(100);
 
+/// Width of the packed `pad` field in [`pack_rumble`] — 4 bits, i.e. indices 0..15.
+const PAD_BITS: u32 = 4;
+/// The packing is only lossless while every representable pad index fits in [`PAD_BITS`]. This was
+/// a comment before; growing `MAX_PADS` past 16 would have silently aliased pad 16 onto pad 0
+/// rather than failing the build.
+const _: () = assert!(
+    punktfunk_core::input::MAX_PADS <= 1usize << PAD_BITS,
+    "MAX_PADS no longer fits the 4-bit pad field in the packed rumble long"
+);
+
+/// Pack one effective rumble command into the `jlong` `nativeNextRumble` returns.
+///
+/// Layout — mirrored by `unpackRumbleEvent` in `RumbleWire.kt`: bits 49..52 `pad`, 32..47
+/// `backstop_ms`, 16..31 `low`, 0..15 `high`. Always non-negative, so the `-1` timeout/closed
+/// sentinel stays unambiguous. Split out from the JNI entry point purely so it can be tested
+/// without a live session handle — the shift arithmetic is the part worth pinning.
+fn pack_rumble(pad: u16, low: u16, high: u16, backstop_ms: u32) -> jlong {
+    (jlong::from(pad & ((1 << PAD_BITS) - 1)) << 49)
+        | (jlong::from(backstop_ms.min(0xFFFF) as u16) << 32)
+        | (jlong::from(low) << 16)
+        | jlong::from(high)
+}
+
 // HID-output kind tags written into the returned ByteBuffer (Kotlin reads them back).
 const TAG_LED: u8 = 0x01;
 const TAG_PLAYER_LEDS: u8 = 0x02;
@@ -54,12 +77,15 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeNextRumble(
         // handle.
         let h = unsafe { &*(handle as *const SessionHandle) };
         match h.client.next_rumble_command(PULL_TIMEOUT) {
-            Ok(cmd) => {
-                (jlong::from(cmd.pad & 0xF) << 49)
-                    | (jlong::from(cmd.backstop_ms.min(0xFFFF) as u16) << 32)
-                    | (jlong::from(cmd.low) << 16)
-                    | jlong::from(cmd.high)
-            }
+            // A pad whose coils are ACTIVELY being driven by the 0xD1 haptics stream must not see
+            // wire rumble: `DsDevice` sets `valid_flag0` bit 1 (`HAPTICS_SELECT`) on every rumble
+            // write, and that bit disables the audio-haptics path — so one replayed command would
+            // mute the coils the stream is driving. Gating on *arrival of haptics frames* rather
+            // than on "a stream is open" is what keeps a rumble-only title working: it renders no
+            // haptics audio, so the host emits nothing on 0xD1 and the pad keeps its rumble.
+            // Dropping it here rather than in Kotlin keeps the rule next to the reason.
+            Ok(cmd) if crate::pad_audio::haptics_owns_coils((cmd.pad & 0xF) as u8) => -1,
+            Ok(cmd) => pack_rumble(cmd.pad, cmd.low, cmd.high, cmd.backstop_ms),
             Err(_) => -1, // NoFrame (timeout) or Closed — Kotlin loops on its running flag
         }
     })
@@ -156,7 +182,74 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeNextHidout(
                 out[3..n].copy_from_slice(&data);
                 n
             }
+            HidOutput::AudioCtl { .. } => {
+                // DS5 pad-audio routing/volumes — no Android replay path yet (the 0xD1 sample
+                // plane isn't rendered here either); drop it like TrackpadHaptic.
+                return -1;
+            }
         };
         n as jint
     })
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod pack_rumble_tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use punktfunk_core::input::MAX_PADS;
+
+    /// Kotlin's `unpackRumbleEvent`, transcribed — if these two ever disagree the boundary is
+    /// broken, and nothing else in the build would say so.
+    fn unpack(ev: jlong) -> (u16, u16, u16, u32) {
+        let pad = ((ev >> 49) & 0xF) as u16;
+        let backstop = ((ev >> 32) & 0xFFFF) as u32;
+        let low = ((ev >> 16) & 0xFFFF) as u16;
+        let high = (ev & 0xFFFF) as u16;
+        (pad, low, high, backstop)
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn round_trips_every_field_at_its_extremes() {
+        for &(pad, low, high, backstop) in &[
+            (0u16, 0u16, 0u16, 0u32),
+            (15, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF),
+            (1, 0x1234, 0x5678, 500),
+            (7, 0, 0xFFFF, 2000),
+        ] {
+            let ev = pack_rumble(pad, low, high, backstop);
+            assert_eq!(unpack(ev), (pad, low, high, backstop), "pad {pad}");
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn every_representable_pad_survives_the_four_bit_field() {
+        for pad in 0..MAX_PADS as u16 {
+            let (got, ..) = unpack(pack_rumble(pad, 1, 2, 3));
+            assert_eq!(got, pad, "pad {pad} aliased in the packed long");
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_packed_command_is_never_negative() {
+        // `-1` is the timeout/closed sentinel; any packed value colliding with it would read as
+        // "no command" and the rumble would simply vanish.
+        assert!(pack_rumble(15, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF) >= 0);
+        assert!(pack_rumble(0, 0, 0, 0) >= 0);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_oversized_backstop_saturates_instead_of_corrupting_the_pad_field() {
+        let ev = pack_rumble(3, 0, 0, u32::MAX);
+        let (pad, _, _, backstop) = unpack(ev);
+        assert_eq!(pad, 3, "a huge backstop must not bleed into the pad bits");
+        assert_eq!(backstop, 0xFFFF);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_stop_is_distinguishable_from_a_hold() {
+        let stop = pack_rumble(2, 0, 0, 0);
+        let hold = pack_rumble(2, 0x8000, 0x8000, 500);
+        assert_ne!(stop, hold);
+        assert_eq!(unpack(stop).1, 0);
+        assert_eq!(unpack(stop).2, 0);
+    }
+}

clients/android/native/src/lib.rs

@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ mod discovery;
 mod feedback;
 #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
 mod mic;
+/// Tier-A DualSense pad audio: the 0xD1 plane rendered on the pad's own USB endpoint.
+mod pad_audio;
 mod session;
 mod stats;
 // Ungated like `discovery`: pure `jni` + `punktfunk_core::wol` (no Android framework), so it links

clients/android/native/src/session/connect.rs

@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeConnect<'lo
     timeout_ms: jint,
     launch: JString<'local>,
     device_name: JString<'local>,
+    pad_audio_ok: jboolean,
 ) -> jlong {
     let host: String = match env.get_string(&host) {
         Ok(s) => s.into(),
@@ -268,7 +269,16 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeConnect<'lo
         // CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK is honest: the async decode loop's presenter feeds
         // report_phase (advisory in v1 — the host arms on report receipt — but the Hello
         // should say what the client does).
-        punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK,
+        // CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO is the SESSION-level negotiation, separate from the per-pad
+        // arrival bits: without it the host never sets HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO and never emits 0xD1,
+        // so declaring a pad's render caps later would have nothing to gate. Gated on the
+        // settings so a user with pad audio off does not make the host provision endpoints.
+        punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK
+            | if pad_audio_ok != 0 {
+                punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO
+            } else {
+                0
+            },
         // Slice-progressive delivery, by decoder truth (Kotlin probes FEATURE_PartialFrame on
         // every decoder this device would use; `debug.punktfunk.force_parts` overrides for the
         // on-glass experiment): AU prefixes then arrive as `Frame::part` pieces and the decode
@@ -291,6 +301,8 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeConnect<'lo
                 audio: Mutex::new(None),
                 #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
                 mic: Mutex::new(None),
+                #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
+                pad_audio: Mutex::new(None),
                 // A fresh session is never muted (mute is per-session UI state, not a setting).
                 mic_muted: Arc::new(std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool::new(false)),
             };

clients/android/native/src/session/mod.rs

@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ pub(crate) struct SessionHandle {
     audio: Mutex<Option<crate::audio::AudioPlayback>>,
     #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
     mic: Mutex<Option<crate::mic::MicCapture>>,
+    /// Tier-A DualSense pad audio (the 0xD1 plane), started by `nativeStartPadAudio` once Kotlin
+    /// has claimed the pad's audio interface and handed its descriptor over. Session-lifetime and
+    /// `Option` because a session may have no wired DualSense at all, which is the common case.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
+    pub(crate) pad_audio: Mutex<Option<crate::pad_audio::PadAudio>>,
     /// In-stream mic mute, set via `nativeSetMicMuted` and read per 10 ms frame by the mic's
     /// encode loop ([`crate::mic`]). Session-lifetime rather than per-[`crate::mic::MicCapture`]
     /// for the same reason the stats gate is: the mic stops and restarts across a surface
@@ -99,6 +104,14 @@ impl SessionHandle {
     fn stop_mic(&self) {
         let _ = self.mic.lock().unwrap().take();
     }
+
+    /// Stop pad audio. Dropping the [`crate::pad_audio::PadAudio`] joins its render thread, which
+    /// is what guarantees nothing is still writing to the descriptor when Kotlin closes the
+    /// `UsbDeviceConnection`. Idempotent.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
+    pub(crate) fn stop_pad_audio(&self) {
+        let _ = self.pad_audio.lock().unwrap().take();
+    }
 }
 
 impl Drop for SessionHandle {
@@ -108,6 +121,8 @@ impl Drop for SessionHandle {
         self.stop_audio();
         #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
         self.stop_mic();
+        #[cfg(target_os = "android")]
+        self.stop_pad_audio();
     }
 }
 

clients/android/native/src/session/planes.rs

@@ -460,6 +460,111 @@ pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeStopMic(
     })
 }
 
+/// `NativeBridge.nativeStartPadAudio(handle, pad, fd, haptics, speaker): Boolean` — start tier-A
+/// DualSense pad audio on a descriptor Kotlin has already obtained.
+///
+/// `fd` comes from `UsbDeviceConnection.getFileDescriptor()` **after** claiming the pad's audio
+/// streaming interface. Kotlin owns that connection and **must keep it open until
+/// `nativeStopPadAudio` returns**: the renderer borrows the descriptor and never closes it, so
+/// closing early would pull it out from under an in-flight isochronous transfer.
+///
+/// Returns `false` when there is nothing to render (both kinds disabled) or the thread would not
+/// start. A kernel that refuses the interface claim is NOT reported here — the renderer discovers
+/// that on its own thread and degrades to tier C, because some OEM kernels refuse and there is no
+/// app-side fix worth blocking a session on.
+#[no_mangle]
+#[cfg(target_os = "android")]
+pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeStartPadAudio(
+    _env: JNIEnv,
+    _this: JObject,
+    handle: jlong,
+    pad: jni::sys::jint,
+    fd: jni::sys::jint,
+    haptics: jboolean,
+    speaker: jboolean,
+) -> jboolean {
+    jni_guard(0, || {
+        if handle == 0 || fd < 0 || !(0..16).contains(&pad) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+        // SAFETY: live handle per the nativeConnect/nativeClose contract.
+        let h = unsafe { &*(handle as *const SessionHandle) };
+        // Replace any previous renderer first: dropping it joins the old thread, so two of them
+        // can never hold the same descriptor at once.
+        h.stop_pad_audio();
+        // The capability declaration and the rumble suppression are NOT done here: the renderer
+        // makes both only once its USB stream actually opens (see `pad_audio::render`). Doing them
+        // at spawn time would, on a kernel that refuses the interface claim, take the pad off wire
+        // rumble and give it nothing in return — no haptics of any kind.
+        match crate::pad_audio::start(
+            std::sync::Arc::clone(&h.client),
+            pad as u8,
+            fd,
+            haptics != 0,
+            speaker != 0,
+        ) {
+            Some(p) => {
+                *h.pad_audio.lock().unwrap() = Some(p);
+                1
+            }
+            None => 0,
+        }
+    })
+}
+
+/// `NativeBridge.nativePadAudioSelfTest(fd, seconds, hz): Int` — drive the pad directly with a
+/// tone through the real client render path, with no host and no session involved.
+///
+/// The check a standalone harness cannot make: it owns its descriptor by construction, so it can
+/// never reveal that the client handed the renderer a descriptor something else was already
+/// driving. Returns sample frames written, or negative on failure (see `pad_audio::SelfTest`).
+#[no_mangle]
+#[cfg(target_os = "android")]
+pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativePadAudioSelfTest(
+    _env: JNIEnv,
+    _this: JObject,
+    fd: jni::sys::jint,
+    seconds: jni::sys::jint,
+    hz: jni::sys::jint,
+) -> jni::sys::jint {
+    jni_guard(-1, || {
+        if fd < 0 {
+            return -1;
+        }
+        // SAFETY: Kotlin holds the owning UsbDeviceConnection open across this call and drives no
+        // other transfers on it (it opens a dedicated connection for exactly this).
+        unsafe { crate::pad_audio::self_test(fd, seconds, hz) }
+    })
+}
+
+/// `NativeBridge.nativeStopPadAudio(handle, pad)` — stop tier-A pad audio and join its thread.
+///
+/// Returns only once the render thread is joined, which is the point: Kotlin may close the
+/// `UsbDeviceConnection` as soon as this returns and not before.
+#[no_mangle]
+#[cfg(target_os = "android")]
+pub extern "system" fn Java_io_unom_punktfunk_kit_NativeBridge_nativeStopPadAudio(
+    _env: JNIEnv,
+    _this: JObject,
+    handle: jlong,
+    pad: jni::sys::jint,
+) {
+    jni_guard((), || {
+        if handle != 0 {
+            // SAFETY: live handle per the nativeConnect/nativeClose contract.
+            let h = unsafe { &*(handle as *const SessionHandle) };
+            h.stop_pad_audio();
+            if (0..16).contains(&pad) {
+                // Withdraw the capability and hand the pad back to wire rumble, in that order:
+                // the host stops sending 0xD1 before tier C resumes, so the two never overlap.
+                h.client.set_pad_audio_caps(pad as u8, 0);
+                crate::pad_audio::set_tier_a(pad as u8, false);
+                crate::pad_audio::clear_haptics_liveness(pad as u8);
+            }
+        }
+    })
+}
+
 /// `NativeBridge.nativeSetMicMuted(handle, muted)` — mute/unmute the mic uplink mid-stream.
 ///
 /// Muting deliberately does NOT stop the capture: the AAudio input stream, the input-preset rung

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkClient/Settings/GamepadSettingsView.swift

@@ -166,6 +166,11 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     /// layer" rule), and a hostless picker has nothing to pin, so only Back remains.
     private var hints: [GamepadHint] {
         guard pinTarget != nil else {
+            // A dimmed row takes neither, so offering them would be the same lie the row itself
+            // used to tell — only Done remains, and the detail line says what to turn on first.
+            guard rows.first(where: { $0.id == focusID })?.enabled ?? true else {
+                return [.init(glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonB, fallback: "b.circle"), text: "Done")]
+            }
             return [
                 .init(glyph: "arrow.left.and.right", text: "Adjust"),
                 .init(glyph: buttonGlyph(\.buttonA, fallback: "a.circle"), text: "Change"),
@@ -218,7 +223,8 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                 HStack(spacing: 9) {
                     Image(systemName: "chevron.left")
                         .font(.system(size: m.chevronFont, weight: .semibold))
-                        .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(focused && row.adjustable ? 0.6 : 0))
+                        .foregroundStyle(
+                            .white.opacity(focused && row.adjustable && row.enabled ? 0.6 : 0))
                     // Keyed by the value so a change slides the new option in instead of
                     // hard-swapping the string — a QUIET horizontal slip following the user's
                     // motion (a right-step enters from the right), crossfading over ~14 pt.
@@ -239,9 +245,13 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                     .animation(.smooth(duration: 0.22), value: row.value)
                     Image(systemName: "chevron.right")
                         .font(.system(size: m.chevronFont, weight: .semibold))
-                        .foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(focused && row.adjustable ? 0.6 : 0))
+                        .foregroundStyle(
+                            .white.opacity(focused && row.adjustable && row.enabled ? 0.6 : 0))
                 }
             }
+            // Contents only — the glass and border below stay at full strength, so a dimmed row
+            // still reads as a row you can sit on (which you can: its detail is the point).
+            .opacity(row.enabled ? 1 : 0.45)
             .padding(.horizontal, m.rowHPad)
             .padding(.vertical, m.rowVPad)
             // Every row is Liquid Glass; the focused one takes a brand wash and reacts to press.
@@ -276,6 +286,13 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
         /// Whether left/right means anything here — false hides the value's chevrons (the
         /// Profiles rows navigate, and the placeholder rows do nothing at all).
         var adjustable = true
+        /// Dimmed and inert when false: a row whose meaning depends on another setting that is
+        /// currently off. It stays in the list and stays FOCUSABLE — its `detail` is how the
+        /// user learns which switch to flip first, and a row that vanished mid-list would
+        /// shift everything under the cursor. Enforced centrally in `adjust(id:by:)` /
+        /// `activate(id:)`, not per closure, so no row builder can forget it.
+        /// (Android's `GpRow.enabled` and `pf-console-ui`'s `RowSpec.enabled` are the twins.)
+        var enabled = true
         /// Left/right step; returns whether the value actually changed (false ⇒ boundary thud).
         let adjust: (Int) -> Bool
         /// A — cycle forward (wrapping) / flip.
@@ -286,12 +303,14 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
     /// (never on state captured at wire time).
     private func adjust(id: String, by delta: Int) -> Bool {
         lastAdjustDelta = delta
-        return rows.first { $0.id == id }?.adjust(delta) ?? false
+        guard let row = rows.first(where: { $0.id == id }), row.enabled else { return false }
+        return row.adjust(delta)
     }
 
     private func activate(id: String) {
         lastAdjustDelta = 1 // A always cycles forward
-        rows.first { $0.id == id }?.activate()
+        guard let row = rows.first(where: { $0.id == id }), row.enabled else { return }
+        row.activate()
     }
 
     private var rows: [Row] {
@@ -391,27 +410,35 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
                     + "controller already reaches the host another way — USB passthrough such "
                     + "as VirtualHere — so games don't see two of them.",
                 value: $gamepadForwarding),
+            // The four rows below only mean something while something is being forwarded, so
+            // they follow the switch above — the same relationship the touch settings draw with
+            // `.disabled(!effective.gamepadForwarding)`. This screen could not express it until
+            // `Row.enabled` existed, so it alone left them live and steppable.
             choiceRow(
                 id: "pad", icon: "gamecontroller", label: "Use controller",
                 detail: "Which pad is forwarded to the host, as player 1.",
-                options: controllers, current: gamepads.preferredID
+                options: controllers, current: gamepads.preferredID,
+                enabled: gamepadForwarding
             ) { gamepads.preferredID = $0 },
             choiceRow(
                 id: "padType", icon: "dpad", label: "Controller type",
                 detail: "The virtual pad the host creates — Automatic matches this controller.",
-                options: SettingsOptions.padTypes, current: gamepadType
+                options: SettingsOptions.padTypes, current: gamepadType,
+                enabled: gamepadForwarding
             ) { gamepadType = $0 },
             choiceRow(
                 id: "systemButtons", icon: "house.circle", label: "Guide button",
                 detail: "Where the guide (Xbox/PS) and share presses go while streaming — "
                     + "Automatic sends them to the host whenever this device delivers them.",
-                options: SettingsOptions.systemButtons, current: systemButtons
+                options: SettingsOptions.systemButtons, current: systemButtons,
+                enabled: gamepadForwarding
             ) { systemButtons = $0 },
             choiceRow(
                 id: "guideGesture", icon: "hand.point.up.left", label: "Hold Select for guide",
                 detail: "Hold Select alone to press the host's guide button — keep holding "
                     + "for a Gaming-Mode host's quick-access menu. A tap still goes through.",
-                options: SettingsOptions.guideGestures, current: guideGesture
+                options: SettingsOptions.guideGestures, current: guideGesture,
+                enabled: gamepadForwarding
             ) { guideGesture = $0 },
 
             choiceRow(
@@ -583,13 +610,15 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
 
     private func choiceRow<T: Equatable>(
         id: String, header: String? = nil, icon: String, label: String, detail: String,
-        options: [(label: String, tag: T)], current: T, write: @escaping (T) -> Void
+        options: [(label: String, tag: T)], current: T, enabled: Bool = true,
+        write: @escaping (T) -> Void
     ) -> Row {
         let index = options.firstIndex { $0.tag == current }
         return Row(
             id: id, header: header, icon: icon, label: label,
             value: index.map { options[$0].label } ?? "—",
             detail: detail,
+            enabled: enabled,
             adjust: { delta in
                 // Unknown current value: snap to the first option on any step.
                 guard let index else {
@@ -610,12 +639,13 @@ struct GamepadSettingsView: View {
 
     private func toggleRow(
         id: String, header: String? = nil, icon: String, label: String, detail: String,
-        value: Binding<Bool>
+        value: Binding<Bool>, enabled: Bool = true
     ) -> Row {
         Row(
             id: id, header: header, icon: icon, label: label,
             value: value.wrappedValue ? "On" : "Off",
             detail: detail,
+            enabled: enabled,
             adjust: { delta in
                 // Directional semantics: left = off, right = on; a no-op reads as a boundary.
                 let target = delta > 0

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Gamepad/ControllerTester.swift

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import GameController
 public final class ControllerTester: ObservableObject {
     // `.manual`: the panel's toggles hold a level until changed — no session wire refreshes
     // exist here to keep the renderer's staleness watchdog fed.
-    private let renderer = RumbleRenderer(policy: .manual)
+    private let renderer = RumbleRenderer()
     private weak var controller: GCController?
 
     /// The rumble backend now in use — "DualSense HID · USB/Bluetooth", "CoreHaptics", or "—" —

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Gamepad/GamepadCapture.swift

@@ -98,8 +98,17 @@ public final class GamepadCapture {
     /// `onDisconnectRequest`; the chord keeps forwarding to the host meanwhile (the user is
     /// leaving anyway). The desktop clients' quick-press step (leave fullscreen / release
     /// capture) has no Apple equivalent worth wiring — macOS has ⌃⌥⇧Q/D, touch has the HUD.
-    private static let escapeChord: UInt32 =
+    /// Internal rather than private only so `GamepadEscapeChordTests` can pin it against
+    /// `escapeChordElements` below — the two must not drift.
+    static let escapeChord: UInt32 =
         GamepadWire.leftShoulder | GamepadWire.rightShoulder | GamepadWire.start | GamepadWire.back
+    /// `escapeChord`'s four elements by GameController alias — the ONLY system gestures claimed
+    /// while forwarding is off (see `openSlot`). Kept beside the mask it mirrors: change one and
+    /// change the other, or the chord silently stops reaching us on tvOS. A test asserts the two
+    /// agree, because the failure is invisible until someone is stuck in a stream on an Apple TV.
+    static let escapeChordElements = [
+        GCInputLeftShoulder, GCInputRightShoulder, GCInputButtonMenu, GCInputButtonOptions,
+    ]
     /// pf-client-core's `DISCONNECT_HOLD` — the same 1.5 s on every client.
     private static let disconnectHold: TimeInterval = 1.5
     /// pf-client-core's `GUIDE_HOLD`: hold Select alone this long → the HOST's guide goes
@@ -236,7 +245,17 @@ public final class GamepadCapture {
         // gesture attached the press is the system's, not the game's. During capture the remote
         // session IS the game: the share button must reach the host (e.g. Steam screenshots),
         // the PS button must open the host's Steam overlay. Restored to .enabled on close.
-        for element in c.physicalInputProfile.elements.values {
+        //
+        // With forwarding OFF none of that applies — no press reaches the host, so taking the
+        // user's screenshot gesture away buys nothing. NARROWED, not skipped: the escape chord
+        // is still read off this slot, and on tvOS it is the only controller way out of a
+        // stream, so the chord's own four elements keep their claim. (Menu especially: leave
+        // its gesture attached on tvOS and the press is the system's — the chord would never
+        // complete and the session would have no controller exit at all.)
+        let claimed = forwarding
+            ? Array(c.physicalInputProfile.elements.values)
+            : Self.escapeChordElements.compactMap { c.physicalInputProfile.elements[$0] }
+        for element in claimed {
             element.preferredSystemGestureState = .disabled
         }
         // The Home/PS button (→ guide; the host maps it to the DualSense PS / Xbox guide bit,
@@ -276,7 +295,11 @@ public final class GamepadCapture {
                 MainActor.assumeIsolated { if let self, let slot { self.touch(slot, finger: 1, x: x, y: y) } }
             }
         }
-        if let motion = c.motion {
+        // Motion is wire-only — `forwardMotion` has nothing to do with forwarding off, and no
+        // local feature reads it. Powering the IMU anyway costs the pad real battery (it streams
+        // gyro + accel continuously over Bluetooth, which is why `closeSlot` is careful to power
+        // it back down), so with nothing to forward we simply never turn it on.
+        if forwarding, let motion = c.motion {
             if motion.sensorsRequireManualActivation { motion.sensorsActive = true }
             motion.valueChangedHandler = { [weak self, weak slot] m in
                 MainActor.assumeIsolated { if let self, let slot { self.forwardMotion(slot, m) } }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Gamepad/GamepadFeedback.swift

@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ public final class GamepadFeedback {
         #if os(iOS)
         if UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: DefaultsKey.rumbleOnDevice),
             CHHapticEngine.capabilitiesForHardware().supportsHaptics {
-            deviceRumble = RumbleRenderer(policy: .session, actuator: .device)
+            deviceRumble = RumbleRenderer(actuator: .device)
         } else {
             deviceRumble = nil
         }
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ public final class GamepadFeedback {
                 replay(slot)
             } else {
                 slots[pad] = Slot(controller: controller)
-                let renderer = RumbleRenderer(policy: .session)
+                let renderer = RumbleRenderer()
                 renderer.retarget(controller)
                 withRouting { rumbleByPad[pad] = renderer }
             }

clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Gamepad/RumbleRenderer.swift

@@ -43,8 +43,14 @@ enum RumbleTuning {
 
     /// Wire amplitude (0...0xFFFF) → CoreHaptics intensity (0...1).
     static func amplitude(_ wire: UInt16) -> Float { Float(wire) / 65535 }
-    /// Wire amplitude → DualSense HID motor byte.
-    static func hidByte(_ wire: UInt16) -> UInt8 { UInt8(wire >> 8) }
+    /// Wire amplitude → DualSense HID motor byte. A nonzero command never collapses to silence:
+    /// the top byte of anything below 0x0100 is 0, so a weak-but-real rumble used to render as
+    /// nothing at all on this path. Floored at 1 — imperceptibly light, but moving. (Android's
+    /// `toAmplitude` has always done this; this was the odd one out.)
+    static func hidByte(_ wire: UInt16) -> UInt8 {
+        let b = UInt8(wire >> 8)
+        return wire != 0 && b == 0 ? 1 : b
+    }
     /// Single-actuator pads render whichever motor is stronger.
     static func combined(low: UInt16, high: UInt16) -> UInt16 { max(low, high) }
     /// Are two baked levels the same (skip the rebuild)?
@@ -81,10 +87,11 @@ enum RumbleTuning {
 ///  4. **Escalating stop.** A throwing `player.stop` means the engine's state is unknown — the
 ///     whole engine is stopped (silencing every player it hosts) and lazily rebuilt behind the
 ///     exponential backoff.
-///  5. **Staleness watchdog** (`Policy.session`): audible with no wire command for
-///     `sessionStaleSeconds` → force silence. A lost stop can outlive the host's 500 ms heal
-///     only if the channel itself died, and then the pad must not buzz forever. `Policy.manual`
-///     (the settings test panel) instead holds a level until it is changed.
+///  5. **No staleness watchdog here.** There was one, keyed off a `Policy` type and a
+///     `sessionStaleSeconds`; both are gone. Every liveness decision — lease expiry, legacy-host
+///     staleness, session close — now belongs to punktfunk-core's shared policy engine
+///     (`client/rumble.rs`), which emits explicit zero commands, so this renderer applies what it
+///     is told and never decides on its own when a level should end.
 ///
 /// Engines are created lazily on the first nonzero amplitude and torn down on retarget;
 /// failures (pads without haptics, engine resets) downgrade to silence — rumble is best-effort
@@ -93,17 +100,6 @@ enum RumbleTuning {
 /// `@unchecked Sendable` is sound because every property is read and written only inside
 /// `queue` closures — the serial queue is the synchronization.
 final class RumbleRenderer: @unchecked Sendable {
-    /// Who ends an un-refreshed nonzero target. Session mode applies the core policy engine's
-    /// commands verbatim — the engine (punktfunk-core `client/rumble.rs`) owns every lease,
-    /// staleness, and close decision and emits explicit zeros, so the renderer keeps NO
-    /// staleness policy of its own anymore. The controller test panel (`manual`) holds a slider
-    /// level indefinitely; both are identical renderer-side today, the distinction is kept for
-    /// the call sites' intent.
-    struct Policy {
-        static let session = Policy()
-        static let manual = Policy()
-    }
-
     /// Which physical actuator this renderer drives: the forwarded controller's haptics engine
     /// (the default), or THIS device's own Taptic Engine (`CHHapticEngine()`) — the opt-in
     /// "rumble on this device" mirror for phone-clip pads that ship without rumble motors.
@@ -115,7 +111,6 @@ final class RumbleRenderer: @unchecked Sendable {
     }
 
     private let queue = DispatchQueue(label: "io.unom.punktfunk.haptics", qos: .userInteractive)
-    private let policy: Policy
     private let actuator: Actuator
 
     /// One finite haptic play on a motor: the player plus when (engine timeline) it expires.
@@ -190,8 +185,7 @@ final class RumbleRenderer: @unchecked Sendable {
         ((0, 0), DispatchTime(uptimeNanoseconds: 0))
     #endif
 
-    init(policy: Policy = .session, actuator: Actuator = .controller) {
-        self.policy = policy
+    init(actuator: Actuator = .controller) {
         self.actuator = actuator
     }
 

clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadEscapeChordTests.swift

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import GameController
+import XCTest
+
+@testable import PunktfunkKit
+
+/// The escape chord's mask and its GameController alias list have to describe the same four
+/// buttons. `GamepadCapture.openSlot` claims the system gesture of every element while forwarding
+/// is on, but only of `escapeChordElements` while it is off — so if the alias list ever stops
+/// covering the mask, the missing button's press stays the system's and the chord never completes.
+///
+/// That matters most on tvOS, where this chord is the only controller way out of a stream: the
+/// symptom is a session nobody can leave with the pad in their hands, and nothing logs or crashes.
+/// Hence a test on the invariant rather than trusting the comment beside it.
+@MainActor
+final class GamepadEscapeChordTests: XCTestCase {
+
+    /// The intended alias↔bit pairing, spelled out independently of the implementation.
+    private let pairing: [(alias: String, bit: UInt32)] = [
+        (GCInputLeftShoulder, GamepadWire.leftShoulder),
+        (GCInputRightShoulder, GamepadWire.rightShoulder),
+        (GCInputButtonMenu, GamepadWire.start),
+        (GCInputButtonOptions, GamepadWire.back),
+    ]
+
+    func testChordMaskIsExactlyTheFourPairedButtons() {
+        XCTAssertEqual(
+            pairing.reduce(UInt32(0)) { $0 | $1.bit },
+            GamepadCapture.escapeChord,
+            "the chord mask and the alias pairing describe different buttons")
+    }
+
+    func testEveryChordBitHasAnElementToClaim() {
+        // One alias per bit — a mask that grew a fifth button without a matching alias would
+        // leave that button's gesture with the OS while forwarding is off.
+        XCTAssertEqual(
+            GamepadCapture.escapeChordElements.count,
+            GamepadCapture.escapeChord.nonzeroBitCount,
+            "alias list and chord mask differ in size")
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadCapture.escapeChordElements, pairing.map(\.alias))
+    }
+
+    /// The claim list is a strict subset of what a forwarding slot takes — it is a NARROWING of
+    /// the full sweep, never an extra grab, and it must not be empty (that would be "skip", which
+    /// is the behaviour this deliberately avoids).
+    func testClaimListIsNonEmptyAndAllDistinct() {
+        XCTAssertFalse(GamepadCapture.escapeChordElements.isEmpty)
+        XCTAssertEqual(
+            Set(GamepadCapture.escapeChordElements).count,
+            GamepadCapture.escapeChordElements.count,
+            "a repeated alias would mean a chord bit has no element")
+    }
+}

clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/GamepadWireTests.swift

@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ final class GamepadWireTests: XCTestCase {
         XCTAssertEqual(GamepadWire.axisRSY, UInt32(PUNKTFUNK_AXIS_RS_Y))
         XCTAssertEqual(GamepadWire.axisLT, UInt32(PUNKTFUNK_AXIS_LT))
         XCTAssertEqual(GamepadWire.axisRT, UInt32(PUNKTFUNK_AXIS_RT))
-        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadWire.maxPads, Int(MAX_PADS))
+        XCTAssertEqual(GamepadWire.maxPads, Int(PUNKTFUNK_MAX_PADS))
     }
 
     func testPadIndexRidesFlagsOnEveryPerPadEvent() {

clients/apple/Tests/PunktfunkKitTests/RumbleTuningTests.swift

@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ final class RumbleTuningTests: XCTestCase {
     /// storm, an audible target left to the ticker (watchdog path), then `stop()` — which runs
     /// `queue.sync` against the same serial queue the ticker fires on and must not deadlock.
     func testRendererSurvivesCallStormAndTeardownWithoutController() {
-        let renderer = RumbleRenderer(policy: .session)
+        let renderer = RumbleRenderer()
         renderer.retarget(nil)
         for i in 0..<500 {
             renderer.apply(
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ final class RumbleTuningTests: XCTestCase {
     /// every policy stop (lease expiry, legacy staleness, session close), and the renderer's only
     /// job is to apply them. Drive the real queue/ticker (no physical pad) and confirm no wedge.
     func testZeroCommandSilencesAndTeardownDoesNotDeadlock() {
-        let renderer = RumbleRenderer(policy: .session)
+        let renderer = RumbleRenderer()
         renderer.retarget(nil)
         renderer.apply(low: 0x8000, high: 0x8000)
         Thread.sleep(forTimeInterval: 0.1)

clients/session/src/main.rs

@@ -286,6 +286,12 @@ mod session_main {
         // Spawned at first params-build so it exists for --connect AND console launches.
         #[cfg(unix)]
         crate::ctl_socket::spawn(gamepad.clone());
+        // Pad-audio prefs to OUR gamepad service (same reasoning as the pin above): tier-A
+        // slots declare their render caps at open time, which happens on attach — after this.
+        gamepad.set_pad_audio_prefs(
+            settings.pad_haptics,
+            pf_client_core::pad_audio::speaker_active(&settings.pad_speaker),
+        );
         let mode = Mode {
             width: if settings.width == 0 {
                 native.width
@@ -389,6 +395,11 @@ mod session_main {
             cursor_forward: settings.mouse_mode() == trust::MouseMode::Desktop,
             mic_enabled: settings.mic_enabled,
             echo_cancel: settings.echo_cancel,
+            // Pad audio (0xD1): the DualSense haptics/speaker render settings. The gamepad
+            // service learns the same prefs below so tier-A slots declare their render caps
+            // at open; the session pump gates CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO + the renderer on these.
+            pad_haptics: settings.pad_haptics,
+            pad_speaker: settings.pad_speaker.clone(),
             clipboard,
             // The Settings preference (auto → VAAPI where it exists; the presenter
             // demotes to software on boxes whose Vulkan can't import the dmabufs).

clients/windows/src/app/settings.rs

@@ -981,6 +981,13 @@ pub(crate) fn settings_page(
                 s.forward_pad = key.unwrap_or_default();
                 s.save();
             })
+            // Dimmed with the master switch above it, like echo cancellation under the mic
+            // (see that row) — this and the three below have nothing to act on while no
+            // controller is forwarded at all. Every commit bumps `rev` and re-renders this
+            // screen, so they follow the toggle live. Brings this client in line with how GTK
+            // (`set_sensitive`), the touch settings on both mobile clients (`enabled`) and the
+            // console UI (dim + refuse the step) have always drawn the same relationship.
+            .enabled(s.gamepad_forwarding)
     };
     let pad_forward_toggle =
         setting_toggle(ctx, scope, (rev, set_rev), s.gamepad_forwarding, |s, on| {
@@ -991,7 +998,8 @@ pub(crate) fn settings_page(
     });
     let pad_combo = setting_combo(ctx, scope, (rev, set_rev), pad_names, pad_i, |s, i| {
         s.gamepad = GAMEPADS[i].0.to_string();
-    });
+    })
+    .enabled(s.gamepad_forwarding);
     let (sysbtn_names, sysbtn_i) = presets(SYSTEM_BUTTONS, |v| *v == s.system_buttons);
     let sysbtn_combo = setting_combo(
         ctx,
@@ -1002,7 +1010,8 @@ pub(crate) fn settings_page(
         |s, i| {
             s.system_buttons = SYSTEM_BUTTONS[i].0.to_string();
         },
-    );
+    )
+    .enabled(s.gamepad_forwarding);
     let (gesture_names, gesture_i) = presets(GUIDE_GESTURES, |v| *v == s.guide_gesture);
     let gesture_combo = setting_combo(
         ctx,
@@ -1013,7 +1022,8 @@ pub(crate) fn settings_page(
         |s, i| {
             s.guide_gesture = GUIDE_GESTURES[i].0.to_string();
         },
-    );
+    )
+    .enabled(s.gamepad_forwarding);
     let (touch_names, touch_i) = presets(TOUCH_MODES, |v| *v == s.touch_mode);
     let touch_combo = setting_combo(ctx, scope, (rev, set_rev), touch_names, touch_i, |s, i| {
         s.touch_mode = TOUCH_MODES[i].0.to_string();

crates/pf-client-core/Cargo.toml

@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ sdl3 = { version = "0.18", features = ["hidapi"] }
 
 [target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]
 wasapi = "0.23"
+# Pad-audio correlation (pad_audio.rs): the HID devnode's ContainerID and a render endpoint's
+# stamped PKEY_Device_ContainerId both live in the registry — read-only, which sidesteps COM
+# property stores entirely (the same version the host pins).
+winreg = "0.56"
 sdl3 = { version = "0.18", features = ["hidapi", "build-from-source"] }
 # D3D11VA decode (video_d3d11.rs): device/adapter selection, DXVA probes, and the shared
 # NT-handle hand-off ring. Same pinned rev as clients/windows so the workspace builds ONE

crates/pf-client-core/src/audio_wasapi.rs

@@ -98,13 +98,43 @@ pub fn devices() -> Result<(Vec<AudioDevice>, Vec<AudioDevice>)> {
 /// Settings device pickers via session main), or the OS default. A picked device that's
 /// gone (unplugged USB DAC, remote session) falls back to the default with a warning —
 /// audio keeps working, like the PipeWire twin's `target.object` behavior.
+/// Resolve an active endpoint by id WITHOUT `DeviceEnumerator::get_device`.
+///
+/// That helper builds its argument as `PCWSTR::from_raw(HSTRING::from(id).as_ptr())` — the
+/// `HSTRING` is a temporary, dropped at the end of that statement, so `GetDevice` reads freed
+/// memory and misses ids that are perfectly valid. Scanning the active collection touches only
+/// safe crate APIs, so it cannot regress the same way. (`punktfunk-host` fixes the same bug with
+/// raw COM instead; this crate cannot, because it pins a different `windows` revision than
+/// `wasapi` does, making the two `IMMDevice` types incompatible.)
+pub(crate) fn device_by_id(
+    enumerator: &DeviceEnumerator,
+    direction: &Direction,
+    id: &str,
+) -> Result<wasapi::Device> {
+    let devices = enumerator
+        .get_device_collection(direction)
+        .map_err(|e| anyhow!("enumerate {direction:?} endpoints: {e}"))?;
+    let count = devices
+        .get_nbr_devices()
+        .map_err(|e| anyhow!("endpoint count: {e}"))?;
+    for i in 0..count {
+        let dev = devices
+            .get_device_at_index(i)
+            .map_err(|e| anyhow!("endpoint {i}: {e}"))?;
+        if dev.get_id().is_ok_and(|got| got == id) {
+            return Ok(dev);
+        }
+    }
+    anyhow::bail!("no active {direction:?} endpoint with id {id}")
+}
+
 fn pick_device(
     enumerator: &DeviceEnumerator,
     direction: &Direction,
     var: &str,
 ) -> Result<wasapi::Device> {
     if let Some(id) = std::env::var(var).ok().filter(|v| !v.is_empty()) {
-        match enumerator.get_device(&id) {
+        match device_by_id(enumerator, direction, &id) {
             Ok(d) => {
                 tracing::info!(
                     var,

crates/pf-client-core/src/gamepad.rs

@@ -369,8 +369,14 @@ enum Ctl {
     Pin(Option<String>),
     KindOverride(GamepadPref),
     Forwarding(bool),
-    SystemButtons { forward_raw: bool, gesture: bool },
+    SystemButtons {
+        forward_raw: bool,
+        gesture: bool,
+    },
     TapButton(u32),
+    /// Which pad-audio streams the session's settings want rendered (bit0 = haptics, bit1 =
+    /// speaker) — the settings half of the per-pad tier-A capability declared at slot open.
+    PadAudioPrefs(u8),
     MenuMode(bool),
     MenuRumble(MenuPulse),
 }
@@ -573,6 +579,18 @@ impl GamepadService {
         let _ = self.ctl.send(Ctl::TapButton(wire::BTN_MISC1));
     }
 
+    /// Declare which pad-audio streams this session's settings want rendered (`haptics` =
+    /// [`Settings::pad_haptics`](crate::trust::Settings::pad_haptics), `speaker` =
+    /// `pad_speaker == "pad"` via [`crate::pad_audio::speaker_active`]). Drives the per-pad
+    /// tier-A capability bits declared to the core at slot open — a WIRED DualSense/Edge
+    /// declares exactly these; every other pad declares 0. Call before [`Self::attach`],
+    /// like [`Self::set_kind_override`]: slots declare at open time. Defaults to "nothing"
+    /// for an embedder that never calls it, keeping the wire bytes exactly as before.
+    pub fn set_pad_audio_prefs(&self, haptics: bool, speaker: bool) {
+        let bits = (haptics as u8) | ((speaker as u8) << 1);
+        let _ = self.ctl.send(Ctl::PadAudioPrefs(bits));
+    }
+
     pub fn attach(&self, connector: Arc<NativeClient>) {
         let _ = self.ctl.send(Ctl::Attach(connector));
     }
@@ -732,13 +750,29 @@ fn axis_value(axis: sdl3::gamepad::Axis, v: i16) -> (u32, i32) {
 /// host parses off its virtual pad; the wire's 11-byte trigger blocks drop in verbatim.
 /// Enable bits select only the fields each update touches, so rumble (driven separately
 /// through SDL) and untouched fields keep their state.
+///
+/// The offsets below are the USB output report's, **minus one**: SDL's payload carries no leading
+/// report id. `pf-inject`'s `dualsense_proto::out_report` is where that layout is written down and
+/// explained (including the Bluetooth `+2` base), but this crate cannot import it — `pf-inject` is
+/// host-side and neither crate depends on the other, and a DualSense report layout has no business
+/// in `punktfunk-core`, the only crate they share. So this is a deliberate second copy, and
+/// [`ds5_offsets_track_the_usb_report`](ds5_feedback_tests) pins the `−1` relationship rather than
+/// leaving it to a comment.
 struct Ds5Feedback;
 
 impl Ds5Feedback {
-    const RIGHT_TRIGGER: usize = 10;
-    const LEFT_TRIGGER: usize = 21;
-    const PAD_LIGHTS: usize = 43;
-    const LED_RGB: usize = 44;
+    /// The USB report offsets these are derived from — see the type doc. Kept beside the derived
+    /// values so the subtraction is visible at the point of definition.
+    const REPORT_ID_LEN: usize = 1;
+    /// The audio-control region (`ucHeadphoneVolume`…`ucAudioMuteBits`): report byte 5.
+    const AUDIO: usize = 5 - Self::REPORT_ID_LEN;
+    const RIGHT_TRIGGER: usize = 11 - Self::REPORT_ID_LEN;
+    const LEFT_TRIGGER: usize = 22 - Self::REPORT_ID_LEN;
+    const PAD_LIGHTS: usize = 44 - Self::REPORT_ID_LEN;
+    const LED_RGB: usize = 45 - Self::REPORT_ID_LEN;
+    /// One adaptive-trigger parameter block: a mode byte plus 10 parameters. Mirrors
+    /// `PUNKTFUNK_HID_EFFECT_MAX`, which is the same number at the C-ABI boundary.
+    const TRIGGER_LEN: usize = punktfunk_core::abi::PUNKTFUNK_HID_EFFECT_MAX as usize;
 
     fn trigger_packet(which: u8, effect: &[u8]) -> [u8; 47] {
         let mut p = [0u8; 47];
@@ -748,7 +782,7 @@ impl Ds5Feedback {
             (0x08, Self::LEFT_TRIGGER)
         };
         p[0] = flag;
-        let n = effect.len().min(11);
+        let n = effect.len().min(Self::TRIGGER_LEN);
         p[off..off + n].copy_from_slice(&effect[..n]);
         p
     }
@@ -768,6 +802,29 @@ impl Ds5Feedback {
         p[Self::PAD_LIGHTS] = bits & 0x1F;
         p
     }
+
+    /// The one-shot tier-A activation packet — the SDL disable-bit trap undone. `p[0]`
+    /// (`ucEnableBits1`) bit0 = "enable rumble emulation" and bit1 = "disable audio haptics"
+    /// (SDL_hidapi_ps5.c); SDL sets BOTH whenever its rumble path runs, which mutes the very
+    /// voice coils the 0xD1 haptics stream drives. Per SDL's own comment — "Leaving emulated
+    /// rumble bits off will restore audio haptics" — a packet with those bits CLEARED (and no
+    /// other valid flag, so nothing else is touched) puts the pad back on audio haptics.
+    fn audio_haptics_packet() -> [u8; 47] {
+        [0u8; 47]
+    }
+
+    /// Fold a host [`HidOutput::AudioCtl`] into an effects packet: `raw` is DS5 output report
+    /// `0x02` bytes 5..=10 verbatim → struct offsets 4..=9 ([`Self::AUDIO`] — headphone/
+    /// speaker/mic volumes + routing), and `p[0]` re-asserts the report's audio-valid flags
+    /// (`flags` bits1..4 = report `flag0` bits 4..7). `flags` bit0 (haptics-select, `flag0`
+    /// bit1 = SDL's "disable audio haptics") is deliberately NOT replayed: bits 0/1 stay
+    /// clear so the pad's audio haptics stay live (see [`audio_haptics_packet`]).
+    fn audio_ctl_packet(flags: u8, raw: &[u8; 6]) -> [u8; 47] {
+        let mut p = [0u8; 47];
+        p[0] = (flags & 0x1E) << 3;
+        p[Self::AUDIO..Self::AUDIO + 6].copy_from_slice(raw);
+        p
+    }
 }
 
 /// One forwarded controller during an attached session: the open SDL handle, its stable wire
@@ -804,6 +861,14 @@ struct Slot {
     /// Hold-Select→guide state ([`SelectGesture`]) — only fed while the worker's
     /// `guide_gesture` policy is on.
     gesture: SelectGesture,
+    /// Pad-audio render capabilities declared for this slot (bit0 = haptics, bit1 = speaker
+    /// — the [`NativeClient::set_pad_audio_caps`] bits). Nonzero only for a tier-A pad (a
+    /// WIRED DualSense/Edge, see [`crate::pad_audio::is_tier_a_ds5`]) under matching
+    /// settings; bit0 set additionally suppresses wire rumble for this slot (the SDL
+    /// disable-bit trap — see [`Worker::render_feedback`]).
+    audio_caps: u8,
+    /// The wire-rumble-suppressed notice fired for this slot (log once, not per command).
+    rumble_suppressed_logged: bool,
 }
 
 impl Slot {
@@ -820,6 +885,8 @@ impl Slot {
             held_clicks: [false; 2],
             last_accel: [0; 3],
             gesture: SelectGesture::default(),
+            audio_caps: 0,
+            rumble_suppressed_logged: false,
         }
     }
 
@@ -957,6 +1024,10 @@ struct Worker {
     /// Releases owed for synthetic taps ([`Ctl::TapButton`]): `(pad, bit, due)` — the
     /// down went out on receipt, the up goes out from the poll once `due` passes.
     synthetic_ups: Vec<(u8, u32, Instant)>,
+    /// Pad-audio streams the session's settings want rendered (bit0 = haptics, bit1 =
+    /// speaker — [`GamepadService::set_pad_audio_prefs`]). `0` (the default) until an embedder
+    /// declares some: tier-A detection then never runs and every arrival stays caps-less.
+    pad_audio_prefs: u8,
     attached: Option<Arc<NativeClient>>,
     /// Raises the UI escape signal; the escape chord fires it once per press.
     escape_tx: async_channel::Sender<()>,
@@ -1162,11 +1233,18 @@ impl Worker {
             Ok(pad) => {
                 let mut slot = Slot::new(id, index, pref, pad);
                 Self::set_slot_sensors(&mut slot, true);
+                slot.audio_caps = self.pad_audio_caps_for(id, &slot.pad);
                 // Declare this pad's kind BEFORE any of its input, so the host builds a matching
                 // virtual device (mixed types — pad 0 a DualSense, pad 1 an Xbox pad). The core
                 // re-sends it a few times against datagram loss; an older host ignores it and
                 // uses the session-default kind.
                 if let Some(c) = &self.attached {
+                    // Pad-audio render caps go in FIRST — the core ORs them into this (and
+                    // every re-sent) arrival's flags bits 8/9 toward a capable host. ALWAYS
+                    // set (0 for non-tier-A): wire indices are reused within a connection, so
+                    // a tier-A slot that closes must not leave its bits behind for the next
+                    // pad on the same index (the set_rumble_quirks rule).
+                    c.set_pad_audio_caps(index, slot.audio_caps);
                     send(
                         c,
                         InputKind::GamepadArrival,
@@ -1189,6 +1267,27 @@ impl Worker {
                     };
                     c.set_rumble_quirks(index as u16, quirks);
                 }
+                if slot.audio_caps != 0 {
+                    if slot.audio_caps & 0x01 != 0 {
+                        // Tier-A haptics activation: the SDL disable-bit trap. SDL's DS5
+                        // driver sets ucEnableBits1 0x01|0x02 ("enable rumble emulation" +
+                        // "disable audio haptics") whenever its rumble path runs — which
+                        // would MUTE the voice coils the 0xD1 stream drives. One effects
+                        // packet with those bits CLEARED puts the pad back on audio haptics
+                        // ("Leaving emulated rumble bits off will restore audio haptics" —
+                        // SDL_hidapi_ps5.c); wire rumble for this slot is suppressed in
+                        // render_feedback so SDL never re-arms them.
+                        let _ = slot.pad.send_effect(&Ds5Feedback::audio_haptics_packet());
+                    }
+                    // Hand the pad to the session's renderer worker. Windows correlation
+                    // needs the HID interface path; Linux matches the sink by signature.
+                    crate::pad_audio::register_tier_a(index, slot.pad.path());
+                    tracing::info!(
+                        index,
+                        caps = slot.audio_caps,
+                        "tier-A DualSense: pad-audio render caps declared"
+                    );
+                }
                 tracing::info!(
                     id,
                     index,
@@ -1202,6 +1301,35 @@ impl Worker {
         }
     }
 
+    /// This pad's pad-audio render capabilities (the bits [`NativeClient::set_pad_audio_caps`]
+    /// takes): the settings prefs for a tier-A pad — a physical DualSense/Edge (by VID:PID,
+    /// never the DECLARED kind: the stream renders on the controller in the user's hands) on
+    /// a WIRED connection — and `0` for everything else (tier B/C are out of scope). Wired
+    /// comes from `SDL_GetGamepadConnectionState`; when SDL answers Unknown, the pad's 4-ch
+    /// audio sibling existing is the fallback signal (Bluetooth exposes no audio device).
+    fn pad_audio_caps_for(&self, id: u32, pad: &sdl3::gamepad::Gamepad) -> u8 {
+        if self.pad_audio_prefs == 0 {
+            return 0; // nothing wanted — skip the (possibly probing) wired check entirely
+        }
+        let jid = sdl3::sys::joystick::SDL_JoystickID(id);
+        let vid = self.subsystem.vendor_for_id(jid).unwrap_or(0);
+        let pid = self.subsystem.product_for_id(jid).unwrap_or(0);
+        if !crate::pad_audio::is_tier_a_ds5(vid, pid, true) {
+            return 0; // not a DualSense/Edge — no wired check needed
+        }
+        use sdl3::joystick::ConnectionState;
+        let wired = match pad.connection_state() {
+            Ok(ConnectionState::Wired) => true,
+            Ok(ConnectionState::Wireless) => false,
+            _ => crate::pad_audio::wired_audio_sibling(pad.path().as_deref()),
+        };
+        if crate::pad_audio::is_tier_a_ds5(vid, pid, wired) {
+            self.pad_audio_prefs
+        } else {
+            0
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Flush a slot's held wire state (so nothing sticks down host-side) and drop it — closing
     /// the SDL handle. The flush only emits wire events, so it is safe even when the device is
     /// already gone (unplug).
@@ -1219,6 +1347,11 @@ impl Worker {
             send(&c, InputKind::GamepadRemove, 0, 0, self.slots[i].index);
         }
         let slot = self.slots.remove(i);
+        if slot.audio_caps != 0 {
+            // Take the pad back from the pad-audio renderer (its device-gone path then
+            // re-correlates — and finds nothing until a tier-A pad registers again).
+            crate::pad_audio::unregister_tier_a(slot.index);
+        }
         tracing::info!(
             id = slot.id,
             index = slot.index,
@@ -1640,6 +1773,7 @@ impl Worker {
                         set_valve_hidapi(false);
                     }
                 }
+                Ok(Ctl::PadAudioPrefs(bits)) => self.pad_audio_prefs = bits & 0x03,
                 Ok(Ctl::MenuMode(on)) => {
                     self.menu_mode = on;
                     if on {
@@ -1917,7 +2051,12 @@ impl Worker {
         let dur_ms: u32 = if (low, high) == (0, 0) {
             100 // a stop takes effect immediately; the duration is irrelevant
         } else {
-            backstop_ms.max(160) // floor: a jittered renewal can never gap the actuator
+            // No local floor. There was a `.max(160)` here, and it could never do anything: the
+            // engine's own `backstop()` returns `(2 * ttl).clamp(500, 5000)` or the 2000 ms legacy
+            // value, so a non-zero command's backstop is never below 500. A floor that belongs to a
+            // particular actuator belongs in its `ActuatorQuirks::min_pulse_ms`, which the engine
+            // already applies — not re-invented per renderer where it can silently disagree.
+            backstop_ms
         };
         // Surface a failed SDL rumble write: a swallowed error here (DualSense not in the right
         // HIDAPI mode, etc.) reads exactly like "rumble doesn't work". The host logs the send side
@@ -1947,6 +2086,20 @@ impl Worker {
         // first; the physical silence backstop is in `close_slot_at`).
         while let Ok(cmd) = connector.next_rumble_command(Duration::ZERO) {
             if let Some(slot) = self.slots.iter_mut().find(|s| s.index as u16 == cmd.pad) {
+                // The SDL disable-bit trap: ANY SDL rumble write sets ucEnableBits1
+                // 0x01|0x02, muting the very voice coils the 0xD1 haptics stream drives —
+                // so a slot with tier-A haptics active never issues wire rumble (the stream
+                // carries the feedback; the game's rumble is in its haptics mix).
+                if slot.audio_caps & 0x01 != 0 {
+                    if !slot.rumble_suppressed_logged {
+                        slot.rumble_suppressed_logged = true;
+                        tracing::info!(
+                            pad = slot.index,
+                            "wire rumble suppressed — the pad-audio haptics stream carries feedback"
+                        );
+                    }
+                    continue;
+                }
                 Self::issue_rumble(slot, cmd.low, cmd.high, cmd.backstop_ms);
             }
         }
@@ -1984,13 +2137,27 @@ impl Worker {
                         .pad
                         .send_effect(&Ds5Feedback::trigger_packet(which, effect));
                 }
+                // The audio-control region of a DS5 output report a game wrote host-side
+                // (volumes + routing; the SAMPLES ride 0xD1) — folded back into the physical
+                // pad's effects packet, but only where a tier-A renderer is actually live
+                // (`audio_caps`): replaying speaker volumes at a pad whose audio device
+                // nothing streams to would just mute/blast a future session's start state.
+                // Non-tier-A pads keep dropping it (the pre-pad-audio behaviour).
+                HidOutput::AudioCtl { flags, raw, .. } if is_ds && slot.audio_caps != 0 => {
+                    let _ = slot
+                        .pad
+                        .send_effect(&Ds5Feedback::audio_ctl_packet(flags, &raw));
+                }
                 // Deliberately unhandled, listed rather than left to a bare `_` so a new
                 // variant cannot join them silently: adaptive triggers exist only on a
                 // DualSense, and the trackpad-haptic / raw-passthrough planes are DS-specific
-                // and carried by `send_effect` above when the pad is one.
+                // and carried by `send_effect` above when the pad is one. `AudioCtl` lands here
+                // only when the guarded arm above declined it — a non-DualSense pad, or one with
+                // no live tier-A renderer — which is the pre-pad-audio behaviour: drop it.
                 HidOutput::Trigger { .. }
                 | HidOutput::TrackpadHaptic { .. }
-                | HidOutput::HidRaw { .. } => {}
+                | HidOutput::HidRaw { .. }
+                | HidOutput::AudioCtl { .. } => {}
             }
         }
     }
@@ -2029,6 +2196,9 @@ fn hidout_pad(h: &HidOutput) -> u8 {
         | HidOutput::Trigger { pad, .. }
         | HidOutput::TrackpadHaptic { pad, .. }
         | HidOutput::HidRaw { pad, .. } => *pad,
+        // AudioCtl's pad is the plane's only u16. `HidOutput::decode` rejects anything at or
+        // above MAX_PADS (B27), so by the time one reaches here the narrowing is lossless.
+        HidOutput::AudioCtl { pad, .. } => *pad as u8,
     }
 }
 
@@ -2056,6 +2226,7 @@ impl Worker {
             system_forward: true,
             guide_gesture: false,
             synthetic_ups: Vec::new(),
+            pad_audio_prefs: 0,
             attached: None,
             escape_tx,
             disconnect_tx,
@@ -2501,6 +2672,172 @@ mod slot_tests {
             }),
             6
         );
+        // AudioCtl's wire pad is u16; the index space is 0..MAX_PADS end to end.
+        assert_eq!(
+            hidout_pad(&HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+                pad: 7,
+                flags: 0,
+                raw: [0; 6]
+            }),
+            7
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The AudioCtl fold: the 6 raw bytes (DS5 report 0x02 bytes 5..=10) land at effect-struct
+    /// offsets 4..=9, the report's audio-valid flags (AudioCtl.flags bits1..4) come back as
+    /// p[0] bits 4..7, and the rumble-emulation / disable-audio-haptics bits (p[0] bits 0/1)
+    /// stay CLEAR — setting either would mute the voice coils the 0xD1 stream drives.
+    #[test]
+    fn audio_ctl_folds_report_bytes_into_effect_offsets() {
+        let raw = [0x50, 0x60, 0x70, 0x05, 0x11, 0x22];
+        // flags 0b1_0111: haptics-select (bit0) + audio-valid bits 1/2/4 of the condensed form.
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::audio_ctl_packet(0b1_0111, &raw);
+        assert_eq!(&p[4..10], &raw, "report bytes 5..=10 → struct 4..=9");
+        // bits1..4 (0b1011) → flag0 bits 4..7.
+        assert_eq!(p[0], 0b1011_0000);
+        assert_eq!(
+            p[0] & 0x03,
+            0,
+            "haptics-select must NOT replay into p[0] bits 0/1"
+        );
+        // Nothing else is touched: no trigger/LED enable bits, no stray bytes.
+        assert!(p[1..4].iter().all(|&b| b == 0));
+        assert!(p[10..].iter().all(|&b| b == 0));
+        // No audio-valid flags condenses to no enable bits (raw still carried verbatim).
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::audio_ctl_packet(0b0_0001, &raw);
+        assert_eq!(p[0], 0);
+        assert_eq!(&p[4..10], &raw);
+        // The tier-A activation packet is the all-clear: every enable bit off — per
+        // SDL_hidapi_ps5.c, leaving the emulated-rumble bits off restores audio haptics.
+        assert_eq!(Ds5Feedback::audio_haptics_packet(), [0u8; 47]);
+    }
+}
+
+/// [`Ds5Feedback`]'s three packet builders. The host-side parser, the Android writer and the Apple
+/// writer are all pinned by their own suites; this writer had nothing, despite being the one that
+/// hand-shifts every offset by the report-id length.
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod ds5_feedback_tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// The USB output report offsets, written out independently of the implementation. A DS5
+    /// effects payload is the same block with the leading report id removed, so every offset is
+    /// exactly one lower — this is the relationship the derived constants encode.
+    #[test]
+    fn ds5_offsets_track_the_usb_report() {
+        for (usb, payload) in [
+            (11usize, Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER),
+            (22, Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER),
+            (44, Ds5Feedback::PAD_LIGHTS),
+            (45, Ds5Feedback::LED_RGB),
+        ] {
+            assert_eq!(payload, usb - 1, "payload offset for USB byte {usb}");
+        }
+        assert_eq!(Ds5Feedback::TRIGGER_LEN, 11);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn lightbar_sets_only_its_enable_bit_and_its_three_bytes() {
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::lightbar_packet(0x11, 0x22, 0x33);
+        assert_eq!(p.len(), 47);
+        assert_eq!(p[1], 0x04, "valid_flag1 lightbar bit");
+        assert_eq!(p[0], 0, "must not claim any valid_flag0 field");
+        assert_eq!(
+            (
+                p[Ds5Feedback::LED_RGB],
+                p[Ds5Feedback::LED_RGB + 1],
+                p[Ds5Feedback::LED_RGB + 2]
+            ),
+            (0x11, 0x22, 0x33)
+        );
+        // Everything else stays zero — an over-broad packet would blank the triggers/player LEDs
+        // it never meant to touch.
+        let touched = [
+            1,
+            Ds5Feedback::LED_RGB,
+            Ds5Feedback::LED_RGB + 1,
+            Ds5Feedback::LED_RGB + 2,
+        ];
+        assert!(p
+            .iter()
+            .enumerate()
+            .all(|(i, &b)| touched.contains(&i) || b == 0));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn player_leds_are_masked_to_five_bits() {
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::player_packet(0xFF);
+        assert_eq!(p[1], 0x10, "valid_flag1 player-indicator bit");
+        assert_eq!(
+            p[Ds5Feedback::PAD_LIGHTS],
+            0x1F,
+            "high bits are not ours to set"
+        );
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::player_packet(0b0000_0101);
+        assert_eq!(p[Ds5Feedback::PAD_LIGHTS], 0b0000_0101);
+    }
+
+    /// which 1 = R2 and which 0 = L2 — and the RIGHT block sits FIRST in the report, which is the
+    /// pairing most likely to be transcribed backwards.
+    #[test]
+    fn trigger_which_selects_the_right_flag_and_offset() {
+        let eff: Vec<u8> = (1..=11).collect();
+
+        let r = Ds5Feedback::trigger_packet(1, &eff);
+        assert_eq!(r[0], 0x04, "valid_flag0 R2 bit");
+        assert_eq!(
+            &r[Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER..Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER + 11],
+            &eff[..]
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            r[Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER],
+            0,
+            "the other trigger is untouched"
+        );
+
+        let l = Ds5Feedback::trigger_packet(0, &eff);
+        assert_eq!(l[0], 0x08, "valid_flag0 L2 bit");
+        assert_eq!(
+            &l[Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER..Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER + 11],
+            &eff[..]
+        );
+        assert_eq!(l[Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER], 0);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn an_oversized_effect_is_clamped_rather_than_overflowing_into_the_next_field() {
+        let long = vec![0xAAu8; 40];
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::trigger_packet(1, &long);
+        assert_eq!(p.len(), 47);
+        // Exactly TRIGGER_LEN bytes written; the left block must not be scribbled on.
+        assert_eq!(p[Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER + 10], 0xAA);
+        assert_eq!(p[Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER + 11], 0);
+        assert_eq!(p[Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER], 0);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_short_effect_leaves_the_rest_of_the_block_zeroed() {
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::trigger_packet(0, &[0x02, 0x99]);
+        assert_eq!(p[Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER], 0x02);
+        assert_eq!(p[Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER + 1], 0x99);
+        assert!(
+            p[Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER + 2..Ds5Feedback::LEFT_TRIGGER + 11]
+                .iter()
+                .all(|&b| b == 0)
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// An empty effect is a well-formed all-zero block: mode 0x00 = release. It must still assert
+    /// its enable bit, or the pad keeps whatever effect it was holding.
+    #[test]
+    fn an_empty_effect_is_a_release_not_a_no_op() {
+        let p = Ds5Feedback::trigger_packet(1, &[]);
+        assert_eq!(p[0], 0x04);
+        assert!(
+            p[Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER..Ds5Feedback::RIGHT_TRIGGER + 11]
+                .iter()
+                .all(|&b| b == 0)
+        );
     }
 }
 

crates/pf-client-core/src/lib.rs

@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ pub mod os;
 // Client settings profiles: the override catalog + the one connect-time resolver
 // (design/client-settings-profiles.md §4). Sits beside `trust`, which owns the host records
 // the bindings live on.
+// Pad audio (the 0xD1 plane): DualSense voice-coil haptics + speaker rendered on the wired
+// physical pad's own 4-ch audio device — correlation, the per-session renderer worker, and
+// the tier-A pad registry the gamepad worker feeds it through.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", windows))]
+pub mod pad_audio;
 #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", windows))]
 pub mod profiles;
 #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", windows))]

crates/pf-client-core/src/session.rs

@@ -44,6 +44,14 @@ pub struct SessionParams {
     /// Run the uplink through the platform's echo cancellation ([`Settings::echo_cancel`]).
     /// Ignored when `mic_enabled` is false; `PUNKTFUNK_NO_AEC=1` overrides it off.
     pub echo_cancel: bool,
+    /// Render the host's per-pad DualSense voice-coil haptics stream (0xD1 kind 0) on a wired
+    /// physical DualSense ([`crate::trust::Settings::pad_haptics`]). With `pad_speaker` it
+    /// gates the `CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` advertisement and the pad-audio renderer thread.
+    pub pad_haptics: bool,
+    /// Where the DualSense built-in-speaker stream (0xD1 kind 1) goes: `"pad"` | `"mix"` |
+    /// `"off"` ([`crate::trust::Settings::pad_speaker`]; `"mix"` is a TODO that renders as
+    /// off — see [`crate::pad_audio::speaker_active`]).
+    pub pad_speaker: String,
     /// Share the clipboard with this host (the per-host `KnownHost::clipboard_sync`). The
     /// bridge additionally needs the host to advertise `HOST_CAP_CLIPBOARD`.
     pub clipboard: bool,
@@ -356,6 +364,11 @@ fn pump(
             );
         }
     }
+    // Pad audio (0xD1): advertise only when the settings could render a stream — the per-pad
+    // tier-A detection at slot open (gamepad.rs) still decides which pads declare render caps
+    // on their arrivals, so this bit alone changes nothing without a wired DualSense.
+    let pad_speaker_on = crate::pad_audio::speaker_active(&params.pad_speaker);
+    let pad_audio_on = params.pad_haptics || pad_speaker_on;
     let connector = match NativeClient::connect(
         &params.host,
         params.port,
@@ -379,6 +392,11 @@ fn pump(
             0
         }) | (if params.phase_lock {
             punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK
+        } else {
+            0
+            // PAD_AUDIO: the embedder can render per-pad DualSense haptics/speaker (see above).
+        }) | (if pad_audio_on {
+            punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO
         } else {
             0
         }),
@@ -501,6 +519,20 @@ fn pump(
     // app-lifetime service's job (the UI attaches it on Connected). Audio runs on its own
     // thread (one puller per plane), blocking on the audio queue like the Apple client.
     let audio_thread = spawn_audio(connector.clone(), stop.clone());
+    // Pad audio (0xD1): its own drain thread (that plane's single consumer), spawned whenever
+    // the settings could render. The output device is opened LAZILY once frames actually
+    // arrive — which only happens after a tier-A pad declared render caps on its arrival — so
+    // a session without a wired DualSense costs one idle 10 ms poll loop.
+    let pad_audio_thread = pad_audio_on
+        .then(|| {
+            crate::pad_audio::spawn(
+                connector.clone(),
+                stop.clone(),
+                params.pad_haptics,
+                pad_speaker_on,
+            )
+        })
+        .flatten();
     // The shared clipboard (design/clipboard-and-file-transfer.md §5): its own thread, since
     // `next_clip` blocks and the OS clipboard calls can wait on other apps. Returns straight
     // away when the host has no clipboard capability, so spawning is unconditional.
@@ -1066,6 +1098,9 @@ fn pump(
     if let Some(t) = audio_thread {
         let _ = t.join(); // exits within its 100 ms pull timeout once `stop` is set
     }
+    if let Some(t) = pad_audio_thread {
+        let _ = t.join(); // exits within its 10 ms pull timeout once `stop` is set
+    }
     if let Some(t) = clipboard_thread {
         let _ = t.join(); // exits within its next_clip wait once `stop` is set
     }

crates/pf-client-core/src/trust.rs

@@ -1024,6 +1024,21 @@ pub struct Settings {
     /// `PUNKTFUNK_AUDIO_SOURCE`).
     #[serde(default)]
     pub mic_device: String,
+    /// Render the host's per-pad DualSense voice-coil haptics stream (the 0xD1 plane, kind 0)
+    /// on a WIRED physical DualSense's own audio device (tier A — Bluetooth pads expose no
+    /// audio device). Gates the `CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` advertisement and the per-pad arrival
+    /// capability bit; wire rumble is suppressed for a pad whose haptics stream is live (the
+    /// stream carries the feedback — see `gamepad.rs`, the SDL disable-bit trap). Default ON:
+    /// the capable-and-agreed negotiation means it changes nothing without a capable host AND
+    /// a wired DS5. `default` so pre-existing stores load with it on.
+    #[serde(default = "default_true")]
+    pub pad_haptics: bool,
+    /// Where the DualSense built-in-speaker stream (0xD1 kind 1) is rendered: `"pad"` (default
+    /// — the physical pad's own speaker), `"mix"` (fold it into the main stream audio — a
+    /// declared TODO that renders as `"off"` today; see `pad_audio::speaker_active`), or
+    /// `"off"`. `default` so pre-existing stores load as `"pad"`.
+    #[serde(default = "default_pad_speaker")]
+    pub pad_speaker: String,
     /// Match-window resolution policy (design/midstream-resolution-resize.md D1): the
     /// stream mode follows the session window — the connect asks for the window's pixel
     /// size and a mid-session resize renegotiates the host's virtual display + encoder
@@ -1071,6 +1086,10 @@ fn default_true() -> bool {
     true
 }
 
+fn default_pad_speaker() -> String {
+    "pad".into()
+}
+
 impl Settings {
     /// The stats-overlay tier, resolving pre-tier stores: an old `show_stats = false`
     /// reads as Off, everything else as Normal (≈ what the pre-tier overlay showed).
@@ -1179,6 +1198,8 @@ impl Default for Settings {
             invert_scroll: false,
             speaker_device: String::new(),
             mic_device: String::new(),
+            pad_haptics: true,
+            pad_speaker: "pad".into(),
             match_window: false,
             last_window_w: 0,
             last_window_h: 0,

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/hidout_dedup.rs

@@ -24,14 +24,20 @@ const RENEW_EVERY: Duration = Duration::from_millis(1000);
 /// bundles rumble + lightbar + player-LEDs + adaptive-triggers into one report, so a pad that is
 /// merely *rumbling* re-sends its (unchanged) lightbar / LED / trigger state on every output report.
 /// The managers already dedup rumble; this does the same for the rich [`HidOutput`] feedback so the
-/// 0xCD plane carries only genuine changes. State (`Led` / `PlayerLeds` / `Trigger`) is deduped by
-/// value; a one-shot `TrackpadHaptic` pulse is always forwarded (each pulse must fire).
+/// 0xCD plane carries only genuine changes. State (`Led` / `PlayerLeds` / `Trigger` / `AudioCtl`)
+/// is deduped by value; a one-shot `TrackpadHaptic` pulse is always forwarded (each pulse must
+/// fire).
 #[derive(Clone, Default)]
 pub struct HidoutDedup {
     led: Option<(u8, u8, u8)>,
     player_leds: Option<u8>,
     /// Last-forwarded adaptive-trigger effect per side: `[0]` = L2, `[1]` = R2.
     trigger: [Option<Vec<u8>>; 2],
+    /// Last-forwarded audio-control state (`flags` + the raw volume/routing bytes).
+    audio_ctl: Option<(u8, [u8; 6])>,
+    /// Once-per-pad-lifetime field-diagnosis flag: set after the first forwarded `AudioCtl`
+    /// carrying the haptics-select bit was logged (cleared with the rest on (re)plug).
+    haptics_select_logged: bool,
     /// When anything was last put on the wire for this pad. `None` = nothing latched yet, so
     /// there is nothing to renew. See [`RENEW_EVERY`].
     last_sent: Option<Instant>,
@@ -123,6 +129,25 @@ impl HidoutDedup {
             }
             // One-shot haptic pulse (Steam voice-coil) — state-less, always fires.
             HidOutput::TrackpadHaptic { .. } => true,
+            HidOutput::AudioCtl { pad, flags, raw } => {
+                let v = Some((*flags, *raw));
+                if self.audio_ctl == v {
+                    false
+                } else {
+                    // Field-diagnosis signal, once per pad lifetime: a title driving the DS5's
+                    // audio haptics (not plain rumble emulation, whose all-zero audio region
+                    // never reaches here) — the trace that tells "the game does audio haptics"
+                    // apart from "the client just doesn't render them".
+                    if flags & 0x01 != 0 && !self.haptics_select_logged {
+                        self.haptics_select_logged = true;
+                        tracing::info!(
+                            "DS5 title asserted haptics-select (audio haptics) pad={pad}"
+                        );
+                    }
+                    self.audio_ctl = v;
+                    true
+                }
+            }
             // Raw as-is passthrough reports must NEVER dedup: the physical device's firmware
             // watchdogs RELY on identical periodic refreshes (Triton rumble re-sent every ~40 ms
             // against a ~50 ms safety timeout, lizard-off every ~3 s) — dropping a repeat would
@@ -302,4 +327,29 @@ mod tests {
         // The pulse stamped the clock but latched no state, so the renewal has nothing to repeat.
         assert!(d.renewals(0, t + Duration::from_millis(1000)).is_empty());
     }
+
+    /// `AudioCtl` dedups by value like the other state kinds: an identical repeat (every output
+    /// report re-sends the unchanged audio region) is dropped, a flags-only or raw-only change
+    /// forwards again, and `clear` re-arms — including the once-per-pad haptics-select log flag.
+    #[test]
+    fn audio_ctl_dedups_by_value() {
+        let mut d = HidoutDedup::default();
+        let t = Instant::now();
+        let audio = |flags, vol| HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+            pad: 0,
+            flags,
+            raw: [vol, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
+        };
+        // Identical twice → exactly one emission.
+        assert!(d.should_forward(&audio(0x17, 0x50), t));
+        assert!(!d.should_forward(&audio(0x17, 0x50), t));
+        // Either half changing (flags, or the raw region) forwards again.
+        assert!(d.should_forward(&audio(0x16, 0x50), t));
+        assert!(d.should_forward(&audio(0x16, 0x60), t));
+        // The other kinds' state is untouched by audio traffic.
+        assert!(d.should_forward(&HidOutput::PlayerLeds { pad: 0, bits: 1 }, t));
+        // `clear` (pad re-plug) re-arms the value dedup.
+        d.clear();
+        assert!(d.should_forward(&audio(0x16, 0x60), t));
+    }
 }

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/linux/dualsense.rs

@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ use super::dualsense_proto::{
     DS_EDGE_PRODUCT, DS_FEATURE_CALIBRATION, DS_FEATURE_FIRMWARE, DS_INPUT_REPORT_LEN, DS_PRODUCT,
     DS_TOUCH_H, DS_TOUCH_W, DS_VENDOR, DUALSENSE_EDGE_RDESC, DUALSENSE_RDESC,
 };
+use crate::uhid_abi::{
+    put_cstr, BUS_USB, HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE, UHID_CREATE2, UHID_DESTROY, UHID_EVENT_SIZE,
+    UHID_GET_REPORT, UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY, UHID_INPUT2, UHID_OUTPUT, UHID_PATH, UHID_SET_REPORT,
+    UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY,
+};
 use crate::uhid_manager::{PadFeedback, PadProto, UhidManager};
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use punktfunk_core::quic::RichInput;
@@ -24,27 +29,6 @@ use std::fs::{File, OpenOptions};
 use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::os::unix::fs::OpenOptionsExt;
 
-// /dev/uhid event ABI (linux/uhid.h). `struct uhid_event` is __packed__: a u32 `type` then a
-// union whose largest member is uhid_create2_req (128+64+64 + 2+2 + 4*4 + rd_data[4096] = 4372).
-const UHID_PATH: &str = "/dev/uhid";
-const UHID_DESTROY: u32 = 1;
-const UHID_OUTPUT: u32 = 6;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT: u32 = 9;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 10;
-const UHID_CREATE2: u32 = 11;
-const UHID_INPUT2: u32 = 12;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT: u32 = 13;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 14;
-const HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE: usize = 4096;
-const UHID_EVENT_SIZE: usize = 4 + 4372; // type + union (create2)
-const BUS_USB: u16 = 0x03;
-
-/// Copy a NUL-padded C string field into the event buffer.
-fn put_cstr(ev: &mut [u8], off: usize, cap: usize, s: &str) {
-    let n = s.len().min(cap - 1);
-    ev[off..off + n].copy_from_slice(&s.as_bytes()[..n]); // rest already zero (NUL-terminated)
-}
-
 /// The UHID identity a [`DualSensePad`] is created with — the plain DualSense or the Edge (same
 /// driver, same report codec; the Edge differs by PID + descriptor and carries the four extra
 /// `buttons[2]` bits). Mirrors the uinput pad's `PadIdentity` shape.

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/linux/dualshock4.rs

@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ use super::dualshock4_proto::{
     parse_ds4_output, serialize_state, Ds4Feedback, DS4_INPUT_REPORT_LEN, DS4_PRODUCT, DS4_TOUCH_H,
     DS4_TOUCH_W, DS4_VENDOR,
 };
+use crate::uhid_abi::{
+    put_cstr, BUS_USB, HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE, UHID_CREATE2, UHID_DESTROY, UHID_EVENT_SIZE,
+    UHID_GET_REPORT, UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY, UHID_INPUT2, UHID_OUTPUT, UHID_PATH, UHID_SET_REPORT,
+    UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY,
+};
 use crate::uhid_manager::{PadFeedback, PadProto, UhidManager};
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use punktfunk_core::quic::{HidOutput, RichInput};
@@ -25,20 +30,6 @@ use std::fs::{File, OpenOptions};
 use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::os::unix::fs::OpenOptionsExt;
 
-// /dev/uhid event ABI (linux/uhid.h) — identical to the DualSense backend's; see `super::dualsense`.
-const UHID_PATH: &str = "/dev/uhid";
-const UHID_DESTROY: u32 = 1;
-const UHID_OUTPUT: u32 = 6;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT: u32 = 9;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 10;
-const UHID_CREATE2: u32 = 11;
-const UHID_INPUT2: u32 = 12;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT: u32 = 13;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 14;
-const HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE: usize = 4096;
-const UHID_EVENT_SIZE: usize = 4 + 4372; // type + union (create2)
-const BUS_USB: u16 = 0x03;
-
 // Feature reports `hid-playstation` GET_REPORTs during DS4 init. The PAIRING report (0x12) is
 // MANDATORY — without a valid reply `dualshock4_create()` aborts and creates NO input devices; the
 // kernel reads the 6-byte device MAC from bytes 1..7. CALIBRATION (0x02) and FIRMWARE (0xa3) are
@@ -144,12 +135,6 @@ const DS4_RDESC: &[u8] = &[
     0xB1, 0x02, 0xC0,
 ];
 
-/// Copy a NUL-padded C string field into the event buffer.
-fn put_cstr(ev: &mut [u8], off: usize, cap: usize, s: &str) {
-    let n = s.len().min(cap - 1);
-    ev[off..off + n].copy_from_slice(&s.as_bytes()[..n]); // rest already zero (NUL-terminated)
-}
-
 /// A virtual DualShock 4 backed by `/dev/uhid` (hand-rolled codec mirroring the DualSense pad's).
 /// Dropping it destroys the device (the kernel tears down the bound `hid-playstation` interface).
 pub struct DualShock4Pad {

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/linux/gamepad.rs

@@ -300,7 +300,6 @@ impl Effect {
 /// the policy is pure and unit-testable without a live uinput fd.
 struct FfState {
     effects: HashMap<i16, Effect>,
-    next_effect_id: i16,
     gain: u32,
     /// Last `(low, high)` reported, to dedup.
     last_mix: (u16, u16),
@@ -316,7 +315,6 @@ impl FfState {
     fn new() -> FfState {
         FfState {
             effects: HashMap::new(),
-            next_effect_id: 0,
             gain: 0xFFFF,
             last_mix: (0, 0),
             last_activity: Instant::now(),
@@ -575,11 +573,13 @@ impl VirtualPad {
                     let mut up: UinputFfUpload = unsafe { std::mem::zeroed() };
                     up.request_id = ev.value as u32;
                     if ioctl_ptr(raw, UI_BEGIN_FF_UPLOAD, &mut up, "UI_BEGIN_FF_UPLOAD").is_ok() {
-                        let mut e = up.effect;
-                        if e.id == -1 {
-                            e.id = self.ff.next_effect_id;
-                            self.ff.next_effect_id = self.ff.next_effect_id.wrapping_add(1);
-                        }
+                        let e = up.effect;
+                        // No `id == -1` fallback: ff-core's `input_ff_upload` picks a free slot and
+                        // writes it into the effect BEFORE handing the request to uinput, so what
+                        // arrives here is always an assigned id. The fallback that used to allocate
+                        // one from a local counter could therefore never run, and a local counter is
+                        // the wrong answer anyway — the kernel owns that id space.
+                        debug_assert!(e.id >= 0, "uinput handed us an unassigned FF effect id");
                         if e.type_ == FF_RUMBLE {
                             let strong = u16::from_ne_bytes([e.u[0], e.u[1]]);
                             let weak = u16::from_ne_bytes([e.u[2], e.u[3]]);

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/linux/steam_controller.rs

@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ use super::steam_proto::{
     btn, parse_steam_output, sc_from_gamepad, serial_reply, serialize_deck_state,
     serialize_sc_state, SteamModel, SteamState, STEAMDECK_RDESC, STEAM_REPORT_LEN, STEAM_VENDOR,
 };
+use crate::uhid_abi::{
+    put_cstr, request_id, set_report_data, BUS_USB, HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE, UHID_CREATE2,
+    UHID_DESTROY, UHID_EVENT_SIZE, UHID_GET_REPORT, UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY, UHID_INPUT2,
+    UHID_OUTPUT, UHID_PATH, UHID_SET_REPORT, UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY,
+};
 use crate::uhid_manager::{PadFeedback, PadProto, UhidManager};
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use punktfunk_core::quic::RichInput;
@@ -32,20 +37,6 @@ use std::os::unix::fs::OpenOptionsExt;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 
-// /dev/uhid event ABI — same layout as the DualSense backend.
-const UHID_PATH: &str = "/dev/uhid";
-const UHID_DESTROY: u32 = 1;
-const UHID_OUTPUT: u32 = 6;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT: u32 = 9;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 10;
-const UHID_CREATE2: u32 = 11;
-const UHID_INPUT2: u32 = 12;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT: u32 = 13;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 14;
-const HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE: usize = 4096;
-const UHID_EVENT_SIZE: usize = 4 + 4372;
-const BUS_USB: u16 = 0x03;
-
 /// Hold the `b9.6` mode-switch this long at creation to toggle `gamepad_mode` on (the kernel needs
 /// ~450 ms continuous; give margin).
 const MODE_ENTER: Duration = Duration::from_millis(650);
@@ -53,11 +44,6 @@ const MODE_ENTER: Duration = Duration::from_millis(650);
 /// we insert a one-frame release so an in-game long-Start-hold can't toggle `gamepad_mode` off.
 const MENU_HOLD_CAP: Duration = Duration::from_millis(350);
 
-fn put_cstr(ev: &mut [u8], off: usize, cap: usize, s: &str) {
-    let n = s.len().min(cap - 1);
-    ev[off..off + n].copy_from_slice(&s.as_bytes()[..n]);
-}
-
 /// Best-effort, once per process: clear `hid_steam`'s `lizard_mode` so `steam_do_deck_input_event`
 /// stops gating on `gamepad_mode` (gamepad events then always flow). Needs root; on failure the
 /// per-pad `b9.6` pulse + guard handle it instead.
@@ -214,10 +200,13 @@ impl SteamDeckPad {
                     let _ = self.reply_get_report(id, &serial_reply("PUNKTFUNK01"));
                 }
                 UHID_SET_REPORT => {
-                    let id = u32::from_ne_bytes([ev[4], ev[5], ev[6], ev[7]]);
-                    // SET_REPORT data: [report-id 0, cmd, …] at ev[12..]. Surface rumble, then ack.
-                    let end = (12 + 16).min(UHID_EVENT_SIZE);
-                    if let Some(r) = parse_steam_output(&ev[12..end]).rumble {
+                    let id = request_id(&ev);
+                    // SET_REPORT data: [report-id 0, cmd, …]. Take exactly the bytes the kernel
+                    // declared — this used to read a fixed 16-byte window, which truncated any
+                    // longer report and, for a shorter one, fed the parser whatever the reused
+                    // event buffer still held past the payload. Every sibling backend that parses
+                    // SET_REPORT already read the size field; this one didn't.
+                    if let Some(r) = parse_steam_output(set_report_data(&ev)).rumble {
                         rumble = Some(r);
                     }
                     let _ = self.reply_set_report(id);

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/linux/steam_controller2.rs

@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ use super::triton_proto::{
     triton_serial, triton_unit_id, TritonState, TRITON_RDESC, TRITON_STATE_LEN, TRITON_VENDOR,
     TRITON_WIRED_PRODUCT,
 };
+use crate::uhid_abi::{
+    put_cstr, BUS_USB, HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE, UHID_CREATE2, UHID_DESTROY, UHID_EVENT_SIZE,
+    UHID_GET_REPORT, UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY, UHID_INPUT2, UHID_OUTPUT, UHID_PATH, UHID_SET_REPORT,
+    UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY,
+};
 use crate::uhid_manager::{PadFeedback, PadProto, UhidManager};
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use punktfunk_core::quic::{HidOutput, RichInput, HID_RAW_FEATURE, HID_RAW_OUTPUT};
@@ -30,25 +35,6 @@ use std::fs::{File, OpenOptions};
 use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::os::unix::fs::OpenOptionsExt;
 
-// /dev/uhid event ABI — same layout as the Deck/DualSense backends.
-const UHID_PATH: &str = "/dev/uhid";
-const UHID_DESTROY: u32 = 1;
-const UHID_OUTPUT: u32 = 6;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT: u32 = 9;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 10;
-const UHID_CREATE2: u32 = 11;
-const UHID_INPUT2: u32 = 12;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT: u32 = 13;
-const UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 14;
-const HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE: usize = 4096;
-const UHID_EVENT_SIZE: usize = 4 + 4372;
-const BUS_USB: u16 = 0x03;
-
-fn put_cstr(ev: &mut [u8], off: usize, cap: usize, s: &str) {
-    let n = s.len().min(cap - 1);
-    ev[off..off + n].copy_from_slice(&s.as_bytes()[..n]);
-}
-
 /// A virtual Steam Controller 2 backed by `/dev/uhid`. Dropping it destroys the device.
 pub struct TritonPad {
     fd: File,

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/linux/switch_pro.rs

@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ use super::switch_proto::{
     serialize_report_0x30, spi_flash_read, switch_mac, SwitchOutput, SwitchState, PROCON_RDESC,
     SWITCH_PRODUCT, SWITCH_REPORT_LEN, SWITCH_VENDOR,
 };
+use crate::uhid_abi::{
+    put_cstr, BUS_USB, HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE, UHID_CREATE2, UHID_DESTROY, UHID_EVENT_SIZE,
+    UHID_GET_REPORT, UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY, UHID_INPUT2, UHID_OUTPUT, UHID_PATH,
+};
 use crate::uhid_manager::{PadFeedback, PadProto, UhidManager};
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use punktfunk_core::quic::{HidOutput, RichInput};
@@ -29,24 +33,6 @@ use std::fs::{File, OpenOptions};
 use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::os::unix::fs::OpenOptionsExt;
 
-// /dev/uhid event ABI (linux/uhid.h) — identical to the DualSense backend's; see `super::dualsense`.
-const UHID_PATH: &str = "/dev/uhid";
-const UHID_DESTROY: u32 = 1;
-const UHID_OUTPUT: u32 = 6;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT: u32 = 9;
-const UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 10;
-const UHID_CREATE2: u32 = 11;
-const UHID_INPUT2: u32 = 12;
-const HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE: usize = 4096;
-const UHID_EVENT_SIZE: usize = 4 + 4372; // type + union (create2)
-const BUS_USB: u16 = 0x03;
-
-/// Copy a NUL-padded C string field into the event buffer.
-fn put_cstr(ev: &mut [u8], off: usize, cap: usize, s: &str) {
-    let n = s.len().min(cap - 1);
-    ev[off..off + n].copy_from_slice(&s.as_bytes()[..n]); // rest already zero (NUL-terminated)
-}
-
 /// A virtual Pro Controller backed by `/dev/uhid`. Dropping it destroys the device (the kernel
 /// tears down the bound `hid-nintendo` interface).
 pub struct SwitchProPad {

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/linux/uhid_abi.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+//! The `/dev/uhid` event ABI (`linux/uhid.h`), in one place.
+//!
+//! Every UHID gamepad backend — DualSense, DualShock 4, Switch Pro, Steam Controller and Steam
+//! Controller 2 — speaks the same kernel protocol, and each carried its own verbatim copy of these
+//! constants plus its own `put_cstr`. Five copies of one kernel ABI is five chances to drift from
+//! it, and they already had: `switch_pro` was missing the SET_REPORT pair entirely, and one backend
+//! read a fixed-size SET_REPORT payload instead of the length the kernel gave it (see
+//! [`set_report_data`]).
+//!
+//! `struct uhid_event` is `__packed__`: a `u32` `type` followed by a union whose largest member is
+//! `uhid_create2_req` (name 128 + phys 64 + uniq 64 + rd_size 2 + bus 2 + 4×u32 + rd_data 4096 =
+//! 4372 bytes). Nothing here allocates or parses a whole event — the backends still drive their own
+//! read/write loops; this module owns the numbers and the two field accessors that are easy to get
+//! subtly wrong.
+
+/// The character device every backend opens.
+pub const UHID_PATH: &str = "/dev/uhid";
+
+// Event types (`enum uhid_event_type`). Only the ones the backends actually use.
+pub const UHID_DESTROY: u32 = 1;
+pub const UHID_OUTPUT: u32 = 6;
+pub const UHID_GET_REPORT: u32 = 9;
+pub const UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 10;
+pub const UHID_CREATE2: u32 = 11;
+pub const UHID_INPUT2: u32 = 12;
+pub const UHID_SET_REPORT: u32 = 13;
+pub const UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY: u32 = 14;
+
+/// `HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE` — also the cap on a report payload we will copy out of an event.
+pub const HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE: usize = 4096;
+/// `size_of::<uhid_event>()`: the `u32` type tag plus the create2 union.
+pub const UHID_EVENT_SIZE: usize = 4 + 4372;
+/// `BUS_USB` from `linux/input.h`.
+pub const BUS_USB: u16 = 0x03;
+
+/// Offset of the `id` field shared by the GET_REPORT / SET_REPORT request and reply structs.
+const OFF_ID: usize = 4;
+/// Offset of `uhid_set_report_req::size` (after `id: u32`, `rnum: u8`, `rtype: u8`).
+const OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE: usize = 10;
+/// Offset of the payload in a SET_REPORT request — and of `data` in the reply structs.
+const OFF_DATA: usize = 12;
+/// Offset of `uhid_output_req::size` (the payload follows `data[4096]`).
+const OFF_OUTPUT_SIZE: usize = 4 + HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE;
+
+/// Copy a NUL-padded C string field into the event buffer. The buffer is zeroed by the caller, so
+/// truncation still leaves a NUL terminator.
+pub fn put_cstr(ev: &mut [u8], off: usize, cap: usize, s: &str) {
+    let n = s.len().min(cap - 1);
+    ev[off..off + n].copy_from_slice(&s.as_bytes()[..n]); // rest already zero (NUL-terminated)
+}
+
+/// The request id of a GET_REPORT / SET_REPORT event — what the matching reply must echo.
+pub fn request_id(ev: &[u8]) -> u32 {
+    u32::from_ne_bytes([ev[OFF_ID], ev[OFF_ID + 1], ev[OFF_ID + 2], ev[OFF_ID + 3]])
+}
+
+/// The payload of a `UHID_SET_REPORT` event: exactly the bytes the kernel says are there.
+///
+/// Read the length from the event's own `size` field. Assuming a fixed window instead is wrong in
+/// both directions — a longer report is silently truncated, and a shorter one is parsed together
+/// with whatever stale bytes the reused event buffer still holds past its end, which for a rumble
+/// report means acting on numbers the game never wrote.
+pub fn set_report_data(ev: &[u8]) -> &[u8] {
+    let size = u16::from_ne_bytes([ev[OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE], ev[OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE + 1]]) as usize;
+    let end = (OFF_DATA + size.min(HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE)).min(ev.len());
+    &ev[OFF_DATA.min(end)..end]
+}
+
+/// The payload of a `UHID_OUTPUT` event (`uhid_output_req`: `data[4096]` then `size`).
+pub fn output_data(ev: &[u8]) -> &[u8] {
+    let size = u16::from_ne_bytes([ev[OFF_OUTPUT_SIZE], ev[OFF_OUTPUT_SIZE + 1]]) as usize;
+    let end = (4 + size.min(HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE)).min(ev.len());
+    &ev[4.min(end)..end]
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    fn blank() -> Vec<u8> {
+        vec![0u8; UHID_EVENT_SIZE]
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn set_report_data_honours_the_events_own_size() {
+        let mut ev = blank();
+        ev[OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE..OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE + 2].copy_from_slice(&5u16.to_ne_bytes());
+        for (i, b) in [1u8, 2, 3, 4, 5].iter().enumerate() {
+            ev[OFF_DATA + i] = *b;
+        }
+        // Stale bytes past the payload — a fixed-window read would hand these to the parser.
+        ev[OFF_DATA + 5] = 0xAA;
+        ev[OFF_DATA + 15] = 0xBB;
+        assert_eq!(set_report_data(&ev), &[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn set_report_data_is_not_truncated_at_sixteen() {
+        let mut ev = blank();
+        let n = 40usize;
+        ev[OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE..OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE + 2].copy_from_slice(&(n as u16).to_ne_bytes());
+        for i in 0..n {
+            ev[OFF_DATA + i] = i as u8;
+        }
+        let d = set_report_data(&ev);
+        assert_eq!(
+            d.len(),
+            n,
+            "a report longer than 16 bytes must survive whole"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(d[39], 39);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn oversized_and_empty_sizes_stay_in_bounds() {
+        let mut ev = blank();
+        ev[OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE..OFF_SET_REPORT_SIZE + 2].copy_from_slice(&u16::MAX.to_ne_bytes());
+        assert!(set_report_data(&ev).len() <= HID_MAX_DESCRIPTOR_SIZE);
+        assert!(OFF_DATA + set_report_data(&ev).len() <= UHID_EVENT_SIZE);
+
+        let ev0 = blank(); // size = 0
+        assert!(set_report_data(&ev0).is_empty());
+        assert!(output_data(&ev0).is_empty());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn output_data_reads_its_trailing_size_field() {
+        let mut ev = blank();
+        ev[OFF_OUTPUT_SIZE..OFF_OUTPUT_SIZE + 2].copy_from_slice(&3u16.to_ne_bytes());
+        ev[4] = 0x02;
+        ev[5] = 0x11;
+        ev[6] = 0x22;
+        ev[7] = 0x33; // past the declared size
+        assert_eq!(output_data(&ev), &[0x02, 0x11, 0x22]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn request_id_round_trips() {
+        let mut ev = blank();
+        ev[OFF_ID..OFF_ID + 4].copy_from_slice(&0xDEAD_BEEFu32.to_ne_bytes());
+        assert_eq!(request_id(&ev), 0xDEAD_BEEF);
+    }
+}

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/proto/dualsense_proto.rs

@@ -479,7 +479,14 @@ fn pack_touch(dst: &mut [u8], t: &Touch) {
 #[derive(Default)]
 pub struct DsFeedback {
     pub hidout: Vec<HidOutput>,
-    /// `(low, high)` motor levels (0..=0xFFFF), if a report carried them.
+    /// `(low, high)` motor levels, if a report carried them.
+    ///
+    /// This parser widens the device's 8-bit motor bytes by `<< 8`, so the values it produces are
+    /// `0..=0xFF00` in steps of 0x100 — NOT `0..=0xFFFF`, which is what this said before. The
+    /// Windows backend widens the same bytes by `× 257` and does reach 0xFFFF. Both are correct:
+    /// every consumer narrows with `>> 8`, and 0xFF00 and 0xFFFF both narrow back to 255. Do not
+    /// "fix" one to match the other — see [`crate::uhid_manager::PadFeedback::rumble`], which is
+    /// the type that sees both.
     pub rumble: Option<(u16, u16)>,
     /// The driver's output-report ring overflowed this poll — pending reports were DISCARDED and
     /// feedback state is unknown; the [`UhidManager`](crate::uhid_manager) must resync (silence +
@@ -487,67 +494,119 @@ pub struct DsFeedback {
     pub resync: bool,
 }
 
-/// Parse a DualSense USB output report (`0x02`) into a [`DsFeedback`]. The byte layout below is
-/// the USB DualSense common report; only the well-understood fields (motor rumble, lightbar RGB,
-/// player LEDs) are surfaced — adaptive-trigger blocks are forwarded raw for the client.
+/// Field offsets in the DualSense **output** report, as indices into a whole USB report — i.e.
+/// including the leading report id at `[0]`. This is the one place in Rust the layout is written
+/// down; index off these rather than repeating the numbers.
+///
+/// **The same fields sit at different offsets per transport, and that is not drift.** Every writer
+/// lays out one common block; what changes is how much header precedes it:
+///
+/// | base | where | first payload byte |
+/// |---|---|---|
+/// | `0`  | USB report, id included — what these constants describe, and what this parser reads | `[1]` |
+/// | `−1` | SDL `DS5EffectsState_t` — a 47-byte payload with NO report id (`pf-client-core`'s `Ds5Feedback`) | `[0]` |
+/// | `+2` | Bluetooth report `0x31` — id, sequence, magic, then the block; CRC32 in the last 4 bytes | `[3]` |
+///
+/// Subtract or add the base to translate. Mirrors that cannot import this module — Kotlin
+/// (`DsDevice.kt`, USB base 0) and Swift (`DualSenseHID.swift`, which handles both the USB and
+/// Bluetooth bases) — carry a pointer back here; keep them in step by hand.
+pub mod out_report {
+    /// `valid_flag0`: BIT0 compat vibration, BIT1 haptics select, BIT2 R2, BIT3 L2.
+    pub const VALID_FLAG0: usize = 1;
+    /// `valid_flag1`: BIT2 lightbar, BIT4 player indicators.
+    pub const VALID_FLAG1: usize = 2;
+    /// High-frequency (small / right) motor.
+    pub const MOTOR_RIGHT: usize = 3;
+    /// Low-frequency (big / left) motor.
+    pub const MOTOR_LEFT: usize = 4;
+    /// First byte of the RIGHT trigger's parameter block — it precedes the left one in the report.
+    pub const RIGHT_TRIGGER: usize = 11;
+    /// First byte of the LEFT trigger's parameter block.
+    pub const LEFT_TRIGGER: usize = 22;
+    /// One adaptive-trigger parameter block: a mode byte plus 10 parameters.
+    pub const TRIGGER_LEN: usize = 11;
+    /// `valid_flag2`: BIT2 = `COMPATIBLE_VIBRATION2` (the firmware ≥ 2.24 rumble signal).
+    pub const VALID_FLAG2: usize = 39;
+    /// Lit player-indicator bits (low 5).
+    pub const PLAYER_LEDS: usize = 44;
+    /// Lightbar red; green and blue follow.
+    pub const LED_RGB: usize = 45;
+}
+
+/// Parse a DualSense USB output report (`0x02`) into a [`DsFeedback`], indexed off
+/// [`out_report`]. Only the well-understood fields (motor rumble, lightbar RGB, player LEDs) are
+/// surfaced — adaptive-trigger blocks and the audio-control region are forwarded raw for the client.
 ///
 /// Every field is gated on the report's valid-flags (`valid_flag0` at data[1], `valid_flag1`
 /// at data[2]) — writers only set the bits for fields they mean to change (the rest is zeroed),
 /// so an ungated parse would turn every plain rumble write into a lightbar-off + triggers-off
 /// broadcast.
 pub fn parse_ds_output(pad: u8, data: &[u8], fb: &mut DsFeedback) {
+    use out_report as o;
     // data[0] is the report id (0x02). Be defensive about short reports.
     if data.first() != Some(&0x02) || data.len() < 48 {
         return;
     }
-    let flag0 = data[1]; // BIT0 compat vibration, BIT1 haptics select, BIT2 R2, BIT3 L2
-    let flag1 = data[2]; // BIT2 lightbar, BIT4 player indicators
-                         // Motor rumble: high-frequency (small/right) motor at data[3], low-frequency (big/left) at
-                         // data[4]. Scale 0..255 → 0..0xFFFF, same (low, high) convention as the uinput pad's mixer,
-                         // and route to the universal rumble plane (0xCA).
-                         // Writers on firmware ≥ 2.24 signal rumble via COMPATIBLE_VIBRATION2 in valid_flag2
-                         // (data[39] BIT2) instead of flag0 BIT0. Our feature report advertises a version
-                         // above 2.24 (DS_FEATURE_FIRMWARE bytes 44..46, chosen to keep Sony's updater
-                         // quiet), so the kernel and SDL write the v2 flag — while older writers, and any
-                         // that never read the version, stay on flag0. Both conventions must land here: a
-                         // rumble dropped on either — including stops — is silently ignored, and a missed
-                         // stop buzzes for the rest of the session (the 500 ms refresh re-sends stale state
-                         // forever).
-    if flag0 & 0x03 != 0 || data[39] & 0x04 != 0 {
-        let high = (data[3] as u16) << 8;
-        let low = (data[4] as u16) << 8;
+    let flag0 = data[o::VALID_FLAG0]; // BIT0 compat vibration, BIT1 haptics select, BIT2 R2, BIT3 L2
+    let flag1 = data[o::VALID_FLAG1]; // BIT2 lightbar, BIT4 player indicators
+                                      // Motor rumble: high-frequency (small/right) motor first, low-frequency (big/left) second.
+                                      // Widened 0..255 → 0..0xFF00 by `<< 8` (NOT 0xFFFF — see `DsFeedback::rumble`), same
+                                      // (low, high) convention as the uinput pad's mixer, and routed to the 0xCA plane.
+                                      // Writers on firmware ≥ 2.24 signal rumble via COMPATIBLE_VIBRATION2 in valid_flag2
+                                      // instead of flag0 BIT0. Our feature report advertises a version above 2.24
+                                      // (DS_FEATURE_FIRMWARE bytes 44..46, chosen to keep Sony's updater quiet), so the
+                                      // kernel and SDL write the v2 flag — while older writers, and any that never read the
+                                      // version, stay on flag0. Both conventions must land here: a rumble dropped on either
+                                      // — including stops — is silently ignored, and a missed stop buzzes for the rest of
+                                      // the session (the 500 ms refresh re-sends stale state forever).
+    if flag0 & 0x03 != 0 || data[o::VALID_FLAG2] & 0x04 != 0 {
+        let high = (data[o::MOTOR_RIGHT] as u16) << 8;
+        let low = (data[o::MOTOR_LEFT] as u16) << 8;
         fb.rumble = Some((low, high));
     }
-    // Lightbar RGB (USB common report: bytes 45..48). Player LEDs at byte 44.
     if flag1 & 0x04 != 0 {
-        let (r, g, b) = (data[45], data[46], data[47]);
+        let (r, g, b) = (data[o::LED_RGB], data[o::LED_RGB + 1], data[o::LED_RGB + 2]);
         fb.hidout.push(HidOutput::Led { pad, r, g, b });
     }
     if flag1 & 0x10 != 0 {
         fb.hidout.push(HidOutput::PlayerLeds {
             pad,
-            bits: data[44] & 0x1F,
+            bits: data[o::PLAYER_LEDS] & 0x1F,
         });
     }
-    // Adaptive-trigger parameter blocks, 11 bytes each: the RIGHT trigger comes FIRST in the
-    // report (bytes 11..22), the left at 22..33 — per SDL's DS5EffectsState_t / inputtino's
-    // ps5.hpp. Wire convention: which 0 = L2, 1 = R2.
-    if data.len() >= 33 {
+    // The RIGHT trigger block comes FIRST in the report — per SDL's DS5EffectsState_t /
+    // inputtino's ps5.hpp. Wire convention: which 0 = L2, 1 = R2.
+    if data.len() >= o::LEFT_TRIGGER + o::TRIGGER_LEN {
         if flag0 & 0x04 != 0 {
             fb.hidout.push(HidOutput::Trigger {
                 pad,
                 which: 1,
-                effect: data[11..22].to_vec(),
+                effect: data[o::RIGHT_TRIGGER..o::RIGHT_TRIGGER + o::TRIGGER_LEN].to_vec(),
             });
         }
         if flag0 & 0x08 != 0 {
             fb.hidout.push(HidOutput::Trigger {
                 pad,
                 which: 0,
-                effect: data[22..33].to_vec(),
+                effect: data[o::LEFT_TRIGGER..o::LEFT_TRIGGER + o::TRIGGER_LEN].to_vec(),
             });
         }
     }
+    // The audio-control region (bytes 5..=10: headphone/speaker/mic volumes + routing), for the
+    // pad-audio path. The wire flags condense the report's audio bits: bit0 = haptics-select
+    // (flag0 BIT1 — set on every SDL rumble write too, which is why it alone never triggers an
+    // emission), bits1..4 = flag0 bits 4..7 (the audio-valid flags gating the region). Emitted
+    // whenever an audio-valid flag is present or the region carries data; downstream dedup
+    // ([`crate::hidout_dedup`]) reduces the per-report repeats to genuine changes.
+    let raw: [u8; 6] = data[5..11].try_into().unwrap();
+    if flag0 & 0xF0 != 0 || raw != [0u8; 6] {
+        let flags = ((flag0 >> 1) & 0x01) | ((flag0 >> 3) & 0x1E);
+        fb.hidout.push(HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+            pad: pad.into(),
+            flags,
+            raw,
+        });
+    }
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
@@ -873,6 +932,48 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(*DUALSENSE_EDGE_RDESC.last().unwrap(), 0xC0);
     }
 
+    /// A 0x02 report driving the pad's audio (haptics-select + audio-valid flags + the volume/
+    /// routing bytes) surfaces an `AudioCtl` with the exact raw region and the condensed flags;
+    /// a plain rumble write (haptics-select but a silent audio region — every SDL rumble) does
+    /// NOT — that is what `parse_output_respects_valid_flags` pins with its `hidout.is_empty()`.
+    #[test]
+    fn parse_output_surfaces_audio_ctl() {
+        let mut data = vec![0u8; 48];
+        data[0] = 0x02;
+        data[1] = 0xB2; // flag0: haptics-select (BIT1) + audio-valid bits 4/5/7
+        data[5] = 0x50; // headphone volume
+        data[6] = 0x60; // speaker volume
+        data[7] = 0x70; // mic volume
+        data[8] = 0x05; // audio routing / enable bits
+        let mut fb = DsFeedback::default();
+        parse_ds_output(3, &data, &mut fb);
+        // flags: bit0 = flag0 bit1, bits1..4 = flag0 bits 4..7 (0b1011 → 0b10110).
+        assert_eq!(
+            fb.hidout,
+            vec![HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+                pad: 3,
+                flags: 0b1_0111,
+                raw: [0x50, 0x60, 0x70, 0x05, 0x00, 0x00],
+            }]
+        );
+        // A non-zero audio region with NO audio-valid flags still surfaces (dedup collapses the
+        // repeats downstream) — some writers leave stale volumes gated off; the host side wants
+        // the honest bytes either way.
+        let mut data = vec![0u8; 48];
+        data[0] = 0x02;
+        data[9] = 0x01;
+        let mut fb = DsFeedback::default();
+        parse_ds_output(0, &data, &mut fb);
+        assert_eq!(
+            fb.hidout,
+            vec![HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+                pad: 0,
+                flags: 0,
+                raw: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0x01, 0],
+            }]
+        );
+    }
+
     /// A short / wrong-id report yields nothing.
     #[test]
     fn parse_output_rejects_garbage() {

crates/pf-inject/src/inject/uhid_manager.rs

@@ -18,7 +18,12 @@ use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 /// 0xCD feedback events (lightbar / player LEDs / adaptive triggers), deduped via [`HidoutDedup`].
 #[derive(Default)]
 pub struct PadFeedback {
-    /// `(low, high)` motor levels (0..=0xFF00), if the pass saw a rumble report.
+    /// `(low, high)` motor levels, if the pass saw a rumble report.
+    ///
+    /// Range is `0..=0xFFFF` — this said `0..=0xFF00`, which is only true of the backends that
+    /// widen the device's 8-bit motor byte by `<< 8` (the UHID/DualSense path). The Windows
+    /// backend widens by `× 257` and does reach 0xFFFF, and this type carries both. Neither is a
+    /// defect: consumers narrow with `>> 8`, and 0xFF00 and 0xFFFF both narrow back to 255.
     pub rumble: Option<(u16, u16)>,
     pub hidout: Vec<HidOutput>,
     /// Whether the game drove this pad's RUMBLE plane this poll — at least one output report
@@ -513,6 +518,7 @@ mod tests {
             index: 2,
             kind: 1,
             capabilities: 0,
+            audio_caps: 0,
         });
         assert!(m.slots.get(2).is_some());
     }

crates/pf-inject/src/lib.rs

@@ -457,6 +457,11 @@ pub mod triton_proto;
 #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
 #[path = "inject/linux/triton_usbip.rs"]
 pub mod triton_usbip;
+/// Linux: the `/dev/uhid` event ABI shared by every UHID gamepad backend — the constants each
+/// used to transcribe for itself, plus the field accessors that read a payload's real length.
+#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+#[path = "inject/linux/uhid_abi.rs"]
+pub mod uhid_abi;
 /// The generic stateful virtual-pad manager ([`uhid_manager::UhidManager`]) — event routing, frame
 /// merge, heartbeat, and feedback pump shared by the five UHID/UMDF backends; each supplies only
 /// its per-controller protocol via [`uhid_manager::PadProto`] (G12).

crates/punktfunk-core/cbindgen.toml

@@ -56,6 +56,167 @@ exclude = ["MsghdrX", "recvmsg_x", "mmsghdr", "sendmmsg", "recvmmsg"]
 "FRAME_MS" = "PUNKTFUNK_AUDIO_FRAME_MS"
 "SAMPLE_RATE_HZ" = "PUNKTFUNK_AUDIO_SAMPLE_RATE_HZ"
 
+# R21: every remaining exported constant, prefixed. cbindgen emits a bare `#define` per
+# `pub const`, so without an entry here names as generic as MAX_PADS, TAG_LEN, ABI_VERSION and
+# INPUT_MAGIC land in the namespace of every C embedder that includes this header — and, as the
+# note above says, a clashing #define silently takes the last definition rather than failing to
+# compile. The table above had been doing this by hand for the handful someone noticed; this is
+# the rest of them, so the stated rule finally holds for the whole surface.
+#
+# NOT covered, deliberately: associated constants (`ColorInfo_CP_BT709`, `ClockResync_ROUNDS`,
+# `ResyncGuard_MAX_REJECTED_STREAK`). cbindgen already qualifies those with their type name,
+# which is the very property whose absence makes a bare `MAX_PADS` dangerous — they are
+# namespaced, just not by us.
+"ABI_VERSION" = "PUNKTFUNK_ABI_VERSION"
+"APP_EXITED_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_APP_EXITED_CLOSE_CODE"
+"BTN_MISC1" = "PUNKTFUNK_BTN_MISC1"
+"BTN_PADDLE1" = "PUNKTFUNK_BTN_PADDLE1"
+"BTN_PADDLE2" = "PUNKTFUNK_BTN_PADDLE2"
+"BTN_PADDLE3" = "PUNKTFUNK_BTN_PADDLE3"
+"BTN_PADDLE4" = "PUNKTFUNK_BTN_PADDLE4"
+"CHROMA_IDC_420" = "PUNKTFUNK_CHROMA_IDC_420"
+"CHROMA_IDC_444" = "PUNKTFUNK_CHROMA_IDC_444"
+"CIPHER_AES_128_GCM" = "PUNKTFUNK_CIPHER_AES_128_GCM"
+"CIPHER_CHACHA20_POLY1305" = "PUNKTFUNK_CIPHER_CHACHA20_POLY1305"
+"CLIENT_CAP_AUDIO_RED" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_AUDIO_RED"
+"CLIENT_CAP_CURSOR" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_CURSOR"
+"CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK"
+"CLIP_CANCELLED_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_CANCELLED_CODE"
+"CLIP_CHUNK" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_CHUNK"
+"CLIP_FETCH_CAP" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_FETCH_CAP"
+"CLIP_FETCH_DENIED" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_FETCH_DENIED"
+"CLIP_FETCH_OK" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_FETCH_OK"
+"CLIP_FETCH_STALE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_FETCH_STALE"
+"CLIP_FETCH_UNAVAILABLE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_FETCH_UNAVAILABLE"
+"CLIP_FILE_INDEX_NONE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_FILE_INDEX_NONE"
+"CLIP_FLAG_FILES" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_FLAG_FILES"
+"CLIP_MAX_KINDS" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_MAX_KINDS"
+"CLIP_MAX_MIME" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_MAX_MIME"
+"CLIP_POLICY_FILES" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_POLICY_FILES"
+"CLIP_POLICY_TEXT" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_POLICY_TEXT"
+"CLIP_REASON_BACKEND_UNAVAILABLE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_REASON_BACKEND_UNAVAILABLE"
+"CLIP_REASON_NO_FILES" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_REASON_NO_FILES"
+"CLIP_REASON_OK" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_REASON_OK"
+"CLIP_REASON_POLICY_DISABLED" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_REASON_POLICY_DISABLED"
+"CLIP_REASON_TAKEN_OVER" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_REASON_TAKEN_OVER"
+"CLIP_STREAM_KIND_FETCH" = "PUNKTFUNK_CLIP_STREAM_KIND_FETCH"
+"ClockResync_ROUNDS" = "PUNKTFUNK_ClockResync_ROUNDS"
+"CODEC_AV1" = "PUNKTFUNK_CODEC_AV1"
+"CODEC_H264" = "PUNKTFUNK_CODEC_H264"
+"CODEC_HEVC" = "PUNKTFUNK_CODEC_HEVC"
+"CODEC_PYROWAVE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CODEC_PYROWAVE"
+"ColorInfo_CP_BT2020" = "PUNKTFUNK_ColorInfo_CP_BT2020"
+"ColorInfo_CP_BT709" = "PUNKTFUNK_ColorInfo_CP_BT709"
+"ColorInfo_MC_BT2020_NCL" = "PUNKTFUNK_ColorInfo_MC_BT2020_NCL"
+"ColorInfo_MC_BT709" = "PUNKTFUNK_ColorInfo_MC_BT709"
+"ColorInfo_TRC_BT709" = "PUNKTFUNK_ColorInfo_TRC_BT709"
+"ColorInfo_TRC_HLG" = "PUNKTFUNK_ColorInfo_TRC_HLG"
+"ColorInfo_TRC_PQ" = "PUNKTFUNK_ColorInfo_TRC_PQ"
+"CURSOR_RELATIVE_HINT" = "PUNKTFUNK_CURSOR_RELATIVE_HINT"
+"CURSOR_SHAPE_MAX_SIDE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CURSOR_SHAPE_MAX_SIDE"
+"CURSOR_STATE_MAGIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_CURSOR_STATE_MAGIC"
+"CURSOR_VISIBLE" = "PUNKTFUNK_CURSOR_VISIBLE"
+"FLAG_EOF" = "PUNKTFUNK_FLAG_EOF"
+"FLAG_PIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_FLAG_PIC"
+"FLAG_PROBE" = "PUNKTFUNK_FLAG_PROBE"
+"FLAG_SOF" = "PUNKTFUNK_FLAG_SOF"
+"HDR_META_BODY_LEN" = "PUNKTFUNK_HDR_META_BODY_LEN"
+"HDR_META_MAGIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_HDR_META_MAGIC"
+"HELLO_LAUNCH_MAX" = "PUNKTFUNK_HELLO_LAUNCH_MAX"
+"HELLO_NAME_MAX" = "PUNKTFUNK_HELLO_NAME_MAX"
+"HID_RAW_FEATURE" = "PUNKTFUNK_HID_RAW_FEATURE"
+"HID_RAW_OUTPUT" = "PUNKTFUNK_HID_RAW_OUTPUT"
+"HID_REPORT_MAX" = "PUNKTFUNK_HID_REPORT_MAX"
+"HIDOUT_MAGIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_HIDOUT_MAGIC"
+"HOST_CAP_AUDIO_RED" = "PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_AUDIO_RED"
+"HOST_CAP_CLIPBOARD" = "PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_CLIPBOARD"
+"HOST_CAP_CURSOR" = "PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_CURSOR"
+"HOST_CAP_GAMEPAD_STATE" = "PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_GAMEPAD_STATE"
+"HOST_CAP_PEN" = "PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PEN"
+"HOST_CAP_TEXT_INPUT" = "PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_TEXT_INPUT"
+"HOST_TIMING_MAGIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_HOST_TIMING_MAGIC"
+"INBOUND_REQ_FLAG" = "PUNKTFUNK_INBOUND_REQ_FLAG"
+"INPUT_MAGIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_INPUT_MAGIC"
+"INPUT_WIRE_LEN" = "PUNKTFUNK_INPUT_WIRE_LEN"
+"LEGACY_STALE_MS" = "PUNKTFUNK_LEGACY_STALE_MS"
+"MAX_DATAGRAM_BYTES" = "PUNKTFUNK_MAX_DATAGRAM_BYTES"
+"MAX_PADS" = "PUNKTFUNK_MAX_PADS"
+"MAX_SCALE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MAX_SCALE"
+"MIC_MAGIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_MIC_MAGIC"
+"MIN_SCALE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MIN_SCALE"
+"MIN_SHARD_PAYLOAD" = "PUNKTFUNK_MIN_SHARD_PAYLOAD"
+"MIN_STREAM_BLOCK_SHARDS" = "PUNKTFUNK_MIN_STREAM_BLOCK_SHARDS"
+"MSG_BITRATE_CHANGED" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_BITRATE_CHANGED"
+"MSG_CLIP_CONTROL" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CLIP_CONTROL"
+"MSG_CLIP_FETCH" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CLIP_FETCH"
+"MSG_CLIP_FETCH_HDR" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CLIP_FETCH_HDR"
+"MSG_CLIP_OFFER" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CLIP_OFFER"
+"MSG_CLIP_STATE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CLIP_STATE"
+"MSG_CLOCK_ECHO" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CLOCK_ECHO"
+"MSG_CLOCK_PROBE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CLOCK_PROBE"
+"MSG_CURSOR_RENDER" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CURSOR_RENDER"
+"MSG_CURSOR_SHAPE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_CURSOR_SHAPE"
+"MSG_LOSS_REPORT" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_LOSS_REPORT"
+"MSG_PAIR_CHALLENGE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_PAIR_CHALLENGE"
+"MSG_PAIR_PROOF" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_PAIR_PROOF"
+"MSG_PAIR_REQUEST" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_PAIR_REQUEST"
+"MSG_PAIR_RESULT" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_PAIR_RESULT"
+"MSG_PHASE_REPORT" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_PHASE_REPORT"
+"MSG_PROBE_REQUEST" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_PROBE_REQUEST"
+"MSG_PROBE_RESULT" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_PROBE_RESULT"
+"MSG_RECONFIGURE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_RECONFIGURE"
+"MSG_RECONFIGURED" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_RECONFIGURED"
+"MSG_REQUEST_KEYFRAME" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_REQUEST_KEYFRAME"
+"MSG_RFI_REQUEST" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_RFI_REQUEST"
+"MSG_SET_BITRATE" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_SET_BITRATE"
+"MSG_SHARD_PAYLOAD_ACK" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_SHARD_PAYLOAD_ACK"
+"MSG_SHARD_PAYLOAD_CHANGED" = "PUNKTFUNK_MSG_SHARD_PAYLOAD_CHANGED"
+"NO_OUTPUT_KEYFRAME_STREAK" = "PUNKTFUNK_NO_OUTPUT_KEYFRAME_STREAK"
+"PAIR_APPROVAL_TIMEOUT_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PAIR_APPROVAL_TIMEOUT_CLOSE_CODE"
+"PAIR_BOUND_OTHER_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PAIR_BOUND_OTHER_CLOSE_CODE"
+"PAIR_DENIED_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PAIR_DENIED_CLOSE_CODE"
+"PAIR_NO_IDENTITY_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PAIR_NO_IDENTITY_CLOSE_CODE"
+"PAIR_NOT_ARMED_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PAIR_NOT_ARMED_CLOSE_CODE"
+"PAIR_RATE_LIMITED_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PAIR_RATE_LIMITED_CLOSE_CODE"
+"PAIR_SUPERSEDED_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PAIR_SUPERSEDED_CLOSE_CODE"
+"PEN_ANGLE_UNKNOWN" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_ANGLE_UNKNOWN"
+"PEN_BARREL1" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_BARREL1"
+"PEN_BARREL2" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_BARREL2"
+"PEN_BATCH_MAX" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_BATCH_MAX"
+"PEN_DISTANCE_UNKNOWN" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_DISTANCE_UNKNOWN"
+"PEN_IN_RANGE" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_IN_RANGE"
+"PEN_PREDICTED" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_PREDICTED"
+"PEN_SAMPLE_WIRE_LEN" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_SAMPLE_WIRE_LEN"
+"PEN_TILT_UNKNOWN" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_TILT_UNKNOWN"
+"PEN_TOUCH_TIMEOUT_MS" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_TOUCH_TIMEOUT_MS"
+"PEN_TOUCHING" = "PUNKTFUNK_PEN_TOUCHING"
+"PRESETS" = "PUNKTFUNK_PRESETS"
+"QUIT_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_QUIT_CLOSE_CODE"
+"REANCHOR_MARKS_TO_LIFT" = "PUNKTFUNK_REANCHOR_MARKS_TO_LIFT"
+"REJECT_BUSY_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_REJECT_BUSY_CLOSE_CODE"
+"ResyncGuard_MAX_REJECTED_STREAK" = "PUNKTFUNK_ResyncGuard_MAX_REJECTED_STREAK"
+"RFI_MAX_RANGE" = "PUNKTFUNK_RFI_MAX_RANGE"
+"RICH_INPUT_MAGIC" = "PUNKTFUNK_RICH_INPUT_MAGIC"
+"RUMBLE_V1_LEN" = "PUNKTFUNK_RUMBLE_V1_LEN"
+"RUMBLE_V2_LEN" = "PUNKTFUNK_RUMBLE_V2_LEN"
+"SETUP_FAILED_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_SETUP_FAILED_CLOSE_CODE"
+"TAG_LEN" = "PUNKTFUNK_TAG_LEN"
+"TRIGGER_EFFECT_MAX" = "PUNKTFUNK_TRIGGER_EFFECT_MAX"
+"USER_FLAG_CHUNK_ALIGNED" = "PUNKTFUNK_USER_FLAG_CHUNK_ALIGNED"
+"USER_FLAG_RECOVERY_ANCHOR" = "PUNKTFUNK_USER_FLAG_RECOVERY_ANCHOR"
+"USER_FLAG_RECOVERY_POINT" = "PUNKTFUNK_USER_FLAG_RECOVERY_POINT"
+"USER_FLAG_SLICE_STREAM" = "PUNKTFUNK_USER_FLAG_SLICE_STREAM"
+"VIDEO_CAP_10BIT" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_10BIT"
+"VIDEO_CAP_444" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_444"
+"VIDEO_CAP_CHACHA20" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_CHACHA20"
+"VIDEO_CAP_HDR" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_HDR"
+"VIDEO_CAP_HOST_TIMING" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_HOST_TIMING"
+"VIDEO_CAP_MULTI_SLICE" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_MULTI_SLICE"
+"VIDEO_CAP_PROBE_SEQ" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_PROBE_SEQ"
+"VIDEO_CAP_STREAMED_AU" = "PUNKTFUNK_VIDEO_CAP_STREAMED_AU"
+"WIRE_VERSION" = "PUNKTFUNK_WIRE_VERSION"
+"WIRE_VERSION_CLOSE_CODE" = "PUNKTFUNK_WIRE_VERSION_CLOSE_CODE"
+
 # QualifiedScreamingSnakeCase already qualifies each variant with the enum name
 # (PunktfunkStatus::Ok -> PUNKTFUNK_STATUS_OK); do NOT also set prefix_with_name or it doubles.
 [enum]

crates/punktfunk-core/src/abi.rs

@@ -670,6 +670,12 @@ pub const PUNKTFUNK_HIDOUT_TRIGGER: u8 = 3;
 /// side (0 = right pad, 1 = left pad); `effect[0..6]` packs `amplitude` / `period` / `count` as
 /// little-endian `u16`s with `effect_len = 6`. Clients without trackpad coils drop it.
 pub const PUNKTFUNK_HIDOUT_TRACKPAD_HAPTIC: u8 = 4;
+/// `PunktfunkHidOutput::kind` — the audio-control region of a DS5 output report (pad-audio
+/// routing/volumes; the audio SAMPLES arrive via [`punktfunk_connection_next_pad_audio`]).
+/// `which` = the condensed audio flags (bit0 = haptics-select, bits1..4 = the report's
+/// audio-valid flags); `effect[0..6]` = bytes 5..=10 of the report verbatim
+/// (headphone/speaker/mic volumes + routing) with `effect_len = 6`. Forwarded change-only.
+pub const PUNKTFUNK_HIDOUT_AUDIO_CTL: u8 = 5;
 /// Capacity of `PunktfunkHidOutput::effect` (the DualSense trigger parameter block).
 pub const PUNKTFUNK_HID_EFFECT_MAX: u8 = 11;
 
@@ -698,7 +704,10 @@ pub struct PunktfunkHidOutput {
     /// Trigger: number of valid bytes in `effect` (≤ `PUNKTFUNK_HID_EFFECT_MAX`).
     pub effect_len: u8,
     /// Trigger: the raw DualSense trigger parameter block (mode + params).
-    pub effect: [u8; 11],
+    /// Sized off [`PUNKTFUNK_HID_EFFECT_MAX`] rather than a second literal `11` — the constant is
+    /// exported precisely so embedders can size their own buffers against it, and it declaring one
+    /// number while the struct it describes hardcoded another was the whole hazard.
+    pub effect: [u8; PUNKTFUNK_HID_EFFECT_MAX as usize],
 }
 
 #[cfg(feature = "quic")]
@@ -759,6 +768,17 @@ impl PunktfunkHidOutput {
                 out.effect_len = 6;
             }
             HidOutput::HidRaw { .. } => return None,
+            HidOutput::AudioCtl { pad, flags, raw } => {
+                // Same packing idiom as TrackpadHaptic: `which` carries the flags byte,
+                // `effect[0..6]` the raw audio region. The u16 wire pad narrows losslessly
+                // because `HidOutput::decode` refuses one at or above `input::MAX_PADS` (B27) —
+                // it is enforced there, not merely assumed here.
+                out.kind = PUNKTFUNK_HIDOUT_AUDIO_CTL;
+                out.pad = *pad as u8;
+                out.which = *flags;
+                out.effect[0..6].copy_from_slice(raw);
+                out.effect_len = 6;
+            }
         }
         Some(out)
     }
@@ -1172,6 +1192,25 @@ pub const PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_CLIPBOARD: u8 = 0x02;
 /// the client keeps its pen-as-touch fallback. (Mirrors `quic::HOST_CAP_PEN`;
 /// design/pen-tablet-input.md.)
 pub const PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PEN: u8 = 0x10;
+/// Host-capability bit in [`punktfunk_connection_host_caps`]: the host can capture per-gamepad
+/// audio (DualSense voice-coil haptics + speaker) and emit it on the 0xD1 plane toward pads
+/// declared capable via [`punktfunk_connection_set_pad_audio_caps`]. Set only when the client
+/// asked via [`PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`]. (Mirrors `quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`.)
+pub const PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO: u8 = 0x40;
+
+/// Pad-audio `kind` ([`punktfunk_connection_next_pad_audio`]): the BACK channel pair — DualSense
+/// voice-coil haptics, 5 ms Opus frames. (Mirrors `quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS`.)
+pub const PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS: u8 = 0;
+/// Pad-audio `kind`: the FRONT channel pair — the controller's built-in speaker, 10 ms Opus
+/// frames. (Mirrors `quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER`.)
+pub const PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER: u8 = 1;
+
+/// [`punktfunk_connection_set_pad_audio_caps`] `audio_caps` bit: the pad renders the HAPTICS
+/// stream (a real DualSense's voice coils).
+pub const PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_CAP_HAPTICS: u8 = 0x01;
+/// [`punktfunk_connection_set_pad_audio_caps`] `audio_caps` bit: the pad renders the SPEAKER
+/// stream.
+pub const PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_CAP_SPEAKER: u8 = 0x02;
 
 // Keep the ABI cap bits in lockstep with the wire constants (compile-time guard against drift).
 #[cfg(feature = "quic")]
@@ -1186,6 +1225,20 @@ const _: () = {
     assert!(PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_GAMEPAD_STATE == crate::quic::HOST_CAP_GAMEPAD_STATE);
     assert!(PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_CLIPBOARD == crate::quic::HOST_CAP_CLIPBOARD);
     assert!(PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PEN == crate::quic::HOST_CAP_PEN);
+    assert!(PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO == crate::quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO);
+    assert!(PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO == crate::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO);
+    assert!(PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS == crate::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS);
+    assert!(PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER == crate::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER);
+    // The setter's caps bits are the arrival flags bits 8/9 shifted down (the wire packing
+    // `input::encode_gamepad_arrival` applies).
+    assert!(
+        (PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_CAP_HAPTICS as u32) << 8
+            == crate::input::ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS
+    );
+    assert!(
+        (PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_CAP_SPEAKER as u32) << 8
+            == crate::input::ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_SPEAKER
+    );
     assert!(PUNKTFUNK_PEN_IN_RANGE == crate::quic::PEN_IN_RANGE);
     assert!(PUNKTFUNK_PEN_TOUCHING == crate::quic::PEN_TOUCHING);
     assert!(PUNKTFUNK_PEN_BARREL1 == crate::quic::PEN_BARREL1);
@@ -1768,6 +1821,13 @@ pub const PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_CURSOR: u8 = 0x01;
 /// forward-compatible.
 pub const PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK: u8 = 0x02;
 
+/// [`punktfunk_connect_ex9`] `client_caps` bit: the client understands the pad-audio plane
+/// (0xD1 — per-gamepad DualSense voice-coil haptics + speaker). The embedder MUST then drain
+/// [`punktfunk_connection_next_pad_audio`] and declare each capable pad via
+/// [`punktfunk_connection_set_pad_audio_caps`]; the host emits pad audio only when it answers
+/// with [`PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`]. (Mirrors `quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`.)
+pub const PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO: u8 = 0x08;
+
 /// Shared body of [`punktfunk_connect_ex7`] / [`punktfunk_connect_ex8`]: `status_out`
 /// (nullable) is written on EVERY path — `Ok`, the mapped [`PunktfunkError`],
 /// `InvalidArg` for bad arguments, `Panic` if the connect panicked.
@@ -2312,6 +2372,117 @@ pub unsafe extern "C" fn punktfunk_connection_next_audio_pcm(
     })
 }
 
+/// Pull the next pad-audio frame (0xD1) — one Opus frame of DualSense voice-coil haptics
+/// (`kind` = [`PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS`], 5 ms) or built-in-speaker audio
+/// ([`PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER`], 10 ms) for gamepad `*out_pad` — waiting up to
+/// `timeout_ms`. The payload is COPIED into `buf` (no borrow-until-next-call slot); the return
+/// value is its length in bytes, `0` = nothing this poll (timeout — or a DTX/oversized frame,
+/// both of which an embedder treats the same way), `-1` = the session ended (or an invalid
+/// handle/buffer). All pads/kinds share one queue — fan out by `*out_pad`/`*out_kind` to
+/// per-actuator Opus decoders. A frame larger than `buf_len` is dropped like the timeout case
+/// (the plane is lossy by design; any real Opus frame fits a 1500-byte buffer). Only a session
+/// connected with [`PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] against a
+/// [`PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] host — with the pad declared via
+/// [`punktfunk_connection_set_pad_audio_caps`] — ever receives any. Drain from a dedicated
+/// thread (one puller, may run alongside the other planes' pullers).
+///
+/// # Safety
+/// `c` is a valid connection handle; the `out_*` pointers are writable (NULLs are skipped);
+/// `buf` is writable for `buf_len` bytes.
+#[cfg(feature = "quic")]
+#[no_mangle]
+pub unsafe extern "C" fn punktfunk_connection_next_pad_audio(
+    c: *mut PunktfunkConnection,
+    out_pad: *mut u8,
+    out_kind: *mut u8,
+    out_seq: *mut u32,
+    out_pts_ns: *mut u64,
+    buf: *mut u8,
+    buf_len: usize,
+    timeout_ms: u32,
+) -> i32 {
+    let r = std::panic::catch_unwind(AssertUnwindSafe(|| {
+        // SAFETY: per the ABI contract - an opaque handle from a `*_new`/`*_pair` that the caller
+        // has not yet freed, or null, which `as_mut`/`as_ref` reports as `None` and the `match`
+        // here handles.
+        let c = match unsafe { c.as_ref() } {
+            Some(c) => c,
+            None => return -1,
+        };
+        if buf.is_null() && buf_len != 0 {
+            return -1;
+        }
+        match c
+            .inner
+            .next_pad_audio(std::time::Duration::from_millis(timeout_ms as u64))
+        {
+            Some(f) => {
+                if f.opus.is_empty() || f.opus.len() > buf_len {
+                    // DTX silence (skipped like the audio-PCM path — decoding an empty payload
+                    // as loss would synthesize concealment) or doesn't fit — report "nothing
+                    // this poll" (the next_hidout HidRaw-skip precedent; truncated Opus would
+                    // be undecodable anyway).
+                    return 0;
+                }
+                // SAFETY: per the ABI contract - each out-param below is OPTIONAL, so it is null-
+                // checked before it is written; `buf` is a caller-owned writable region of
+                // `buf_len` bytes and the copy length was just bounds-checked against it.
+                unsafe {
+                    if !out_pad.is_null() {
+                        *out_pad = f.pad;
+                    }
+                    if !out_kind.is_null() {
+                        *out_kind = f.kind;
+                    }
+                    if !out_seq.is_null() {
+                        *out_seq = f.seq;
+                    }
+                    if !out_pts_ns.is_null() {
+                        *out_pts_ns = f.pts_ns;
+                    }
+                    std::ptr::copy_nonoverlapping(f.opus.as_ptr(), buf, f.opus.len());
+                }
+                f.opus.len() as i32
+            }
+            // `None` folds timeout and closed; the shutdown flag tells them apart so the
+            // embedder's plane loop can exit instead of polling a dead session forever.
+            None if c.inner.is_session_ended() => -1,
+            None => 0,
+        }
+    }));
+    r.unwrap_or(-1)
+}
+
+/// Declare wire pad `pad`'s pad-audio render capabilities (`audio_caps`: OR of
+/// [`PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_CAP_HAPTICS`] / [`PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_CAP_SPEAKER`]) — how a client
+/// tells the host WHICH pads can actually play the 0xD1 streams. Call at controller attach,
+/// BEFORE the pad's arrival event is sent (the [`punktfunk_connection_set_rumble_quirks`]
+/// timing): the core folds the bits into the arrival's flags (bits 8/9), and only toward a
+/// [`PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] host — never calling this leaves the wire bytes exactly as
+/// before. Latest-wins per pad; unknown bits are masked off.
+///
+/// # Safety
+/// `c` is a valid connection handle. Callable from any thread.
+#[cfg(feature = "quic")]
+#[no_mangle]
+pub unsafe extern "C" fn punktfunk_connection_set_pad_audio_caps(
+    c: *mut PunktfunkConnection,
+    pad: u8,
+    audio_caps: u8,
+) -> PunktfunkStatus {
+    guard(|| {
+        // SAFETY: per the ABI contract - an opaque handle from a `*_new`/`*_pair` that the caller
+        // has not yet freed, or null, which `as_mut`/`as_ref` reports as `None` and the `match`
+        // here handles.
+        let c = match unsafe { c.as_ref() } {
+            Some(c) => c,
+            None => return PunktfunkStatus::NullPointer,
+        };
+        c.inner.set_pad_audio_caps(pad, audio_caps);
+        PunktfunkStatus::Ok
+    })
+}
+
 /// Pull the next rumble (force-feedback) update, waiting up to `timeout_ms`. Amplitudes
 /// are 0..0xFFFF (`low` = low-frequency motor, `high` = high-frequency), `(0, 0)` = stop.
 /// Same timeout/closed semantics as [`punktfunk_connection_next_audio`].
@@ -2497,10 +2668,12 @@ pub unsafe extern "C" fn punktfunk_connection_next_rumble_cmd(
 /// Declare a physical actuator's quirks for wire pad `pad` — how a platform parameterizes the
 /// shared rumble policy engine instead of forking it (typically called at controller attach).
 /// `keepalive_ms`: re-emit an unchanged non-zero level at this cadence for actuators whose
-/// hardware output decays between wire renewals (Steam Deck ≈ 40, DualSense-over-BT raw HID
-/// ≈ 900); `0` = none. `min_pulse_ms`: floor for `backstop_ms` on non-zero commands. `flags`:
+/// hardware output decays between wire renewals (the Steam Deck's ≈ 40 is the one in-tree user);
+/// `0` = none. `min_pulse_ms`: floor for `backstop_ms` on non-zero commands — no in-tree caller
+/// sets it, it exists for embedders whose duration-taking API rejects short values. `flags`:
 /// [`PUNKTFUNK_RUMBLE_QUIRK_DEDUP_JITTER`]. All-zero (the initial state) describes a well-behaved
-/// actuator.
+/// actuator. See [`ActuatorQuirks`](crate::client::rumble::ActuatorQuirks) for why a renderer that
+/// dedupes its own writes (the Apple HID path) cannot use `keepalive_ms` and keeps its own.
 ///
 /// # Safety
 /// `c` is a valid connection handle. Callable from any thread.
@@ -4412,3 +4585,36 @@ pub unsafe extern "C" fn punktfunk_reanchor_gate_is_holding(
         PunktfunkStatus::Ok
     })
 }
+
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "quic"))]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// The `AudioCtl` → `PunktfunkHidOutput` mapping: kind 5, pad narrowed, `which` carries the
+    /// flags byte, `effect[0..6]` the raw audio region with `effect_len = 6` (the TrackpadHaptic
+    /// packing idiom — no struct growth, so the size guard above stays at 19).
+    #[test]
+    fn hidout_abi_maps_audio_ctl() {
+        let out = PunktfunkHidOutput::from_hid(&crate::quic::HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+            pad: 3,
+            flags: 0x17,
+            raw: [0x50, 0x60, 0x70, 0x05, 0, 0],
+        })
+        .unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(out.kind, PUNKTFUNK_HIDOUT_AUDIO_CTL);
+        assert_eq!(out.pad, 3);
+        assert_eq!(out.which, 0x17);
+        assert_eq!(out.effect_len, 6);
+        assert_eq!(out.effect[..6], [0x50, 0x60, 0x70, 0x05, 0, 0]);
+        assert_eq!(out.effect[6..], [0; 5]);
+        // A raw passthrough report still has no C representation (skipped at the pull site).
+        assert!(
+            PunktfunkHidOutput::from_hid(&crate::quic::HidOutput::HidRaw {
+                pad: 0,
+                kind: 0,
+                data: vec![0x80],
+            })
+            .is_none()
+        );
+    }
+}

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/mod.rs

@@ -16,11 +16,13 @@ use crate::config::{CompositorPref, GamepadPref, Mode};
 use crate::error::{PunktfunkError, Result};
 use crate::input::InputEvent;
 use crate::quic::{
-    endpoint, ClipControl, ClipKind, ClipOffer, ColorInfo, HdrMeta, HidOutput, ProbeRequest,
-    RfiRequest, RichInput,
+    endpoint, ClipControl, ClipKind, ClipOffer, ColorInfo, HdrMeta, HidOutput, PadAudioFrame,
+    ProbeRequest, RfiRequest, RichInput,
 };
 use crate::session::Frame;
-use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicI64, AtomicU16, AtomicU32, AtomicU64, Ordering};
+use std::sync::atomic::{
+    AtomicBool, AtomicI64, AtomicU16, AtomicU32, AtomicU64, AtomicU8, Ordering,
+};
 use std::sync::mpsc::{Receiver, RecvTimeoutError};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ use self::control::{CtrlRequest, Negotiated};
 use self::frame_channel::{DecodeLatAcc, FrameChannel, FramePop};
 use self::planes::{
     RumbleUpdate, AUDIO_QUEUE, CLIP_EVENT_QUEUE, CURSOR_SHAPE_QUEUE, CURSOR_STATE_QUEUE,
-    HDR_META_QUEUE, HIDOUT_QUEUE, HOST_TIMING_QUEUE, RUMBLE_QUEUE,
+    HDR_META_QUEUE, HIDOUT_QUEUE, HOST_TIMING_QUEUE, PAD_AUDIO_QUEUE, RUMBLE_QUEUE,
 };
 use self::probe::ProbeState;
 use self::pump::run_pump;
@@ -122,6 +124,14 @@ pub struct NativeClient {
     rumble_sched: Arc<rumble::RumbleShared>,
     /// Inbound DualSense feedback (lightbar / player LEDs / adaptive triggers) — 0xCD datagrams.
     hidout: Mutex<Receiver<HidOutput>>,
+    /// Inbound pad audio (DualSense voice-coil haptics + speaker Opus frames) — 0xD1 datagrams.
+    /// Only a session that advertised [`quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] against a
+    /// [`quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] host ever receives any.
+    pad_audio: Mutex<Receiver<PadAudioFrame>>,
+    /// Per-pad pad-audio render capabilities (bit0 haptics, bit1 speaker), written by
+    /// [`NativeClient::set_pad_audio_caps`] and OR'd into outgoing gamepad-arrival flags
+    /// (bits 8/9) by the worker's input task — toward a `HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` host only.
+    pad_audio_caps: Arc<[AtomicU8; crate::input::MAX_PADS]>,
     /// Inbound static HDR metadata (ST.2086 mastering + content light level) — 0xCE datagrams.
     hdr_meta: Mutex<Receiver<HdrMeta>>,
     /// Inbound per-AU host capture→send timings — 0xCF datagrams (the client always advertises
@@ -418,6 +428,10 @@ impl NativeClient {
         let rumble_sched = Arc::new(rumble::RumbleShared::new());
         let rumble_feed = rumble::RumbleFeed(rumble_sched.clone());
         let (hidout_tx, hidout_rx) = std::sync::mpsc::sync_channel::<HidOutput>(HIDOUT_QUEUE);
+        let (pad_audio_tx, pad_audio_rx) =
+            std::sync::mpsc::sync_channel::<PadAudioFrame>(PAD_AUDIO_QUEUE);
+        let pad_audio_caps: Arc<[AtomicU8; crate::input::MAX_PADS]> =
+            Arc::new(std::array::from_fn(|_| AtomicU8::new(0)));
         let (hdr_meta_tx, hdr_meta_rx) = std::sync::mpsc::sync_channel::<HdrMeta>(HDR_META_QUEUE);
         let (host_timing_tx, host_timing_rx) =
             std::sync::mpsc::sync_channel::<crate::quic::HostTiming>(HOST_TIMING_QUEUE);
@@ -459,6 +473,7 @@ impl NativeClient {
         let clock_offset_w = clock_offset.clone();
         let decode_lat_w = decode_lat.clone();
         let live_bitrate_w = live_bitrate.clone();
+        let pad_audio_caps_w = pad_audio_caps.clone();
         let ctrl_tx_pump = ctrl_tx.clone(); // the data-plane pump sends adaptive-FEC LossReports
         let worker = std::thread::Builder::new()
             .name("punktfunk-client".into())
@@ -508,6 +523,8 @@ impl NativeClient {
                     rumble_tx,
                     rumble_feed,
                     hidout_tx,
+                    pad_audio_tx,
+                    pad_audio_caps: pad_audio_caps_w,
                     hdr_meta_tx,
                     host_timing_tx,
                     cursor_shape_tx,
@@ -556,6 +573,8 @@ impl NativeClient {
             rumble: Mutex::new(rumble_rx),
             rumble_sched,
             hidout: Mutex::new(hidout_rx),
+            pad_audio: Mutex::new(pad_audio_rx),
+            pad_audio_caps,
             hdr_meta: Mutex::new(hdr_meta_rx),
             host_timing: Mutex::new(host_timing_rx),
             cursor_shape: Mutex::new(cursor_shape_rx),
@@ -1061,6 +1080,33 @@ impl NativeClient {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Pull the next pad-audio frame (0xD1): one Opus frame of DualSense voice-coil haptics
+    /// ([`quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS`], 5 ms) or built-in-speaker audio
+    /// ([`quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER`], 10 ms) for gamepad `pad`. All pads/kinds share the
+    /// queue — the embedder fans out by `pad`/`kind` to per-actuator Opus decoders. `None` on
+    /// timeout AND once the session ended ([`is_session_ended`](Self::is_session_ended)
+    /// distinguishes, and the plane is best-effort either way). Only a session that advertised
+    /// [`quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] against a [`quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] host — with the
+    /// pad's render caps declared via [`set_pad_audio_caps`](Self::set_pad_audio_caps) — ever
+    /// receives any. Drain on a dedicated thread like [`next_audio`](Self::next_audio); one
+    /// puller per the plane contract.
+    pub fn next_pad_audio(&self, timeout: Duration) -> Option<PadAudioFrame> {
+        self.pad_audio.lock().unwrap().recv_timeout(timeout).ok()
+    }
+
+    /// Declare wire pad `pad`'s pad-audio render capabilities: `audio_caps` bit0 = the pad can
+    /// play the HAPTICS stream (a real DualSense's voice coils), bit1 = the SPEAKER stream.
+    /// Call at controller attach, BEFORE the pad's arrival is sent (like
+    /// [`set_rumble_quirks`](Self::set_rumble_quirks)) — the worker ORs the bits into the
+    /// arrival's flags (bits 8/9), and only toward a [`quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] host, so an
+    /// embedder that never calls this (or a host that can't capture pad audio) leaves the wire
+    /// bytes exactly as before. Latest-wins per pad; unknown bits are masked off.
+    pub fn set_pad_audio_caps(&self, pad: u8, audio_caps: u8) {
+        if let Some(slot) = self.pad_audio_caps.get(pad as usize) {
+            slot.store(audio_caps & 0x03, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Pull the next static HDR metadata update (ST.2086 mastering display + content light level)
     /// the host sent for an HDR session; same timeout/closed semantics as
     /// [`NativeClient::next_hidout`]. The host sends one near session start and re-sends it on

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/planes.rs

@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ pub(crate) type RumbleUpdate = (u16, u16, u16, Option<u16>);
 /// Same overflow discipline as rumble; the host re-sends on the next feedback change.
 pub(crate) const HIDOUT_QUEUE: usize = 32;
 
+/// Pad-audio frames (`0xD1` — DualSense voice-coil haptics + speaker) buffered for the embedder,
+/// ALL pads and kinds on one queue (the embedder fans out by `pad`/`kind`): 64 × 5 ms = 320 ms of
+/// slack on a haptics-only stream, the [`AUDIO_QUEUE`] discipline. A lagging embedder drops the
+/// newest frame (the renderer conceals the gap).
+pub(crate) const PAD_AUDIO_QUEUE: usize = 64;
+
 /// Static HDR metadata (ST.2086 mastering + content light level) buffered for the embedder. Tiny
 /// and low-rate (one on start, re-sent on mastering changes / keyframes); a small ring is ample.
 pub(crate) const HDR_META_QUEUE: usize = 8;

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/pump.rs

@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ pub(super) async fn run_pump(args: WorkerArgs) {
         rumble_tx,
         rumble_feed,
         hidout_tx,
+        pad_audio_tx,
+        pad_audio_caps,
         hdr_meta_tx,
         host_timing_tx,
         cursor_shape_tx,
@@ -92,9 +94,17 @@ pub(super) async fn run_pump(args: WorkerArgs) {
 
     // Input task: embedder events → uplink datagrams, with per-transition gamepad events
     // folded into idempotent seq-stamped snapshots toward a HOST_CAP_GAMEPAD_STATE host
-    // (see [`input_task`]).
+    // (see [`input_task`]). Pad-audio render caps ride arrival flags bits 8/9 ONLY toward a
+    // HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO host — an older host reads the whole flags word as the pad index.
     let gamepad_snapshots = host_caps & crate::quic::HOST_CAP_GAMEPAD_STATE != 0;
-    tokio::spawn(input_task::run(conn.clone(), input_rx, gamepad_snapshots));
+    let pad_audio_arrivals = host_caps & crate::quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO != 0;
+    tokio::spawn(input_task::run(
+        conn.clone(),
+        input_rx,
+        gamepad_snapshots,
+        pad_audio_arrivals,
+        pad_audio_caps,
+    ));
 
     // Mic task: embedder Opus mic frames → 0xCB uplink datagrams (best-effort, dropped on loss).
     // Self-healing latency bound: every frame still queued once this task catches up is standing
@@ -166,6 +176,7 @@ pub(super) async fn run_pump(args: WorkerArgs) {
         rumble_tx,
         rumble_feed,
         hidout_tx,
+        pad_audio_tx,
         hdr_meta_tx,
         host_timing_tx,
         encode_lat.clone(),

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/pump/datagram_task.rs

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ pub(super) async fn run(
     rumble_tx: std::sync::mpsc::SyncSender<RumbleUpdate>,
     rumble_feed: super::super::rumble::RumbleFeed,
     hidout_tx: std::sync::mpsc::SyncSender<crate::quic::HidOutput>,
+    pad_audio_tx: std::sync::mpsc::SyncSender<crate::quic::PadAudioFrame>,
     hdr_meta_tx: std::sync::mpsc::SyncSender<crate::quic::HdrMeta>,
     host_timing_tx: std::sync::mpsc::SyncSender<crate::quic::HostTiming>,
     // The ABR encode signal's accumulator (see [`EncodeLatAcc`]) — fed HERE, not off
@@ -60,22 +61,28 @@ pub(super) async fn run(
             }
             Some(&crate::quic::RUMBLE_MAGIC) => {
                 if let Some(u) = crate::quic::decode_rumble_envelope(&d) {
+                    // A pad index the client cannot represent is dropped outright, before either
+                    // consumer sees it. It used to be waved through: the seq gate was skipped (its
+                    // per-pad cursor has no slot for it) and it was handed to the legacy queue,
+                    // while the policy engine silently discarded it on its own bounds check — so
+                    // "both consumers are fed" below was false for exactly these, and an embedder
+                    // draining the queue could be handed an index it would use to subscript its
+                    // own per-pad array. The host never emits one; this is malformed or hostile.
+                    let idx = u.pad as usize;
+                    if idx >= crate::input::MAX_PADS {
+                        continue;
+                    }
                     // Gate v2 envelopes on their per-pad seq; forward v1 (envelope: None) as-is.
                     let fresh = match u.envelope {
                         Some(env) => {
-                            let idx = u.pad as usize;
-                            if idx < crate::input::MAX_PADS {
-                                if crate::input::GamepadSnapshot::seq_newer(
-                                    env.seq,
-                                    rumble_last_seq[idx],
-                                ) {
-                                    rumble_last_seq[idx] = Some(env.seq);
-                                    true
-                                } else {
-                                    false // reordered/duplicate — drop, keep the newer state
-                                }
+                            if crate::input::GamepadSnapshot::seq_newer(
+                                env.seq,
+                                rumble_last_seq[idx],
+                            ) {
+                                rumble_last_seq[idx] = Some(env.seq);
+                                true
                             } else {
-                                true // out-of-range pad (host never sends these): no gate
+                                false // reordered/duplicate — drop, keep the newer state
                             }
                         }
                         None => true,
@@ -94,6 +101,11 @@ pub(super) async fn run(
                     let _ = hidout_tx.try_send(h);
                 }
             }
+            Some(&crate::quic::PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC) => {
+                if let Some(f) = crate::quic::decode_pad_audio_datagram(&d) {
+                    let _ = pad_audio_tx.try_send(f);
+                }
+            }
             Some(&crate::quic::HDR_META_MAGIC) => {
                 if let Some(m) = crate::quic::decode_hdr_meta_datagram(&d) {
                     let _ = hdr_meta_tx.try_send(m);

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/pump/input_task.rs

@@ -15,8 +15,16 @@ pub(super) async fn run(
     conn: quinn::Connection,
     mut input_rx: tokio::sync::mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<InputEvent>,
     gamepad_snapshots: bool,
+    // Whether the host advertised HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO: only then do arrivals carry the per-pad
+    // audio-render bits (flags 8/9) — an older host reads the whole flags word as the pad index,
+    // so unexpected high bits would make it drop the kind declaration entirely.
+    pad_audio: bool,
+    // Per-pad audio-render capabilities (bit0 haptics, bit1 speaker), fed by the embedder via
+    // [`NativeClient::set_pad_audio_caps`] and by arrival events already carrying the bits.
+    pad_audio_caps: std::sync::Arc<[std::sync::atomic::AtomicU8; crate::input::MAX_PADS]>,
 ) {
     use crate::input::{GamepadSnapshot, InputKind, MAX_PADS};
+    use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
     // Touched pads only: an entry appears on the first gamepad event for that index, so the
     // refresh never conjures a virtual pad the embedder didn't drive.
     let mut pads: [Option<GamepadSnapshot>; MAX_PADS] = [None; MAX_PADS];
@@ -37,6 +45,28 @@ pub(super) async fn run(
     const ARRIVAL_RESENDS: u8 = 2;
     let mut arrival: [Option<u8>; MAX_PADS] = [None; MAX_PADS];
     let mut arrival_owed: [u8; MAX_PADS] = [0; MAX_PADS];
+    // An arrival's outgoing flags word: the pad index, plus the pad's audio-render bits (8/9)
+    // toward a HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO host. With no declared caps (or an older host) this is
+    // byte-identical to the plain index — the pre-pad-audio wire.
+    // B7: the caps a pad's LAST arrival actually carried. `set_pad_audio_caps` only stores into
+    // the registry — it cannot reach this task — so a declaration that lands after the arrival
+    // burst has drained (the renderer commits the trade only once its sink opens, which is well
+    // past the two 100 ms ticks) used to never reach the host at all: the client believed it had
+    // pad audio and the host emitted nothing on 0xD1, silently, forever. Comparing this against
+    // the live registry on every tick re-arms the burst by itself, with no new plumbing and no
+    // extra traffic when nothing changed.
+    let mut arrival_caps_sent: [u8; MAX_PADS] = [0; MAX_PADS];
+    let caps_now = |idx: usize| -> u8 {
+        if pad_audio {
+            pad_audio_caps[idx].load(Ordering::Relaxed)
+        } else {
+            0
+        }
+    };
+    let arrival_flags = |idx: usize| -> u32 {
+        let caps = caps_now(idx);
+        crate::input::encode_gamepad_arrival(idx as u8, caps)
+    };
     let mut refresh = tokio::time::interval(Duration::from_millis(100));
     refresh.set_missed_tick_behavior(tokio::time::MissedTickBehavior::Delay);
     loop {
@@ -81,30 +111,56 @@ pub(super) async fn run(
                     let _ = conn.send_datagram(rem.encode().to_vec().into());
                     continue;
                 }
-                if gamepad_snapshots && ev.kind == InputKind::GamepadArrival && idx < MAX_PADS {
-                    // Remember the declared kind (`code`) and forward it, arming a re-send burst
-                    // so the host learns it before the pad's first frame even under loss.
-                    arrival[idx] = Some(ev.code as u8);
-                    arrival_owed[idx] = ARRIVAL_RESENDS;
-                    let _ = conn.send_datagram(ev.encode().to_vec().into());
-                    continue;
+                if gamepad_snapshots && ev.kind == InputKind::GamepadArrival {
+                    // The index is the LOW BYTE only — bits 8/9 may carry the pad's audio-render
+                    // caps (an embedder building raw events; the `set_pad_audio_caps` registry is
+                    // the usual source). Fold event-carried bits into the registry so the re-send
+                    // burst keeps them, then send with the negotiation-gated flags word.
+                    let (pad, ev_caps) = crate::input::decode_gamepad_arrival(ev.flags);
+                    let idx = pad as usize;
+                    if idx < MAX_PADS {
+                        if ev_caps != 0 {
+                            pad_audio_caps[idx].fetch_or(ev_caps, Ordering::Relaxed);
+                        }
+                        // Remember the declared kind (`code`) and forward it, arming a re-send
+                        // burst so the host learns it before the pad's first frame even under loss.
+                        arrival[idx] = Some(ev.code as u8);
+                        arrival_owed[idx] = ARRIVAL_RESENDS;
+                        arrival_caps_sent[idx] = caps_now(idx);
+                        let arr = crate::input::InputEvent {
+                            flags: arrival_flags(idx),
+                            ..ev
+                        };
+                        let _ = conn.send_datagram(arr.encode().to_vec().into());
+                        continue;
+                    }
                 }
                 let _ = conn.send_datagram(ev.encode().to_vec().into());
             }
             _ = refresh.tick() => {
                 for idx in 0..MAX_PADS {
+                    // B7: caps declared after the burst drained — re-announce this pad's arrival.
+                    // Only for a pad that HAS an arrival (so it is a live, declared controller),
+                    // and only when the value actually moved, so a steady session sends nothing.
+                    if arrival[idx].is_some()
+                        && arrival_owed[idx] == 0
+                        && caps_now(idx) != arrival_caps_sent[idx]
+                    {
+                        arrival_owed[idx] = ARRIVAL_RESENDS;
+                    }
                     // Re-send an owed kind declaration (independent of whether the pad has state
                     // yet — it may be idle-but-connected). Idempotent on the host.
                     if arrival_owed[idx] > 0 {
                         if let Some(kind) = arrival[idx] {
                             arrival_owed[idx] -= 1;
+                            arrival_caps_sent[idx] = caps_now(idx);
                             let arr = crate::input::InputEvent {
                                 kind: InputKind::GamepadArrival,
                                 _pad: [0; 3],
                                 code: kind as u32,
                                 x: 0,
                                 y: 0,
-                                flags: idx as u32,
+                                flags: arrival_flags(idx),
                             };
                             let _ = conn.send_datagram(arr.encode().to_vec().into());
                         } else {

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/rumble.rs

@@ -69,10 +69,25 @@ pub struct RumbleCommand {
 #[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, Default, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub struct ActuatorQuirks {
     /// Re-emit an unchanged non-zero level every this many ms — for actuators whose hardware
-    /// output decays between wire renewals (Steam Deck ≈ 40, macOS DualSense-over-HID BT ≈ 900).
-    /// `0` = no keepalive (the common case).
+    /// output decays between wire renewals. `0` = no keepalive (the common case).
+    ///
+    /// The one in-tree producer is the Steam Deck's ≈ 40 ms (`pf-client-core`'s slot open, paired
+    /// with `dedup_jitter`). The macOS DualSense-over-HID Bluetooth decay is NOT served by this
+    /// quirk, though it reads like the obvious second example: the Apple client keeps its own
+    /// ≈ 900 ms keepalive down in `RumbleRenderer` (`RumbleTuning.hidKeepaliveSeconds`) because
+    /// the re-emit has to happen BELOW the command layer. An engine keepalive arrives as a
+    /// command carrying the same levels, and that renderer skips a HID write whose levels are
+    /// unchanged — so the re-emit would be swallowed by the very dedupe it exists to defeat
+    /// (`dedup_jitter` is the Deck's answer to the same problem one layer up).
     pub keepalive_ms: u16,
-    /// Floor for `backstop_ms` on non-zero commands (Android's `createOneShot` throws on 0).
+    /// Floor for `backstop_ms` on non-zero commands.
+    ///
+    /// **No in-tree producer sets this non-zero** — it is reachable only through the C ABI
+    /// (`punktfunk_connection_set_rumble_quirks`), for embedders whose duration-taking API
+    /// rejects short values. The case it was written for is handled elsewhere: Android's
+    /// `createOneShot` does throw on a non-positive duration, but the Kotlin renderer floors the
+    /// duration itself at the call, and that path never declares quirks at all. Kept because it
+    /// is exported ABI, and because a floor belongs here rather than re-invented per embedder.
     pub min_pulse_ms: u16,
     /// Alternate the low motor's LSB on keepalive re-emits (imperceptible) so an SDL-class layer
     /// that no-ops identical values still writes the device — the Deck's dedupe-defeat.

crates/punktfunk-core/src/client/worker.rs

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ use crate::clipboard::{ClipCommand, ClipEventCore};
 use crate::config::{CompositorPref, GamepadPref, Mode};
 use crate::error::Result;
 use crate::input::InputEvent;
-use crate::quic::{HdrMeta, HidOutput};
-use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicI64, AtomicU32, AtomicU64};
+use crate::quic::{HdrMeta, HidOutput, PadAudioFrame};
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, AtomicI64, AtomicU32, AtomicU64, AtomicU8};
 use std::sync::mpsc::SyncSender;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 
@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@ pub(crate) struct WorkerArgs {
     /// closed, so the command API always observes connection teardown.
     pub(crate) rumble_feed: super::rumble::RumbleFeed,
     pub(crate) hidout_tx: SyncSender<HidOutput>,
+    /// Inbound pad-audio frames (`0xD1` — DualSense voice-coil haptics + speaker), drained by
+    /// [`NativeClient::next_pad_audio`].
+    pub(crate) pad_audio_tx: SyncSender<PadAudioFrame>,
+    /// Per-pad pad-audio render capabilities (bit0 haptics, bit1 speaker), written by
+    /// [`NativeClient::set_pad_audio_caps`] and OR'd into outgoing
+    /// [`GamepadArrival`](crate::input::InputKind::GamepadArrival) flags (bits 8/9) by the input
+    /// task — toward a `HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` host only.
+    pub(crate) pad_audio_caps: Arc<[AtomicU8; crate::input::MAX_PADS]>,
     pub(crate) hdr_meta_tx: SyncSender<HdrMeta>,
     pub(crate) host_timing_tx: SyncSender<crate::quic::HostTiming>,
     pub(crate) cursor_shape_tx: SyncSender<crate::quic::CursorShape>,

crates/punktfunk-core/src/input.rs

@@ -64,7 +64,11 @@ pub enum InputKind {
     GamepadRemove = 13,
     /// Declares which controller KIND a pad presents so a session can MIX types (pad 0 a
     /// DualSense, pad 1 an Xbox pad). `code` = the [`GamepadPref`](crate::config::GamepadPref)
-    /// wire byte, `flags` = pad index. Sent when the client opens a pad slot — before that pad's
+    /// wire byte, `flags` = pad index in the low byte plus the pad's render capabilities in bits
+    /// 8/9 ([`ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS`]/[`ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_SPEAKER`] — sent only
+    /// toward a [`HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`](crate::quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO) host, so an older host
+    /// keeps reading the whole word as the index; hosts decode via [`decode_gamepad_arrival`]).
+    /// Sent when the client opens a pad slot — before that pad's
     /// first input — and re-sent a few times against datagram loss (like [`GamepadRemove`]). The
     /// host resolves the kind to a buildable backend and routes that pad's virtual device to it; a
     /// pad the client never declares (an older client, or a fully-lost declaration) falls back to
@@ -97,6 +101,34 @@ pub fn decode_gamepad_remove(flags: u32) -> (u8, u8) {
     (flags as u8, (flags >> 24) as u8)
 }
 
+/// [`InputKind::GamepadArrival`] `flags` bit: this pad renders pad-audio HAPTICS — it is (or
+/// forwards to) a real DualSense whose voice-coil actuators can play the
+/// [`PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS`](crate::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS) stream. Rides above the pad
+/// index byte; sent only toward a [`HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`](crate::quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO) host
+/// (an older host reads the whole `flags` word as the index, so unexpected high bits would make
+/// it drop the declaration).
+pub const ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS: u32 = 1 << 8;
+/// [`InputKind::GamepadArrival`] `flags` bit: this pad renders pad-audio SPEAKER — the
+/// [`PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER`](crate::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER) stream. Same wire discipline
+/// as [`ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS`].
+pub const ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_SPEAKER: u32 = 1 << 9;
+
+/// Pack a [`InputKind::GamepadArrival`] `flags` word: the pad index in the low byte plus
+/// `audio_caps` (bit0 = haptics, bit1 = speaker) as bits 8/9. `audio_caps = 0` reproduces the
+/// pre-pad-audio wire bytes exactly.
+pub fn encode_gamepad_arrival(pad: u8, audio_caps: u8) -> u32 {
+    (pad as u32) | (((audio_caps & 0x03) as u32) << 8)
+}
+
+/// Unpack a [`InputKind::GamepadArrival`] `flags` word into `(pad, audio_caps)`. The pad index
+/// is `flags & 0xFF` — hosts MUST mask rather than take the whole word, or a capability bit
+/// reads as a phantom index; `audio_caps` is bits 8/9 (bit0 = haptics, bit1 = speaker — the
+/// [`ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS`]/[`ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_SPEAKER`] bits shifted down).
+/// An old-format word (index only) yields `audio_caps = 0`.
+pub fn decode_gamepad_arrival(flags: u32) -> (u8, u8) {
+    (flags as u8, ((flags >> 8) & 0x03) as u8)
+}
+
 /// The gamepad wire contract for [`InputKind::GamepadButton`]/[`InputKind::GamepadAxis`].
 ///
 /// Everything follows the GameStream/XInput conventions end to end: buttons reuse
@@ -348,6 +380,11 @@ pub enum GamepadEvent {
         kind: u8,
         /// LI_CCAP_* bits (0x02 = rumble).
         capabilities: u16,
+        /// Pad-audio render capabilities from a NATIVE-plane arrival's `flags` bits 8/9
+        /// (bit0 = haptics, bit1 = speaker — see [`decode_gamepad_arrival`]). NOT a GameStream
+        /// LI_CCAP bit (that vocabulary lives in `capabilities`); the GameStream plane cannot
+        /// express pad audio and always sets `0`, as does an old client.
+        audio_caps: u8,
     },
 }
 
@@ -443,6 +480,31 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!((pad, seq), (9, 123));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn gamepad_arrival_flags_roundtrip() {
+        // The capability bits ride bits 8/9; the index stays the low byte.
+        for (pad, caps) in [(0u8, 0u8), (3, 0b01), (15, 0b10), (7, 0b11)] {
+            let flags = encode_gamepad_arrival(pad, caps);
+            assert_eq!(decode_gamepad_arrival(flags), (pad, caps));
+            assert_eq!(flags & 0xFF, pad as u32);
+        }
+        assert_eq!(
+            encode_gamepad_arrival(2, 0b11),
+            2 | ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS | ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_SPEAKER
+        );
+        // Old-format compat both ways: a caps-less word (an old client, or a new one toward an
+        // old host) is byte-identical to the plain index, and decodes with caps 0.
+        assert_eq!(encode_gamepad_arrival(5, 0), 5);
+        assert_eq!(decode_gamepad_arrival(5), (5, 0));
+        // Undefined high bits (a future extension) never leak into the index OR the caps.
+        assert_eq!(
+            decode_gamepad_arrival(0xFFFF_0000 | (0b01 << 8) | 9),
+            (9, 1)
+        );
+        // encode masks unknown caps bits, so a sloppy embedder can't corrupt the index space.
+        assert_eq!(encode_gamepad_arrival(1, 0xFF), 1 | (0b11 << 8));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn gamepad_snapshot_roundtrip() {
         let s = GamepadSnapshot {

crates/punktfunk-core/src/lib.rs

@@ -107,6 +107,10 @@ pub use stats::Stats;
 /// v10: added `punktfunk_connection_clock_offset_now_ns` — the LIVE (mid-stream re-synced)
 /// clock offset ongoing latency math must use; the connect-time getter stays frozen by
 /// contract. Additive, client-local — no wire change, so [`WIRE_VERSION`] is unchanged.
+/// v11: added `punktfunk_connect_ex9` — `connect_ex8` plus a `client_caps` bitfield
+/// (`PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_CURSOR`, later `…_PHASE_LOCK`), which is how a client tells the host it
+/// renders the pointer itself. Additive; the caps ride the existing Hello, so [`WIRE_VERSION`] is
+/// unchanged. (Documented late — the bump shipped without its line here.)
 /// v12: added `punktfunk_connection_set_cursor_render` — the mid-stream cursor-render flip
 /// (design/remote-desktop-sweep.md §8): the client's mouse-model chord tells the host who
 /// renders the pointer. Additive; rides the existing control stream (a new message TYPE, which
@@ -120,7 +124,21 @@ pub use stats::Stats;
 /// uncertainty and the circular arrival-lead statistic the host's controller steers on. Additive;
 /// the wire grows only a new control message (`PhaseReport`, 0x32) an old host never reads and a
 /// strict-prefix append on the 0xCF host-timing tail, so [`WIRE_VERSION`] is unchanged.
-pub const ABI_VERSION: u32 = 14;
+/// v15: versions the shared rumble policy engine's C surface —
+/// `punktfunk_connection_next_rumble_cmd`, `punktfunk_connection_set_rumble_quirks` and the
+/// `PUNKTFUNK_RUMBLE_QUIRK_*` bits. These symbols are NOT new: they landed while this constant
+/// still read 7 and no bump was made, so every core since has exported them while advertising a
+/// version that never promised them. That cannot be corrected retroactively — a shipped binary
+/// says what it says — so v15 is the floor that *guarantees* them: at or above it the surface is
+/// present, below it an embedder must probe for the symbol. Purely a version statement; no code
+/// changed with this bump, and no wire change, so [`WIRE_VERSION`] is unchanged.
+/// v16: added the pad-audio client surface — `punktfunk_connection_next_pad_audio` (the 0xD1
+/// per-gamepad DualSense haptics/speaker plane) + `punktfunk_connection_set_pad_audio_caps` and
+/// the `PUNKTFUNK_CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` / `PUNKTFUNK_HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO` mirrors. Additive and
+/// capability-gated end to end: the wire grows a new datagram tag (0xD1) an old client never
+/// receives (double-gated caps), a new 0xCD kind (0x06, dropped as unknown by old clients) and
+/// arrival flag bits 8/9 sent only toward a capable host, so [`WIRE_VERSION`] is unchanged.
+pub const ABI_VERSION: u32 = 16;
 
 /// The punktfunk/1 **wire** version — what `Hello`/`Welcome` carry and hosts equality-check.
 /// Deliberately its own constant: [`ABI_VERSION`] tracks the embeddable **C surface**

crates/punktfunk-core/src/quic/caps.rs

@@ -121,6 +121,15 @@ pub const CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK: u8 = 0x02;
 /// clean, the client keeps receiving the plain `0xC9` plane — so a client may always set this bit.
 /// `0x04` — `0x01`/`0x02` are cursor / phase-lock.
 pub const CLIENT_CAP_AUDIO_RED: u8 = 0x04;
+/// [`Hello::client_caps`] bit: the client understands the pad-audio plane
+/// ([`PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC`](super::datagram::PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC), `0xD1`) — per-gamepad DualSense
+/// voice-coil haptics + speaker Opus frames, plus the [`HidOutput::AudioCtl`]
+/// (super::datagram::HidOutput) routing/volume events. Active only when the host answers with
+/// [`HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`] AND the pad's arrival declared a renderer for the kind
+/// ([`crate::input::ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS`]/`_SPEAKER`) — the capable-and-agreed
+/// precedent, per pad; toward an older or incapable host nothing changes. `0x08` — `0x01` is [`CLIENT_CAP_CURSOR`],
+/// `0x02` is [`CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK`], `0x04` is [`CLIENT_CAP_AUDIO_RED`].
+pub const CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO: u8 = 0x08;
 
 /// [`Welcome::host_caps`] bit: the host CAN forward the cursor out-of-band (it captures cursor
 /// metadata separately from the frame — the Linux portal `SPA_META_Cursor` path; NOT gamescope,
@@ -154,6 +163,16 @@ pub const HOST_CAP_PEN: u8 = 0x10;
 /// unconditionally and treat this bit as "expect redundancy", not "only redundancy".
 /// `0x20` — `0x10` is [`HOST_CAP_PEN`], `0x08` is [`HOST_CAP_CURSOR`].
 pub const HOST_CAP_AUDIO_RED: u8 = 0x20;
+/// [`Welcome::host_caps`] bit: the host can capture pad audio — its virtual DualSense exposes
+/// the pad's audio endpoints (voice-coil haptics + speaker), so a game's per-pad audio can be
+/// captured and shipped on the [`PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC`](super::datagram::PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC) plane.
+/// Set only when the client asked via [`CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`]; when both bits agree, a
+/// capable client marks its pads' render capabilities on their arrivals
+/// ([`crate::input::ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS`]/`_SPEAKER`) and the host emits `0xD1`
+/// toward exactly those pads. `0x40` — `0x20` is [`HOST_CAP_AUDIO_RED`], `0x10` is
+/// [`HOST_CAP_PEN`], `0x08` is [`HOST_CAP_CURSOR`], `0x04` is [`HOST_CAP_TEXT_INPUT`],
+/// `0x01`/`0x02` are gamepad-state / clipboard.
+pub const HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO: u8 = 0x40;
 
 /// [`Hello::video_codecs`] bit: the client can decode H.264 / AVC. The GPU-less **software**
 /// encode path (openh264) emits H.264, so a client that wants to stream from a software host MUST
@@ -337,6 +356,28 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn pad_audio_cap_bits_are_distinct() {
+        // The new pad-audio bits pack into the existing caps bytes without colliding with any
+        // taken bit (a collision would silently negotiate an unrelated feature).
+        assert_eq!(
+            CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO & (CLIENT_CAP_CURSOR | CLIENT_CAP_PHASE_LOCK),
+            0
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO
+                & (HOST_CAP_GAMEPAD_STATE
+                    | HOST_CAP_CLIPBOARD
+                    | HOST_CAP_TEXT_INPUT
+                    | HOST_CAP_CURSOR
+                    | HOST_CAP_PEN),
+            0
+        );
+        // Single-bit values (a multi-bit cap would OR neighbours in).
+        assert_eq!(CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO.count_ones(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO.count_ones(), 1);
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn resolve_codec_canonicalizes_a_multi_bit_preference() {
         // A non-conformant peer may stuff its capability MASK into `preferred` — the result

crates/punktfunk-core/src/quic/datagram.rs

@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
-//! The QUIC-datagram side planes, demultiplexed by their first byte (0xC9–0xCF):
-//! audio, rumble, mic uplink, rich input, HID output, HDR metadata, host timing.
+//! The QUIC-datagram side planes, demultiplexed by their first byte (0xC9–0xD1):
+//! audio, rumble, mic uplink, rich input, HID output, HDR metadata, host timing,
+//! cursor state, pad audio.
 
 /// Datagram wire tags. Video rides UDP; everything low-rate rides QUIC datagrams,
 /// demultiplexed by the first byte: input = [`crate::input::INPUT_MAGIC`] (0xC8, client→host),
 /// audio = [`AUDIO_MAGIC`] (0xC9, host→client), rumble = [`RUMBLE_MAGIC`] (0xCA, host→client),
 /// mic = [`MIC_MAGIC`] (0xCB, client→host), rich-input = [`RICH_INPUT_MAGIC`] (0xCC, client→host),
 /// HID-output = [`HIDOUT_MAGIC`] (0xCD, host→client), HDR metadata = [`HDR_META_MAGIC`]
-/// (0xCE, host→client).
+/// (0xCE, host→client), host timing = [`HOST_TIMING_MAGIC`] (0xCF, host→client), cursor state =
+/// [`CURSOR_STATE_MAGIC`] (0xD0, host→client), pad audio = [`PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC`] (0xD1,
+/// host→client).
 pub const AUDIO_MAGIC: u8 = 0xC9;
 pub const RUMBLE_MAGIC: u8 = 0xCA;
 /// Microphone uplink: the client's mic, Opus-encoded, client → host (the inverse of
@@ -401,11 +404,22 @@ impl RichInput {
     }
 }
 
+/// Longest [`HidOutput::Trigger`] `effect` the wire carries: the DualSense adaptive-trigger
+/// parameter block is a mode byte plus ten parameters, and every consumer copies at most this many
+/// into its report.
+///
+/// The single source for the clamp on BOTH sides. `Trigger` was the only variable-length variant
+/// bounded on neither: encode appended whatever it was handed and decode took the entire tail, so
+/// an attacker-sized datagram was reproduced verbatim into a `Vec` while its sibling `HidRaw` had
+/// been bounded on both ends all along.
+pub const TRIGGER_EFFECT_MAX: usize = 11;
+
 const HIDOUT_LED: u8 = 0x01;
 const HIDOUT_PLAYER_LEDS: u8 = 0x02;
 const HIDOUT_TRIGGER: u8 = 0x03;
 const HIDOUT_TRACKPAD_HAPTIC: u8 = 0x04;
 const HIDOUT_HID_RAW: u8 = 0x05;
+const HIDOUT_AUDIO_CTL: u8 = 0x06;
 
 /// [`HidOutput::HidRaw`] `kind`: an OUTPUT report — what the host's hidraw client wrote with
 /// `write()`/`SDL_hid_write` (Triton rumble `0x80`, haptic pulse `0x81`, …). The client replays
@@ -431,6 +445,14 @@ pub enum HidOutput {
     /// A trackpad haptic pulse for a Steam Controller's voice-coil actuators (its only "rumble").
     /// `side` 0 = right pad, 1 = left pad; `amplitude` + `period` (µs off-time) + `count` (pulses)
     /// synthesize a buzz. A client without trackpad coils drops it (or maps it to ordinary rumble).
+    ///
+    /// **STAGED SCAFFOLDING — deliberately unreachable today, do not delete.** Nothing on the host
+    /// produces this variant and no client renders it; it codes/decodes and round-trips in tests
+    /// and nothing else. It stays because `HIDOUT_TRACKPAD_HAPTIC` is an allocated tag on a
+    /// SHIPPED wire: removing the variant would not reclaim the tag (a future peer could still
+    /// send it), it would only lose the decoder that keeps such a datagram from being mistaken
+    /// for something else. The producer is the Steam Controller coil path; the renderer is the
+    /// client-side coil write. Wire up either half and this becomes live with no format change.
     TrackpadHaptic {
         pad: u8,
         side: u8,
@@ -446,6 +468,16 @@ pub enum HidOutput {
     /// hardware safety timeout, and settings (lizard/IMU) are refreshed every ~3 s against the
     /// firmware watchdog — a lost datagram heals on the next refresh.
     HidRaw { pad: u8, kind: u8, data: Vec<u8> },
+    /// The audio-control region of a DS5 output report `0x02` a game wrote to the host's virtual
+    /// pad — the routing/volume side of pad audio (the audio SAMPLES ride the [`PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC`]
+    /// plane). `raw` is bytes 5..=10 of the report verbatim (headphone/speaker/mic volumes +
+    /// audio routing); `flags` condenses the report's audio valid-flags: bit0 = haptics-select
+    /// (`valid_flag0` bit1 — the title asked for audio haptics on the voice coils), bits1..4 =
+    /// `valid_flag0` bits 4..7 (the audio-valid flags gating `raw`). Wire form
+    /// `[0xCD][0x06][u16 pad LE][u8 flags][6 raw bytes]`. Forwarded change-only (deduped by
+    /// value host-side, like `Led`/`Trigger`) — a merely-rumbling pad re-sends unchanged audio
+    /// state on every output report.
+    AudioCtl { pad: u16, flags: u8, raw: [u8; 6] },
 }
 
 impl HidOutput {
@@ -460,7 +492,7 @@ impl HidOutput {
             }
             HidOutput::Trigger { pad, which, effect } => {
                 out.extend_from_slice(&[HIDOUT_TRIGGER, *pad, *which]);
-                out.extend_from_slice(effect);
+                out.extend_from_slice(&effect[..effect.len().min(TRIGGER_EFFECT_MAX)]);
             }
             HidOutput::TrackpadHaptic {
                 pad,
@@ -478,6 +510,12 @@ impl HidOutput {
                 out.extend_from_slice(&[HIDOUT_HID_RAW, *pad, *kind]);
                 out.extend_from_slice(&data[..data.len().min(HID_REPORT_MAX)]);
             }
+            HidOutput::AudioCtl { pad, flags, raw } => {
+                out.push(HIDOUT_AUDIO_CTL);
+                out.extend_from_slice(&pad.to_le_bytes());
+                out.push(*flags);
+                out.extend_from_slice(raw);
+            }
         }
         out
     }
@@ -497,10 +535,17 @@ impl HidOutput {
                 pad: b[2],
                 bits: b[3],
             }),
-            HIDOUT_TRIGGER if b.len() >= 4 => Some(HidOutput::Trigger {
+            // `> 4`, not `>= 4`: a body with no effect bytes at all is malformed, and decoding it
+            // as an EMPTY effect was actively harmful — downstream an empty block is written as an
+            // all-zero trigger report, which is mode 0x00, which RELEASES a held effect. A
+            // truncated datagram could therefore silently cancel the trigger a game was holding.
+            // A genuine "no effect" is a full-length zero block and still decodes fine.
+            HIDOUT_TRIGGER if b.len() > 4 => Some(HidOutput::Trigger {
                 pad: b[2],
                 which: b[3],
-                effect: b[4..].to_vec(),
+                // Bounded like `HidRaw` below: at most the parameter block is kept from the
+                // (attacker-sized) tail.
+                effect: b[4..b.len().min(4 + TRIGGER_EFFECT_MAX)].to_vec(),
             }),
             HIDOUT_TRACKPAD_HAPTIC if b.len() >= 10 => Some(HidOutput::TrackpadHaptic {
                 pad: b[2],
@@ -515,6 +560,22 @@ impl HidOutput {
                 // Bounded: at most HID_REPORT_MAX bytes are kept from the (attacker-sized) tail.
                 data: b[4..b.len().min(4 + HID_REPORT_MAX)].to_vec(),
             }),
+            // B27: the pad is the only u16 index on this plane, and every consumer narrows it
+            // with `as u8` on the stated assumption that pads are 0..MAX_PADS. Nothing enforced
+            // that, so wire pad 256 silently ALIASED onto slot 0 — a malformed or hostile
+            // datagram steering a real controller's speaker volumes. Rejected here, at the one
+            // place the u16 exists, so the narrowings downstream are lossless by construction
+            // (the same fix R10 applied to the rumble plane).
+            HIDOUT_AUDIO_CTL
+                if b.len() >= 11
+                    && u16::from_le_bytes([b[2], b[3]]) < crate::input::MAX_PADS as u16 =>
+            {
+                Some(HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+                    pad: u16::from_le_bytes([b[2], b[3]]),
+                    flags: b[4],
+                    raw: b[5..11].try_into().unwrap(),
+                })
+            }
             _ => None,
         }
     }
@@ -773,6 +834,72 @@ pub fn decode_cursor_state_datagram(b: &[u8]) -> Option<CursorState> {
     })
 }
 
+/// Pad-audio datagram tag, host → client: per-gamepad audio a game routed
+/// to the host's virtual DualSense — voice-coil haptics and the built-in speaker — for the client
+/// to render on the matching real controller. Next tag after [`CURSOR_STATE_MAGIC`]. The
+/// per-pad AUDIO plane (Opus frames, the [`AUDIO_MAGIC`]/[`MIC_MAGIC`] shape plus pad + kind);
+/// the routing/volume CONTROL side rides [`HidOutput::AudioCtl`]. Emitted only when the session
+/// negotiated it ([`CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`](super::caps::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO) ∧
+/// [`HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`](super::caps::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO)) and the pad's arrival declared a
+/// renderer for the kind ([`crate::input::ARRIVAL_FLAG_PAD_AUDIO_HAPTICS`]/`_SPEAKER`).
+/// Best-effort like every audio datagram: a lost frame is a concealed gap, never state.
+pub const PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC: u8 = 0xD1;
+
+/// [`PadAudioFrame::kind`]: the BACK channel pair — the DualSense voice-coil actuators (audio
+/// haptics). 5 ms Opus frames, matching the [`AUDIO_MAGIC`] cadence: haptics are felt latency.
+pub const PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS: u8 = 0;
+/// [`PadAudioFrame::kind`]: the FRONT channel pair — the controller's built-in speaker. 10 ms
+/// Opus frames (speaker content tolerates the extra buffering for the better coding efficiency).
+pub const PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER: u8 = 1;
+
+/// Wire length of a pad-audio datagram header: tag + pad + kind + u32 seq + u64 pts = 15 bytes.
+const PAD_AUDIO_HEADER_LEN: usize = 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 + 8;
+
+/// One decoded pad-audio frame (owned — the client's plane queue stores it). `seq`/`pts_ns` are
+/// per-(pad, kind) counters from the host's capture clock, for gap concealment and lip-sync
+/// against the main audio plane.
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
+pub struct PadAudioFrame {
+    /// Gamepad index (the wire pad space, same as rumble/HID-output).
+    pub pad: u8,
+    /// [`PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS`] or [`PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER`].
+    pub kind: u8,
+    pub seq: u32,
+    pub pts_ns: u64,
+    /// The raw Opus payload — feed it to an Opus decoder as one frame. Empty = DTX silence.
+    pub opus: Vec<u8>,
+}
+
+/// Pad-audio datagram, host → client:
+/// `[0xD1][u8 pad][u8 kind][u32 seq LE][u64 pts_ns LE][opus payload]` — the
+/// [`encode_audio_datagram`]/[`encode_mic_datagram`] layout with a pad + kind prefix, one Opus
+/// frame per datagram (5/10 ms — well under any MTU); QUIC already encrypts.
+pub fn encode_pad_audio_datagram(pad: u8, kind: u8, seq: u32, pts_ns: u64, opus: &[u8]) -> Vec<u8> {
+    let mut b = Vec::with_capacity(PAD_AUDIO_HEADER_LEN + opus.len());
+    b.push(PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC);
+    b.push(pad);
+    b.push(kind);
+    b.extend_from_slice(&seq.to_le_bytes());
+    b.extend_from_slice(&pts_ns.to_le_bytes());
+    b.extend_from_slice(opus);
+    b
+}
+
+/// Parse a pad-audio datagram → [`PadAudioFrame`]. `None` on bad tag/length (the fixed header
+/// length bounds every read before it happens).
+pub fn decode_pad_audio_datagram(buf: &[u8]) -> Option<PadAudioFrame> {
+    if buf.len() < PAD_AUDIO_HEADER_LEN || buf[0] != PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC {
+        return None;
+    }
+    Some(PadAudioFrame {
+        pad: buf[1],
+        kind: buf[2],
+        seq: u32::from_le_bytes(buf[3..7].try_into().unwrap()),
+        pts_ns: u64::from_le_bytes(buf[7..15].try_into().unwrap()),
+        opus: buf[15..].to_vec(),
+    })
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use crate::quic::*;
@@ -981,6 +1108,82 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(decode_rumble_datagram(&d[..6]).is_none());
     }
 
+    /// `Trigger` is the only variable-length variant that used to be bounded on NEITHER side.
+    /// Pinned here because both halves matter: an over-long effect must be clamped on the way out
+    /// AND on the way in, and a body with no effect bytes must not decode at all.
+    #[test]
+    fn trigger_effect_is_clamped_on_both_encode_and_decode() {
+        // Encode clamps: a caller handing over an over-long block cannot put it on the wire.
+        let long = HidOutput::Trigger {
+            pad: 1,
+            which: 0,
+            effect: vec![0xAB; 200],
+        };
+        let d = long.encode();
+        assert_eq!(
+            d.len(),
+            4 + TRIGGER_EFFECT_MAX,
+            "magic + kind + pad + which + at most the parameter block"
+        );
+
+        // Decode clamps independently of encode — a hostile peer does not use our encoder.
+        let mut hostile = vec![HIDOUT_MAGIC, super::HIDOUT_TRIGGER, 1, 0];
+        hostile.extend_from_slice(&[0xCD; 500]);
+        match HidOutput::decode(&hostile) {
+            Some(HidOutput::Trigger { effect, .. }) => {
+                assert_eq!(effect.len(), TRIGGER_EFFECT_MAX, "tail is bounded");
+            }
+            other => panic!("expected a clamped Trigger, got {other:?}"),
+        }
+
+        // An exact-length effect survives untouched, and round-trips.
+        let ok = HidOutput::Trigger {
+            pad: 2,
+            which: 1,
+            effect: vec![0x02, 0x90, 0xA0, 0xFF, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
+        };
+        assert_eq!(HidOutput::decode(&ok.encode()), Some(ok));
+    }
+
+    /// A body with no effect bytes is malformed and must be REJECTED, not read as an empty effect:
+    /// downstream an empty block becomes an all-zero trigger report, which is mode 0x00 — it
+    /// releases whatever effect the game was holding. A truncated datagram must not do that.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_trigger_with_no_effect_bytes_is_rejected_not_read_as_cancel() {
+        let empty = [HIDOUT_MAGIC, super::HIDOUT_TRIGGER, 0, 0];
+        assert_eq!(HidOutput::decode(&empty), None);
+
+        // One byte of effect is a legitimate short block (consumers zero-pad it) and still decodes.
+        let one = [HIDOUT_MAGIC, super::HIDOUT_TRIGGER, 0, 0, 0x02];
+        assert_eq!(
+            HidOutput::decode(&one),
+            Some(HidOutput::Trigger {
+                pad: 0,
+                which: 0,
+                effect: vec![0x02]
+            })
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// `HidRaw`'s bound was already correct on both sides — pinned alongside `Trigger` so the pair
+    /// cannot drift apart again.
+    #[test]
+    fn hid_raw_stays_bounded_on_both_sides() {
+        let long = HidOutput::HidRaw {
+            pad: 0,
+            kind: HID_RAW_OUTPUT,
+            data: vec![0x11; 500],
+        };
+        assert_eq!(long.encode().len(), 4 + HID_REPORT_MAX);
+
+        let mut hostile = vec![HIDOUT_MAGIC, super::HIDOUT_HID_RAW, 0, HID_RAW_FEATURE];
+        hostile.extend_from_slice(&[0x22; 900]);
+        match HidOutput::decode(&hostile) {
+            Some(HidOutput::HidRaw { data, .. }) => assert_eq!(data.len(), HID_REPORT_MAX),
+            other => panic!("expected a clamped HidRaw, got {other:?}"),
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn rumble_envelope_roundtrip_and_legacy_tolerance() {
         // v2 envelope round-trips seq + ttl.
@@ -1180,6 +1383,12 @@ mod tests {
                     f
                 },
             },
+            // The DS5 audio-control region (haptics-select + speaker volume asserted).
+            HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+                pad: 1,
+                flags: 0b0_0101,
+                raw: [0x50, 0x60, 0x70, 0x05, 0x00, 0x00],
+            },
         ];
         for ev in &cases {
             let d = ev.encode();
@@ -1198,6 +1407,92 @@ mod tests {
         )
         .is_none());
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn audio_ctl_wire_layout_and_truncation() {
+        // The exact 11-byte layout: [0xCD][0x06][u16 pad LE][u8 flags][6 raw bytes].
+        // The pad is deliberately a REPRESENTABLE one: this used to assert that 0x0201 (513)
+        // round-tripped, which pinned B27's aliasing in place as if it were the contract.
+        let a = HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+            pad: 0x000B,
+            flags: 0x17,
+            raw: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6],
+        };
+        let d = a.encode();
+        assert_eq!(d, [0xCD, 0x06, 0x0B, 0x00, 0x17, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]);
+        assert_eq!(HidOutput::decode(&d), Some(a));
+        // Truncated buffers are rejected outright (fixed length — never a partial read).
+        for n in 2..d.len() {
+            assert_eq!(HidOutput::decode(&d[..n]), None);
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn pad_audio_datagram_roundtrip_and_truncation() {
+        let opus = [0x5Au8; 61];
+        let d = encode_pad_audio_datagram(3, PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS, 42, 9_999, &opus);
+        assert_eq!(d[0], PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC);
+        assert_eq!(d.len(), 15 + opus.len());
+        let f = decode_pad_audio_datagram(&d).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!((f.pad, f.kind, f.seq, f.pts_ns), (3, 0, 42, 9_999));
+        assert_eq!(f.opus, opus);
+        // Truncated headers are rejected outright (never partially read).
+        for n in 0..15 {
+            assert_eq!(decode_pad_audio_datagram(&d[..n]), None);
+        }
+        // Tag separation: a pad-audio datagram is not a session-audio/mic datagram and vice-versa.
+        assert!(decode_audio_datagram(&d).is_none());
+        assert!(decode_mic_datagram(&d).is_none());
+        assert!(decode_pad_audio_datagram(&encode_audio_datagram(1, 2, &opus)).is_none());
+        // Empty payload (DTX) is legal — header-only datagram.
+        let hdr = encode_pad_audio_datagram(0, PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER, 0, 0, &[]);
+        assert_eq!(hdr.len(), 15);
+        assert!(decode_pad_audio_datagram(&hdr).unwrap().opus.is_empty());
+    }
+
+    /// B27: the pad is the only u16 index on the 0xCD plane and every consumer narrows it with
+    /// `as u8`. An out-of-range one used to alias onto a real slot instead of being refused —
+    /// wire pad 256 steering pad 0's speaker volumes.
+    #[test]
+    fn audio_ctl_rejects_a_pad_outside_the_index_space() {
+        let ok = HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+            pad: (crate::input::MAX_PADS - 1) as u16,
+            flags: 0x12,
+            raw: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6],
+        };
+        assert_eq!(
+            HidOutput::decode(&ok.encode()),
+            Some(ok),
+            "the last valid pad must still decode"
+        );
+
+        // Anything at or above MAX_PADS is refused outright, not truncated.
+        for pad in [crate::input::MAX_PADS as u16, 256, u16::MAX] {
+            let d = HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+                pad,
+                flags: 0x12,
+                raw: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6],
+            }
+            .encode();
+            assert_eq!(HidOutput::decode(&d), None, "pad {pad} must not decode");
+        }
+
+        // The specific alias the bug produced: 256 as u8 == 0.
+        let d = HidOutput::AudioCtl {
+            pad: 256,
+            flags: 0,
+            raw: [0; 6],
+        }
+        .encode();
+        assert!(
+            !matches!(
+                HidOutput::decode(&d),
+                Some(HidOutput::AudioCtl { pad: 0, .. })
+            ),
+            "wire pad 256 must never surface as pad 0"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn cursor_state_roundtrip() {
         for (flags, x, y) in [

crates/punktfunk-core/src/quic/mod.rs

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 //! Split by concern (networking-audit deferred plan §3 — a pure move): `handshake` the
 //! positional Hello/Welcome/Start codecs, `caps` the capability/codec-negotiation
 //! vocabulary, `control` the typed control + clipboard messages, `pairing` the pairing
-//! message codecs with [`pake`] the SPAKE2 itself, `datagram` the 0xC9–0xCF plane codecs,
+//! message codecs with [`pake`] the SPAKE2 itself, `datagram` the 0xC9–0xD1 plane codecs,
 //! `pen` the stylus batch (0xCC kind 0x05) + host stroke tracker,
 //! [`io`] framed stream IO, `clock` skew estimation + mid-stream re-sync, [`endpoint`] the
 //! quinn constructors, [`clipstream`] the per-transfer clipboard fetch streams. Every item

crates/punktfunk-host/Cargo.toml

@@ -259,6 +259,17 @@ windows = { version = "0.62", features = [
     # CoCreateInstance(PolicyConfigClient) — set the default audio playback/recording endpoints via the
     # undocumented IPolicyConfig (audio/windows/audio_control.rs) so mic + desktop audio auto-wire.
     "Win32_System_Com",
+    # Pad-audio endpoint provisioning (audio/windows/pad_endpoint.rs): IMMDevice + IPropertyStore
+    # to stamp the DualSense identity onto the minted endpoints (PROPVARIANT lives in
+    # StructuredStorage and is gated on the Variant feature), DEVPKEY_Device_DriverInfPath to
+    # resolve the installed Steam Streaming Speakers INF, and raw Reg* calls behind the MMDevices
+    # ACL repair + the devnode's pad-index marker value.
+    "Win32_Media_Audio",
+    "Win32_UI_Shell_PropertiesSystem",
+    "Win32_System_Com_StructuredStorage",
+    "Win32_System_Variant",
+    "Win32_Devices_Properties",
+    "Win32_System_Registry",
     # SetUnhandledExceptionFilter + EXCEPTION_POINTERS — the last-resort native-crash logger
     # (src/windows/crash.rs); Kernel gates the CONTEXT type EXCEPTION_POINTERS embeds.
     "Win32_System_Diagnostics_Debug",

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio.rs

@@ -183,6 +183,12 @@ pub fn open_virtual_mic(_channels: u32) -> Result<Box<dyn VirtualMic>> {
 mod audio_control;
 #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
 mod linux;
+// DualSense pad-audio endpoint provisioning + loopback capture (design: pad haptics/audio).
+// pub(crate): the session layer queries endpoints by pad index and the CLI exposes the
+// `pad-endpoint` devtest.
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+#[path = "audio/windows/pad_endpoint.rs"]
+pub(crate) mod pad_endpoint;
 #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
 #[path = "audio/windows/wasapi_cap.rs"]
 mod wasapi_cap;

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/audio_control.rs

@@ -143,6 +143,17 @@ pub(crate) fn wire_now(set_playback: bool) -> Wiring {
     wire_now_full(set_playback).wiring
 }
 
+/// Endpoint ids among `renders` that are the host's own pad-audio endpoints — the exclusion
+/// data [`plan`] runs on. Detection lives in [`super::pad_endpoint`] (stamped PFDS container /
+/// devnode marker, registry-only reads); this is just the per-pass collection.
+fn pad_render_ids(renders: &[Endpoint]) -> Vec<String> {
+    renders
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|(_, id)| super::pad_endpoint::is_pad_render_endpoint(id))
+        .map(|(_, id)| id.clone())
+        .collect()
+}
+
 /// Enumerate endpoints, compute the assignment, apply the default-device changes (unless
 /// `PUNKTFUNK_KEEP_DEFAULT`), and return the plan for the caller to act on (mic target / loopback
 /// echo guard). `set_playback` — true only from the desktop-audio capture open — additionally
@@ -159,6 +170,10 @@ pub(crate) fn wire_now_full(set_playback: bool) -> WiredPlan {
     let want = std::env::var("PUNKTFUNK_MIC_DEVICE")
         .ok()
         .map(|s| s.to_lowercase());
+    // The host's own pad-audio ("DualSense speaker") endpoints, by id — the pure plan filters
+    // them out of every role. Identity is platform data (stamped container / devnode marker),
+    // so it is collected HERE and passed in, like the candidate lists themselves.
+    let pad_ids = pad_render_ids(&renders);
     // Mix formats are read only when we are actually going to park the playback default (i.e. a
     // desktop-audio capture is opening). The mic pump wires on every open while the host is idle
     // and does not care which loopback endpoint wins, so it must not pay an IAudioClient
@@ -179,6 +194,7 @@ pub(crate) fn wire_now_full(set_playback: bool) -> WiredPlan {
         // only count a *narrowing* verdict can be made against without guessing: an endpoint that
         // cannot carry stereo cannot carry 5.1 either.
         2,
+        &pad_ids,
     );
     let done = |wiring: Wiring| WiredPlan {
         wiring,
@@ -245,7 +261,7 @@ pub(crate) fn wire_now_full(set_playback: bool) -> WiredPlan {
     if let Some((mic_name, mic_id)) = &wiring.mic_render {
         if default_render_id().as_deref() == Some(mic_id.as_str()) {
             // Audible preference = the host_audio plan's loopback pick (real hardware first).
-            match plan(&renders, &captures, want.as_deref(), true).loopback_render {
+            match plan(&renders, &captures, want.as_deref(), true, &pad_ids).loopback_render {
                 Some((name, id)) => match set_default_endpoint(&id) {
                     Ok(()) => tracing::info!(mic = %mic_name, device = %name,
                         "default playback was the virtual-mic target — moved it so desktop \
@@ -302,8 +318,10 @@ fn park_marker_path() -> std::path::PathBuf {
     pf_paths::config_dir().join("audio-default.prev")
 }
 
-/// The current default RENDER endpoint id, if any.
-fn default_render_id() -> Option<String> {
+/// The current default RENDER endpoint id, if any. pub(crate): the pad-endpoint provisioning
+/// uses it for its default-device guard (a freshly minted pad endpoint must never stay the
+/// default playback device).
+pub(crate) fn default_render_id() -> Option<String> {
     wasapi::DeviceEnumerator::new()
         .ok()?
         .get_default_device(&Direction::Render)
@@ -430,11 +448,13 @@ pub(crate) fn restore_default_playback() {
 }
 
 /// Open a device by endpoint id, with a name for error context.
+///
+/// Resolves through [`super::pad_endpoint::open_wasapi_device`], NOT the `wasapi` crate's
+/// `DeviceEnumerator::get_device` — that one hands `GetDevice` a freed string (see the helper's
+/// docs), so it fails at random on ids that are perfectly valid.
 pub(crate) fn open_endpoint(ep: &Endpoint) -> Result<wasapi::Device> {
-    wasapi::DeviceEnumerator::new()
-        .map_err(|e| anyhow!("DeviceEnumerator: {e}"))?
-        .get_device(&ep.1)
-        .map_err(|e| anyhow!("open endpoint {:?}: {e}", ep.0))
+    super::pad_endpoint::open_wasapi_device(&ep.1)
+        .map_err(|e| anyhow!("open endpoint {:?}: {e:#}", ep.0))
 }
 
 // --- IPolicyConfig (undocumented): set a default audio endpoint by id, for all three roles. ---
@@ -481,8 +501,9 @@ const _: () = {
 
 /// Set `device_id` as the default audio endpoint for eConsole/eMultimedia/eCommunications via the
 /// undocumented `IPolicyConfig::SetDefaultEndpoint` (the call `mmsys.cpl` makes). Errs if any role
-/// fails.
-fn set_default_endpoint(device_id: &str) -> Result<()> {
+/// fails. pub(crate): the pad-endpoint default-device guard restores the operator's default
+/// through the same machinery.
+pub(crate) fn set_default_endpoint(device_id: &str) -> Result<()> {
     use windows::core::{IUnknown, Interface, GUID, PCWSTR};
     use windows::Win32::System::Com::{CoCreateInstance, CLSCTX_ALL};
 

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/wasapi_cap.rs

@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ fn capture_once(
     if assert_plan {
         if let Some(d) = seen_default.as_deref() {
             if d != dev_id {
-                match judge_default(&en, wiring, d) {
+                match judge_default(wiring, d) {
                     DefaultKind::Capturable(name) => {
                         tracing::info!(default = %name, planned = %dev_name,
                             "could not park the default playback on the planned endpoint — \
@@ -639,7 +639,7 @@ fn capture_once(
                             );
                             return Ok(Next::Reopen(TargetMode::Follow));
                         }
-                        match judge_default(&en, wiring, &nid) {
+                        match judge_default(wiring, &nid) {
                             DefaultKind::Capturable(name) => {
                                 audio_client.stop_stream().ok();
                                 tracing::info!(device = %name,
@@ -726,8 +726,11 @@ enum DefaultKind {
     Unknown,
 }
 
-fn judge_default(en: &DeviceEnumerator, wiring: &wiring_plan::Wiring, id: &str) -> DefaultKind {
-    let Ok(dev) = en.get_device(id) else {
+/// Resolves through [`super::pad_endpoint::open_wasapi_device`], NOT the `wasapi` crate's
+/// `DeviceEnumerator::get_device` — that one hands `GetDevice` a freed string (see the helper's
+/// docs), and a spurious miss here silently downgrades a capturable default to `Unknown`.
+fn judge_default(wiring: &wiring_plan::Wiring, id: &str) -> DefaultKind {
+    let Ok(dev) = super::pad_endpoint::open_wasapi_device(id) else {
         return DefaultKind::Unknown;
     };
     let name = dev.get_friendlyname().unwrap_or_default();
@@ -736,7 +739,15 @@ fn judge_default(en: &DeviceEnumerator, wiring: &wiring_plan::Wiring, id: &str)
         .mic_render
         .as_ref()
         .is_some_and(|(_, mic_id)| mic_id == id);
-    if is_mic || wiring_plan::excluded_from_loopback(&ln) {
+    // B10: a pad's audio endpoint is not ordinary hardware, and the name rules cannot see that —
+    // it is deliberately stamped with the controller's own name ("DualSense Wireless Controller")
+    // so games treat it as the pad's speaker, which means `excluded_from_loopback` passes it
+    // straight through as `Capturable`. The pure plan filtered these out, but the plan is not the
+    // only reader: this classifier drives the watchdog, Follow mode and the parked default, so a
+    // pad endpoint that happened to be the system default could be adopted as the desktop capture
+    // source — sending the whole desktop mix to a controller's voice coils. Identity, not name.
+    let is_pad = super::pad_endpoint::is_pad_render_endpoint(id);
+    if is_mic || is_pad || wiring_plan::excluded_from_loopback(&ln) {
         DefaultKind::Dud(name)
     } else {
         DefaultKind::Capturable(name)

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/windows/wasapi_mic.rs

@@ -253,25 +253,16 @@ pub(crate) fn install_steam_audio_pair() -> bool {
     mic || spk
 }
 
-/// Install one Steam Streaming driver INF by filename via `DiInstallDriverW` (loaded from
-/// `newdev.dll`, like Apollo, to avoid an extra windows-crate feature). See
-/// [`install_steam_audio_pair`] for the contract; `inf_name` is a bare filename under Steam's
-/// per-arch `drivers\Windows10\{arch}\` directory.
-///
-/// Safe: `inf_name` is a `&str` and every FFI argument is built locally from it, so there is no
-/// precondition a caller could break — the `unsafe` is the `LoadLibraryExW`/`transmute`/call chain
-/// inside, which is this function's own business.
-fn try_install_steam_audio(inf_name: &str) -> bool {
-    use windows::core::{s, w, PCWSTR};
-    use windows::Win32::Foundation::HWND;
+/// Full path of a Steam Remote Play driver INF under Steam's per-arch driver directory
+/// (`%CommonProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\drivers\Windows10\{arch}\<inf_name>`), as a NUL-terminated
+/// UTF-16 buffer. Shared by [`try_install_steam_audio`] and the pad-endpoint provisioning
+/// ([`super::pad_endpoint`]), which feeds the same INF to `UpdateDriverForPlugAndPlayDevicesW`
+/// when no installed Steam Streaming Speakers devnode exposes its `oemNN.inf`. `None` when the
+/// environment expansion fails (existence is the caller's check).
+pub(crate) fn steam_driver_inf_path(inf_name: &str) -> Option<Vec<u16>> {
+    use windows::core::PCWSTR;
     use windows::Win32::System::Environment::ExpandEnvironmentStringsW;
-    use windows::Win32::System::LibraryLoader::{
-        GetProcAddress, LoadLibraryExW, LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32,
-    };
 
-    if std::env::var_os("PUNKTFUNK_NO_MIC_INSTALL").is_some() {
-        return false;
-    }
     // Steam ships per-arch driver INFs under `Steam\drivers\Windows10\{arch}\`.
     #[cfg(target_arch = "x86_64")]
     let subdir = "x64";
@@ -290,8 +281,33 @@ fn try_install_steam_audio(inf_name: &str) -> bool {
     let n =
         unsafe { ExpandEnvironmentStringsW(PCWSTR(template.as_ptr()), Some(path.as_mut_slice())) };
     if n == 0 || n as usize > path.len() {
+        return None;
+    }
+    path.truncate(n as usize); // keeps the NUL
+    Some(path)
+}
+
+/// Install one Steam Streaming driver INF by filename via `DiInstallDriverW` (loaded from
+/// `newdev.dll`, like Apollo, to avoid an extra windows-crate feature). See
+/// [`install_steam_audio_pair`] for the contract; `inf_name` is a bare filename under Steam's
+/// per-arch `drivers\Windows10\{arch}\` directory.
+///
+/// Safe: `inf_name` is a `&str` and every FFI argument is built locally from it, so there is no
+/// precondition a caller could break — the `unsafe` is the `LoadLibraryExW`/`transmute`/call chain
+/// inside, which is this function's own business.
+fn try_install_steam_audio(inf_name: &str) -> bool {
+    use windows::core::{s, w, PCWSTR};
+    use windows::Win32::Foundation::HWND;
+    use windows::Win32::System::LibraryLoader::{
+        GetProcAddress, LoadLibraryExW, LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32,
+    };
+
+    if std::env::var_os("PUNKTFUNK_NO_MIC_INSTALL").is_some() {
         return false;
     }
+    let Some(path) = steam_driver_inf_path(inf_name) else {
+        return false;
+    };
 
     // SAFETY: a static NUL-terminated literal, loaded from System32 only (the flag), so this cannot
     // pick up a planted `newdev.dll` from the working directory. The handle is checked before use.

crates/punktfunk-host/src/audio/wiring_plan.rs

@@ -186,6 +186,17 @@ fn virtualish(lname: &str) -> bool {
         || lname.contains("voicemeeter")
 }
 
+/// Is this render endpoint id one of the virtual pad's audio endpoints?
+///
+/// Pulled out of [`plan`] because the plan is NOT the only place that must not treat these as
+/// ordinary hardware — see [`excluded_from_loopback`]'s callers. A pad endpoint is deliberately
+/// stamped with the controller's own name ("DualSense Wireless Controller") so games read it as
+/// the pad's speaker, which means no name-based rule can recognise one; the only reliable test is
+/// identity against the ids the pad-endpoint provisioner created.
+pub(crate) fn is_pad_render(id: &str, pad_renders: &[String]) -> bool {
+    pad_renders.iter().any(|p| p == id)
+}
+
 /// Compute the assignment. `mic_want` is the operator override (`PUNKTFUNK_MIC_DEVICE`,
 /// lowercased): when set it beats the built-in candidate order for the mic target. `host_audio`
 /// flips the loopback preference to real hardware (audio audible on the host too); the default
@@ -195,8 +206,17 @@ pub(crate) fn plan(
     captures: &[Endpoint],
     mic_want: Option<&str>,
     host_audio: bool,
+    pad_renders: &[String],
 ) -> Wiring {
-    plan_with_formats(renders, captures, mic_want, host_audio, &no_formats, 2)
+    plan_with_formats(
+        renders,
+        captures,
+        mic_want,
+        host_audio,
+        &no_formats,
+        2,
+        pad_renders,
+    )
 }
 
 /// [`plan`] with knowledge of each render endpoint's engine mix format, and the channel count the
@@ -221,7 +241,20 @@ pub(crate) fn plan_with_formats(
     host_audio: bool,
     format_of: FormatProbe,
     want_channels: u8,
+    pad_renders: &[String],
 ) -> Wiring {
+    // 0. Pad-audio endpoints are invisible to the plan: never the mic target (client voice
+    //    would play out of a pad "speaker"), never a loopback source (a game's controller
+    //    audio cues would stream as desktop audio), and — since this shadows `renders` for
+    //    every tier below — never the flagged last resort either. Their names carry no virtual
+    //    marker (they are stamped "DualSense Wireless Controller" on purpose, so games read
+    //    them as the pad's speaker), so the name rules alone would take one for real hardware.
+    let renders: Vec<Endpoint> = renders
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|(_, id)| !is_pad_render(id, pad_renders))
+        .cloned()
+        .collect();
+    let renders = renders.as_slice();
     let find_render = |needle: &str| {
         renders
             .iter()
@@ -422,7 +455,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("Microphone (Webcam)"),
             ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"),
         ];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.mic_render.unwrap().0,
             "CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"
@@ -451,7 +484,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"),
             ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)"),
         ];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.mic_render.unwrap().0,
             "CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"
@@ -471,7 +504,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"),
             ep("Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)"),
         ];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, true);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, true, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.loopback_render.unwrap().0,
             "Speakers (Apple Audio Device)"
@@ -488,7 +521,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("CABLE In 16ch (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"),
         ];
         for host_audio in [false, true] {
-            let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, host_audio);
+            let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, host_audio, &[]);
             assert!(w.loopback_render.is_none(), "host_audio={host_audio}");
         }
     }
@@ -500,7 +533,7 @@ mod tests {
     fn headless_cable_only_mic_wins() {
         let renders = [ep("CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)")];
         let captures = [ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert!(w.mic_render.is_some(), "mic must claim the only cable");
         assert!(w.loopback_render.is_none(), "no echo-safe loopback exists");
     }
@@ -518,7 +551,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"),
             ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)"),
         ];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.mic_render.unwrap().0,
             "CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"
@@ -546,7 +579,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("Speakers (Realtek HD Audio)"),
         ];
         let captures = [ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.mic_render.unwrap().0,
             "Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)"
@@ -560,7 +593,7 @@ mod tests {
     fn steam_mic_only_no_echo() {
         let renders = [ep("Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
         let captures = [ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert!(w.mic_render.is_some());
         assert!(w.loopback_render.is_none());
     }
@@ -576,7 +609,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("Speakers (Steam Streaming Speakers)"),
         ];
         for host_audio in [false, true] {
-            let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, host_audio);
+            let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, host_audio, &[]);
             assert_eq!(
                 w.loopback_render.as_ref().unwrap().0,
                 "Speakers (Steam Streaming Speakers)",
@@ -597,7 +630,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("Altavoces (Steam Streaming Microphone)"),
         ];
         let captures = [ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.mic_render.unwrap().0,
             "Altavoces (Steam Streaming Microphone)"
@@ -620,7 +653,7 @@ mod tests {
         ];
         let captures = [ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
         for host_audio in [false, true] {
-            let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio);
+            let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio, &[]);
             assert_eq!(
                 w.loopback_render.as_ref().unwrap().0,
                 "Speakers (Realtek HD Audio)",
@@ -642,7 +675,7 @@ mod tests {
         ];
         let captures = [ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)")];
         for host_audio in [false, true] {
-            let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio);
+            let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio, &[]);
             assert!(w.loopback_render.is_none(), "host_audio={host_audio}");
             assert!(!w.loopback_last_resort, "host_audio={host_audio}");
             assert!(w.loopback_unsatisfiable(), "host_audio={host_audio}");
@@ -691,7 +724,7 @@ mod tests {
             ("steam streaming microphone", fmt(24_000, 1)),
             ("odyssey", fmt(48_000, 2)),
         ]);
-        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &captures, None, false, &p, 2);
+        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &captures, None, false, &p, 2, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.loopback_render.as_ref().unwrap().0,
             "1 - Odyssey G60SD (AMD High Definition Audio Device)",
@@ -721,7 +754,7 @@ mod tests {
             ("steam streaming microphone", fmt(48_000, 2)),
             ("realtek", fmt(48_000, 2)),
         ]);
-        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, false, &p, 2);
+        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, false, &p, 2, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.loopback_render.unwrap().0,
             "Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)"
@@ -737,7 +770,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)"),
         ];
         let p = probe(vec![("steam streaming microphone", fmt(16_000, 1))]);
-        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, false, &p, 2);
+        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, false, &p, 2, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.loopback_render.as_ref().unwrap().0,
             "Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)"
@@ -753,7 +786,7 @@ mod tests {
     fn narrowing_is_reported_for_real_hardware_too() {
         let renders = [ep("Headset (Hands-Free AG Audio)")];
         let p = probe(vec![("headset", fmt(16_000, 1))]);
-        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, false, &p, 2);
+        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, false, &p, 2, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.loopback_render.as_ref().unwrap().0,
             "Headset (Hands-Free AG Audio)"
@@ -773,8 +806,8 @@ mod tests {
         ];
         let captures = [ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)")];
         for host_audio in [false, true] {
-            let a = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio);
-            let b = plan_with_formats(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio, &no_formats, 2);
+            let a = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio, &[]);
+            let b = plan_with_formats(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio, &no_formats, 2, &[]);
             assert_eq!(a, b, "host_audio={host_audio}");
             assert!(a.loopback_narrowing.is_none());
         }
@@ -792,7 +825,7 @@ mod tests {
             ("steam streaming microphone", fmt(24_000, 1)),
             ("realtek", fmt(48_000, 2)),
         ]);
-        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, true, &p, 2);
+        let w = plan_with_formats(&renders, &[], None, true, &p, 2, &[]);
         assert_eq!(w.loopback_render.unwrap().0, "Speakers (Realtek HD Audio)");
     }
 
@@ -820,7 +853,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("Voicemeeter Input (VB-Audio Voicemeeter VAIO)"),
         ];
         let captures = [ep("Voicemeeter Out B1 (VB-Audio Voicemeeter VAIO)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, Some("voicemeeter input"), false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, Some("voicemeeter input"), false, &[]);
         assert_eq!(
             w.mic_render.unwrap().0,
             "Voicemeeter Input (VB-Audio Voicemeeter VAIO)"
@@ -836,7 +869,7 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn no_virtual_device() {
         let renders = [ep("Speakers (Realtek HD Audio)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, false, &[]);
         assert!(w.mic_render.is_none());
         assert_eq!(w.loopback_render.unwrap().0, "Speakers (Realtek HD Audio)");
     }
@@ -854,7 +887,7 @@ mod tests {
         ];
         let captures = [ep("Voicemeeter Out B1 (VB-Audio Voicemeeter VAIO)")];
         for host_audio in [false, true] {
-            let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio);
+            let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, host_audio, &[]);
             assert_eq!(
                 w.mic_render.as_ref().unwrap().0,
                 "Voicemeeter Input (VB-Audio Voicemeeter VAIO)",
@@ -877,7 +910,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("Voicemeeter Aux Input (VB-Audio Voicemeeter AUX VAIO)"),
         ];
         for host_audio in [false, true] {
-            let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, host_audio);
+            let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, host_audio, &[]);
             assert!(w.mic_render.is_some(), "host_audio={host_audio}");
             assert!(w.loopback_render.is_none(), "host_audio={host_audio}");
         }
@@ -892,7 +925,7 @@ mod tests {
             ep("CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"),
             ep("Speakers (Some Virtual Audio Device)"),
         ];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, false, &[]);
         assert!(w.loopback_render.is_none());
     }
 
@@ -918,7 +951,7 @@ mod tests {
         // Field shape minus the Speakers (mic holds the Streaming Microphone, nothing else).
         let renders = [ep("Altavoces (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
         let captures = [ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert!(w.loopback_unsatisfiable());
         let msg = describe_no_loopback(&renders, &w);
         assert!(msg.contains("reserved for the virtual mic"), "{msg}");
@@ -929,10 +962,70 @@ mod tests {
         // anyway), while the Steam pair is the remedy that adds a capturable sink.
         let renders = [ep("CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)")];
         let captures = [ep("CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)")];
-        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false);
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &[]);
         assert!(w.loopback_unsatisfiable());
         let msg = describe_no_loopback(&renders, &w);
         assert!(msg.contains("install Steam"), "{msg}");
         assert!(!msg.contains("install VB-Audio Virtual Cable"), "{msg}");
     }
+
+    /// A stamped pad endpoint is invisible to the plan. Its name carries NO virtual marker — on
+    /// purpose, games must read it as the pad's speaker — so the name rules alone would classify
+    /// it as real hardware and hand it the loopback; only the id exclusion prevents that.
+    /// Measured fact: the wiring plan on the target box already enumerated a stamped endpoint.
+    #[test]
+    fn pad_endpoints_invisible() {
+        let renders = [
+            ep("DualSense Wireless Controller"),
+            ep("Speakers (Realtek HD Audio)"),
+        ];
+        let pads = [renders[0].1.clone()];
+        let w = plan(&renders, &[], None, false, &pads);
+        assert_eq!(w.loopback_render.unwrap().0, "Speakers (Realtek HD Audio)");
+        // Even an operator mic override matching the pad's name must not claim it; with the
+        // pad as the only render endpoint there is honestly no mic target and no loopback.
+        let w = plan(
+            &renders[..1],
+            &[],
+            Some("wireless controller"),
+            false,
+            &pads,
+        );
+        assert!(w.mic_render.is_none());
+        assert!(w.loopback_render.is_none());
+    }
+
+    /// The exclusion has to survive the LAST RESORT tier, which this merge introduced alongside
+    /// pad audio. `last_resort` matches on the Steam-Speakers name, but it reads the same
+    /// shadowed `renders`, so a pad can never be reached through it either — otherwise the whole
+    /// desktop mix would be routed into the controller's voice coils.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_pad_is_never_the_last_resort() {
+        // Only the pad and the Steam pair exist; the mic reserves the Streaming Microphone, so
+        // the plan falls all the way through to the last resort.
+        let renders = [
+            ep("DualSense Wireless Controller"),
+            ep("Speakers (Steam Streaming Microphone)"),
+            ep("Speakers (Steam Streaming Speakers)"),
+        ];
+        let captures = [ep("Microphone (Steam Streaming Microphone)")];
+        let pads = [renders[0].1.clone()];
+        let w = plan(&renders, &captures, None, false, &pads);
+        assert_eq!(
+            w.loopback_render.as_ref().unwrap().0,
+            "Speakers (Steam Streaming Speakers)",
+            "the last resort must skip the pad"
+        );
+        assert!(w.loopback_last_resort);
+
+        // …and with the pad as the ONLY candidate left, the plan stays honestly unsatisfiable
+        // rather than falling back onto the coils.
+        let w = plan(&renders[..1], &captures, None, false, &pads);
+        assert!(
+            w.loopback_render.is_none(),
+            "a pad was taken as the last resort"
+        );
+        assert!(!w.loopback_last_resort);
+        assert!(w.loopback_unsatisfiable());
+    }
 }

crates/punktfunk-host/src/devtest.rs

@@ -384,6 +384,7 @@ pub fn dualsense_windows_test(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
                 index: idx,
                 kind: 2,
                 capabilities: 0,
+                audio_caps: 0,
             });
             println!(
                 "virtual {} up — cycling Cross + sweeping the left stick for {secs}s. Watch \
@@ -430,6 +431,7 @@ pub fn dualsense_windows_test(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
             index: idx,
             kind: 1,
             capabilities: 0,
+            audio_caps: 0,
         });
         println!(
             "virtual Xbox 360 (XUSB) up — sweeping LS + toggling A for {secs}s. Check with \
@@ -486,6 +488,119 @@ pub fn dualsense_windows_test(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Windows: pad-audio endpoint provisioning — `pad-endpoint ensure|remove|status [--index N]`.
+/// `ensure` runs the idempotent startup path (reuse-or-create the devnode, bind the Steam
+/// Streaming Speakers driver, stamp the DualSense identity + 4ch/48k formats, report whether
+/// the stamps are SERVED); `status` prints the devnode/endpoint and per-stamp stored vs served
+/// state without changing anything; `remove` deletes the devnode via pnputil — the escape
+/// hatch only, endpoints are persistent by design. Stamping needs SYSTEM (the MMDevices ACL);
+/// run `ensure` under the service account or PsExec when the property-store route is denied.
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+pub fn pad_endpoint(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
+    use crate::audio::pad_endpoint as pe;
+    let idx: u8 = args
+        .iter()
+        .skip_while(|a| *a != "--index")
+        .nth(1)
+        .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+        .unwrap_or(0);
+    // `--endpoint <id>` drives ANY render endpoint, not just a provisioned pad one. It is the
+    // discriminator between "this process cannot activate anything" and "our endpoint is broken":
+    // aim the same binary at a known-good endpoint and see whether it succeeds there.
+    let endpoint_override: Option<String> = args
+        .iter()
+        .skip_while(|a| *a != "--endpoint")
+        .nth(1)
+        .cloned();
+    match args.get(1).map(String::as_str) {
+        Some("ensure") => {
+            let p = pe::ensure(idx)?;
+            println!(
+                "pad-endpoint ensure: pad {} devnode {} endpoint {} needs_aeb_kick={}",
+                p.pad_index, p.device_instance, p.endpoint_id, p.needs_aeb_kick
+            );
+            Ok(())
+        }
+        Some("remove") => match pe::find(idx)? {
+            Some(p) => {
+                pe::remove(&p);
+                println!(
+                    "pad-endpoint remove: requested removal of {}",
+                    p.device_instance
+                );
+                Ok(())
+            }
+            None => {
+                println!("pad-endpoint remove: no pad-audio devnode for index {idx}");
+                Ok(())
+            }
+        },
+        // `punktfunk-host pad-endpoint <n> tone [seconds] [hz]` — drive the endpoint directly so
+        // the whole pad-audio chain can be exercised without a game. Without this, every attempt
+        // costs a game launch and a failure does not say which link broke.
+        Some("tone") => {
+            let secs: u32 = args.get(2).and_then(|s| s.parse().ok()).unwrap_or(5);
+            let hz: f32 = args.get(3).and_then(|s| s.parse().ok()).unwrap_or(60.0);
+            let endpoint_id = match endpoint_override {
+                Some(id) => id,
+                None => {
+                    // `find` (a system lookup), NOT `endpoint_for` (the service's in-process
+                    // cache): this runs as a separate CLI process and has no cache of its own.
+                    let Some(ep) = pe::find(idx)? else {
+                        println!(
+                            "pad-endpoint tone: no pad-audio devnode for pad {idx} — run \
+                             `ensure` first"
+                        );
+                        return Ok(());
+                    };
+                    if ep.endpoint_id.is_empty() {
+                        println!("pad-endpoint tone: pad {idx} has no endpoint id yet");
+                        return Ok(());
+                    }
+                    ep.endpoint_id
+                }
+            };
+            // `--pair front` drives the pad's SPEAKER instead of the voice coils — the only way to
+            // exercise the speaker kind without a game that renders one.
+            let pair = args
+                .iter()
+                .skip_while(|a| *a != "--pair")
+                .nth(1)
+                .map_or(pe::TonePair::Back, |s| pe::TonePair::parse(s));
+            println!(
+                "pad-endpoint tone: {hz} Hz into the {} of {endpoint_id} for {secs}s",
+                pair.label()
+            );
+            pe::render_test_tone(&endpoint_id, secs, hz, pair)?;
+            println!(
+                "pad-endpoint tone: done. A connected client with pad audio enabled should have \
+                 buzzed; the host log shows whether the gate opened."
+            );
+            Ok(())
+        }
+        // `punktfunk-host pad-endpoint capture [seconds]` — the receiving half of `tone`. Run
+        // both at once to exercise render -> engine -> loopback -> pair routing with no game and
+        // no client attached.
+        Some("capture") => {
+            let secs: u32 = args.get(2).and_then(|s| s.parse().ok()).unwrap_or(5);
+            let endpoint_id = match endpoint_override {
+                Some(id) => id,
+                None => match pe::find(idx)? {
+                    Some(ep) if !ep.endpoint_id.is_empty() => ep.endpoint_id,
+                    _ => {
+                        println!("pad-endpoint capture: pad {idx} has no endpoint — run `ensure`");
+                        return Ok(());
+                    }
+                },
+            };
+            println!("pad-endpoint capture: listening on {endpoint_id} for {secs}s");
+            pe::capture_probe(&endpoint_id, secs)
+        }
+        Some("status") => pe::print_status(idx),
+        _ => anyhow::bail!("usage: punktfunk-host pad-endpoint <ensure|remove|status> [--index N]"),
+    }
+}
+
 /// Mirror a physical monitor and pull frames from it — the on-glass gate for per-monitor capture
 /// (`design/per-monitor-portal-capture.md` P2/P3), without needing a client to connect.
 ///

crates/punktfunk-host/src/gamestream/gamepad.rs

@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ pub fn decode(plaintext: &[u8]) -> Option<GamepadEvent> {
             index: *b.first()?,
             kind: *b.get(1)?,
             capabilities: le16(2)? as u16,
+            // GameStream's LI_CCAP vocabulary can't express pad audio — native-plane only.
+            audio_caps: 0,
         }),
         _ => None,
     }
@@ -138,6 +140,7 @@ mod tests {
             index,
             kind,
             capabilities,
+            ..
         }) = decode(&wrap(MAGIC_CONTROLLER_ARRIVAL, &body))
         else {
             panic!("expected Arrival");

crates/punktfunk-host/src/main.rs

@@ -618,6 +618,10 @@ fn real_main() -> Result<()> {
         // hold it, driving the real *WindowsManager end to end. `--index N`, `--seconds N`.
         #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
         Some("dualsense-windows-test") => devtest::dualsense_windows_test(&args),
+        // Windows: pad-audio endpoint provisioning (`ensure`/`status`) + the pnputil removal
+        // escape hatch (`remove`). `--index N` selects the pad slot (default 0).
+        #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+        Some("pad-endpoint") => devtest::pad_endpoint(&args),
         // Capture→encode→file pipeline spike (dev tool).
         Some("spike") => spike::run(parse_spike(&args[1..])?),
         // Native punktfunk/1 host (QUIC control plane + UDP data plane).

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native.rs

@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ use pairing::pair_ceremony;
 mod audio;
 use audio::audio_thread;
 
+/// Per-pad DualSense audio (the 0xD1 plane): loopback capture of the pre-provisioned pad
+/// endpoints → per-kind silence gate → stereo Opus → `PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC` datagrams. The input
+/// thread spawns/reaps one streamer per arriving pad (`input`); the Welcome advertises the cap
+/// via `pad_audio::host_cap` (`handshake`).
+mod pad_audio;
+
 /// The native input plane (plan §W1); the session setup spawns `input_thread` and feeds it a
 /// channel of `ClientInput`. The `Pads` router + rumble live there too.
 mod input;
@@ -345,6 +351,14 @@ pub(crate) async fn serve(
     // binds its capture device) and self-heals when the backend dies (PipeWire restart, Windows
     // endpoint churn).
     let mic_service = crate::audio::MicPump::start();
+    // Windows, env-gated (PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO / _SLOTS): pre-provision the per-pad "DualSense
+    // speaker" render endpoints once per host lifetime — idempotent devnode + stamp work on a
+    // dedicated COM thread, results published for sessions to query by pad index
+    // (crate::audio::pad_endpoint::endpoint_for). If any stamp is stored-but-not-served, the
+    // worker performs ONE AudioEndpointBuilder+Audiosrv restart now, before any session exists.
+    // Failures log once and leave the feature off: pads still work, just without pad audio.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    crate::audio::pad_endpoint::provision_at_startup();
     // Host-lifetime worker that fires debounced TV-session restores (the managed gamescope path
     // restores the box's autologin gaming session on idle, not per-disconnect — see
     // `vdisplay::restore_managed_session`). Held for serve()'s lifetime; dropping it stops it.
@@ -1203,9 +1217,14 @@ async fn serve_session(
     let input_handle = {
         let conn = conn.clone();
         let gamepad = welcome.gamepad;
+        // Pad audio (0xD1) negotiated: the Welcome advertised the cap (Windows + provisioned
+        // endpoints + the client asked — handshake reads `pad_audio::host_cap`). Read back off
+        // the Welcome rather than recomputed, so the input thread's spawns cannot disagree
+        // with what the client was told.
+        let pad_audio_on = welcome.host_caps & punktfunk_core::quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO != 0;
         std::thread::Builder::new()
             .name("punktfunk1-input".into())
-            .spawn(move || input_thread(input_rx, conn, inj_tx, gamepad))
+            .spawn(move || input_thread(input_rx, conn, inj_tx, gamepad, pad_audio_on))
             .context("spawn input thread")?
     };
     // One reader for ALL client→host datagrams, demuxed by magic byte (two read_datagram loops

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/handshake.rs

@@ -640,6 +640,16 @@ pub(super) async fn negotiate(
                 punktfunk_core::quic::HOST_CAP_AUDIO_RED
             } else {
                 0
+            }
+            // Per-pad DualSense audio (0xD1 + HidOutput::AudioCtl): granted only when the
+            // client asked AND this host can capture it — Windows with the feature enabled
+            // and at least one pad endpoint provisioned at startup. A capable client then
+            // marks its pads' renderers on their arrivals; the input thread streams toward
+            // exactly those pads (`super::pad_audio`).
+            | if super::pad_audio::host_cap(hello.client_caps) {
+                punktfunk_core::quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO
+            } else {
+                0
             },
         // The negotiated session AEAD (resolved above) + its 32-byte key toward a ChaCha
         // client; toward everyone else cipher 0 keeps the Welcome byte-identical to the

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/input.rs

@@ -515,6 +515,100 @@ impl Pads {
     }
 }
 
+/// Per-pad 0xD1 streamers (`super::pad_audio`), keyed by pad index like every per-pad table
+/// here (bounded by [`MAX_WIRE_PADS`]; only slots 0..4 can ever have a provisioned endpoint —
+/// `spawn` refuses the rest). Spawned when a negotiated session's DualSense-family arrival
+/// declares renderer bits, reaped on remove / re-declare / session teardown.
+struct PadAudioSlots {
+    /// `(kinds, handle)` per running pad — `kinds` is the arrival's audio-caps mask, kept so
+    /// an identical re-arrival (they are re-sent against datagram loss) is a no-op.
+    slots: [Option<(u8, pad_audio::PadAudioHandle)>; MAX_WIRE_PADS],
+    /// Kind-change restarts spent per pad this session (R3). The trigger is a client-sent
+    /// arrival, so without a ceiling the client decides how many WASAPI captures the host opens.
+    restarts: [u8; MAX_WIRE_PADS],
+}
+
+/// R3: how many times one pad may change its declared audio kinds before the host stops
+/// obliging. A real controller declares once at open and never again; the re-sent arrivals are
+/// identical and take the no-op path above, so this is only reached by a client that keeps
+/// changing its mind.
+const MAX_PAD_AUDIO_RESTARTS: u8 = 8;
+
+impl PadAudioSlots {
+    fn new() -> PadAudioSlots {
+        PadAudioSlots {
+            slots: std::array::from_fn(|_| None),
+            restarts: [0; MAX_WIRE_PADS],
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Idempotent spawn: same kinds → keep the running streamer; changed kinds → restart with
+    /// the new mask; not running → spawn (a slot without an endpoint stays empty — bounded
+    /// retries, since arrivals are only re-sent a few times per slot open).
+    fn ensure(&mut self, conn: &quinn::Connection, pad: u8, kinds: u8) {
+        let idx = pad as usize;
+        if idx >= MAX_WIRE_PADS {
+            return;
+        }
+        if let Some((have, _)) = &self.slots[idx] {
+            if *have == kinds {
+                return; // identical re-arrival — keep the running streamer
+            }
+            // R3: the restart trigger is a CLIENT-sent arrival, so the count is client-driven.
+            // Nothing bounded it: a client alternating its declared kinds could make the host
+            // tear down and re-spawn a WASAPI loopback capture indefinitely, each cycle paying a
+            // thread spawn and an endpoint activation. Cheap to bound, and a pad that has already
+            // changed its mind this many times in one session is not doing anything legitimate.
+            if self.restarts[idx] >= MAX_PAD_AUDIO_RESTARTS {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    pad = idx,
+                    "pad-audio kinds changed again after {MAX_PAD_AUDIO_RESTARTS} restarts — \
+                     ignoring; the streamer keeps its current kinds for this session"
+                );
+                return;
+            }
+            self.restarts[idx] += 1;
+            tracing::info!(
+                pad = idx,
+                restarts = self.restarts[idx],
+                "pad-audio kinds changed — restarting the streamer"
+            );
+            self.stop(idx);
+        }
+        let stop = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
+        if let Some(h) = pad_audio::spawn(conn.clone(), pad, kinds, stop) {
+            self.slots[idx] = Some((kinds, h));
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Stop + reap one pad's streamer. The join rides a detached reaper thread: a quiet pad's
+    /// capturer can sit out its ~5 s recv timeout, and this thread must keep its ≤4 ms
+    /// feedback cadence (games block on GET_REPORT handshakes) — the reaper still joins, just
+    /// not here. A failed reaper spawn falls back to the handle's own drop (signal + join).
+    fn stop(&mut self, idx: usize) {
+        if let Some((_, h)) = self.slots.get_mut(idx).and_then(|s| s.take()) {
+            h.signal();
+            let _ = std::thread::Builder::new()
+                .name("punktfunk1-padreap".into())
+                .spawn(move || h.stop());
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Session teardown: flag every streamer FIRST so they wind down concurrently, then join —
+    /// the worst case is ONE quiet-endpoint recv timeout (~5 s), well inside the session's
+    /// 10 s side-thread join grace, not one per pad.
+    fn stop_all(&mut self) {
+        for s in self.slots.iter().flatten() {
+            s.1.signal();
+        }
+        for s in &mut self.slots {
+            if let Some((_, h)) = s.take() {
+                h.stop();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /// One client→host input item, both planes on ONE channel so the input thread wakes the
 /// moment either arrives (a second rich channel drained after the 4 ms recv timeout cost
 /// every pure-gyro motion sample up to 4 ms of quantization).
@@ -683,8 +777,13 @@ pub(super) fn input_thread(
     conn: quinn::Connection,
     inj_tx: std::sync::mpsc::Sender<InputEvent>,
     gamepad: GamepadPref,
+    pad_audio_on: bool,
 ) {
     let mut pads = Pads::new(gamepad);
+    // Per-pad 0xD1 audio streamers, live only when the Welcome granted the cap (`pad_audio_on`
+    // — read back off the negotiated host_caps). Spawned on DualSense-family arrivals that
+    // declare renderer bits, reaped on remove/teardown below.
+    let mut pad_streams = PadAudioSlots::new();
     // Motion-cadence observability (debug level): inter-arrival percentiles per 5 s window,
     // the measurement a "gyro feels floaty" report needs. Bounded: 5 s at even a 1 kHz pad
     // is 5000 u32s.
@@ -854,16 +953,53 @@ pub(super) fn input_thread(
                             &mut rumble_seen[idx],
                             &mut rumble_stop_burst[idx],
                         );
+                        // The unplugged pad's 0xD1 streamer goes with it (seq-gated like the
+                        // rest of this arm, so a reordered stale removal can't kill the
+                        // stream of a re-plugged pad). A re-plug re-arrives and re-spawns.
+                        pad_streams.stop(idx);
                     }
                 }
                 InputKind::GamepadArrival => {
                     // Per-pad controller kind declaration (mixed types): route this pad's future
-                    // frames to a backend of the declared kind. `code` = the GamepadPref wire byte,
-                    // `flags` = pad index. Applied before the pad's first frame (the client sends it
-                    // on slot open), so the device is built as the right type from the start.
-                    let idx = ev.flags as usize;
+                    // frames to a backend of the declared kind. `code` = the GamepadPref wire
+                    // byte, `flags` = pad index in the LOW BYTE — bits 8/9 carry the pad's
+                    // audio-render caps (haptics/speaker) from a pad-audio-capable client, so
+                    // the index MUST come from `decode_gamepad_arrival`, never the whole word.
+                    // Applied before the pad's first frame (the client sends it on slot open),
+                    // so the device is built as the right type from the start. The audio caps
+                    // are surfaced here for the 0xD1 capture path (which emits pad audio only
+                    // toward pads that declared a renderer).
+                    let (pad, audio_caps) = punktfunk_core::input::decode_gamepad_arrival(ev.flags);
+                    let idx = pad as usize;
                     let kind = GamepadPref::from_u8(ev.code as u8);
+                    if audio_caps != 0 {
+                        tracing::debug!(
+                            pad = idx,
+                            haptics = audio_caps & 0x01 != 0,
+                            speaker = audio_caps & 0x02 != 0,
+                            "pad-audio render caps declared (arrival flags bits 8/9)"
+                        );
+                    }
                     pads.set_kind(idx, kind);
+                    // Pad audio (0xD1): stream toward DualSense-family pads that declared a
+                    // renderer, only on a session that negotiated the cap. Idempotent across
+                    // the arrival re-sends (same kinds keeps the running streamer); a
+                    // re-declare without bits — or as a kind with no pad audio — stops it.
+                    if pad_audio_on {
+                        let want = if matches!(
+                            kind,
+                            GamepadPref::DualSense | GamepadPref::DualSenseEdge
+                        ) {
+                            audio_caps
+                        } else {
+                            0
+                        };
+                        if want != 0 {
+                            pad_streams.ensure(&conn, pad, want);
+                        } else {
+                            pad_streams.stop(idx);
+                        }
+                    }
                 }
                 _ => {
                     // Track press/release so a mid-press disconnect can be undone below.
@@ -1019,6 +1155,9 @@ pub(super) fn input_thread(
             flags: 0,
         });
     }
+    // Reap the per-pad 0xD1 streamers with the session (after the instant release sends above
+    // — this can block on a quiet pad's capturer timeout, see PadAudioSlots::stop_all).
+    pad_streams.stop_all();
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]

crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/pad_audio.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,662 @@
+//! Per-pad DualSense audio (the 0xD1 pad-audio plane): WASAPI loopback of a pre-provisioned pad
+//! endpoint ([`crate::audio::pad_endpoint`]) → 4-ch de-interleave into the speaker (front) and
+//! voice-coil haptics (back) pairs → per-kind silence gate → stereo Opus (48 kHz, CBR, LowDelay)
+//! → [`PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC`](punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_MAGIC) datagrams. One thread per
+//! arriving pad, spawned/reaped by the input thread ([`super::input`]) as arrivals declare
+//! renderers and pads leave. Modeled on the session audio thread ([`super::audio`]): the same
+//! reopen-with-backoff on capture death, the same monotonic-seq-kept-across-reopens discipline,
+//! the same power-of-two encode-warn throttle.
+
+use super::*;
+
+/// `kinds` bit for the haptics stream (bit N = wire kind N — the same packing the arrival's
+/// audio-caps bits use, see [`punktfunk_core::input::decode_gamepad_arrival`]).
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+pub(super) const KIND_BIT_HAPTICS: u8 = 1 << punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS;
+/// `kinds` bit for the speaker stream.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+pub(super) const KIND_BIT_SPEAKER: u8 = 1 << punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER;
+
+/// Haptics frames are 5 ms (the session-audio cadence — haptics are felt latency); speaker
+/// frames are 10 ms (speaker content tolerates the buffering for the coding efficiency). Both
+/// are the wire contract's cadences (`punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_*`).
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+const HAPTICS_FRAME_MS: u32 = 5;
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+const SPEAKER_FRAME_MS: u32 = 10;
+/// Samples per frame (per channel) at 48 kHz: 240 / 480.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+const HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES: usize =
+    crate::audio::SAMPLE_RATE as usize * HAPTICS_FRAME_MS as usize / 1000;
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+const SPEAKER_FRAME_SAMPLES: usize =
+    crate::audio::SAMPLE_RATE as usize * SPEAKER_FRAME_MS as usize / 1000;
+/// The capture's channel count — the pad endpoint is stamped quad (FL FR BL BR: front pair =
+/// speaker, back pair = voice coils). Mirrors `pad_endpoint::PAD_CHANNELS` (Windows-gated, so
+/// the pure splitter logic keeps its own copy).
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+const CAP_CHANNELS: usize = 4;
+
+/// Peak (absolute sample) at or above which a frame counts as signal — the gate OPENS on that
+/// very frame (haptics are felt latency; the first active frame must ship). ≈ −60 dBFS.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+const GATE_OPEN_PEAK: f32 = 1e-3;
+/// How long the gate keeps sending after the last signal frame before it CLOSES (hangover):
+/// long enough that a decaying haptic tail (and the client decoder's own tail) is never
+/// clipped, short enough that an idle pad costs nothing in steady state.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+const GATE_HANGOVER_MS: u32 = 250;
+
+/// Per-kind Opus bitrate — a stereo voice-coil / pad-speaker pair needs far less than the
+/// session plane's 128 kbps; 64 kbps CBR keeps every frame comfortably under one MTU.
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+const PAD_AUDIO_BITRATE: i32 = 64_000;
+
+/// The per-kind silence gate — the steady-state-cost feature: an idle pad endpoint (games
+/// rarely render pad audio) must cost ZERO encodes and ZERO datagrams, not a permanent 200 Hz
+/// stream of coded silence. Opens the instant a frame carries signal ([`GATE_OPEN_PEAK`]);
+/// closes only after [`GATE_HANGOVER_MS`] of continuous sub-threshold frames. Pure logic,
+/// unit-tested below.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+struct SilenceGate {
+    /// Consecutive sub-threshold frames that close the gate ([`GATE_HANGOVER_MS`] ÷ frame ms).
+    hangover_frames: u32,
+    /// Consecutive sub-threshold frames seen so far while open.
+    quiet: u32,
+    /// Starts closed: a pad no game ever renders into never opens (and never sends).
+    open: bool,
+}
+
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+impl SilenceGate {
+    fn new(frame_ms: u32) -> SilenceGate {
+        SilenceGate {
+            hangover_frames: (GATE_HANGOVER_MS / frame_ms).max(1),
+            quiet: 0,
+            open: false,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Feed one frame; `true` = encode + send it. Signal opens the gate on THIS frame; the
+    /// frame that completes the hangover closes it and is itself suppressed (the client
+    /// already has ~250 ms of ramped-out silence by then).
+    fn feed(&mut self, frame: &[f32]) -> bool {
+        if frame.iter().any(|s| s.abs() >= GATE_OPEN_PEAK) {
+            self.open = true;
+            self.quiet = 0;
+        } else if self.open {
+            self.quiet += 1;
+            if self.quiet >= self.hangover_frames {
+                self.open = false;
+                self.quiet = 0;
+            }
+        }
+        self.open
+    }
+}
+
+/// One kind's send-admission + seq bookkeeping (pure logic — the capture thread wraps it with
+/// the encoder and the datagram send). `seq` is monotonic per (pad, kind) and NEVER advances
+/// while the gate is closed: frozen-seq = deliberate silence — the client tells silence from
+/// loss by seq continuity (the mic-mute discipline, pf-client-core/src/audio.rs). It is also
+/// kept across capture reopens (the session audio thread's discipline, audio.rs): the client
+/// sees a gap, not a restart.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+struct LaneCtl {
+    gate: SilenceGate,
+    seq: u32,
+}
+
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+impl LaneCtl {
+    fn new(frame_ms: u32) -> LaneCtl {
+        LaneCtl {
+            gate: SilenceGate::new(frame_ms),
+            seq: 0,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Admit one frame: `Some(seq)` = encode + send it with this seq (advanced for the next);
+    /// `None` = gated — do not send, do not advance. An encode failure AFTER admission leaves a
+    /// one-frame seq gap, which the client conceals exactly like datagram loss.
+    fn admit(&mut self, frame: &[f32]) -> Option<u32> {
+        if !self.gate.feed(frame) {
+            return None;
+        }
+        let seq = self.seq;
+        self.seq = self.seq.wrapping_add(1);
+        Some(seq)
+    }
+}
+
+/// De-interleave one 4-ch block (FL FR BL BR) into its stereo pairs: `(front, back)` — front =
+/// speaker (channels 0/1), back = voice-coil haptics (channels 2/3). A ragged tail (not a
+/// multiple of 4 — the capturer only ever delivers whole frames) is dropped, never smeared
+/// across channels.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+fn split_quad(block: &[f32]) -> (Vec<f32>, Vec<f32>) {
+    let mut front = Vec::with_capacity(block.len() / 2);
+    let mut back = Vec::with_capacity(block.len() / 2);
+    for s in block.chunks_exact(CAP_CHANNELS) {
+        front.extend_from_slice(&s[..2]);
+        back.extend_from_slice(&s[2..4]);
+    }
+    (front, back)
+}
+
+/// Accumulates interleaved 4-ch capture and cuts it into the wire contract's per-kind stereo
+/// frames — haptics every 5 ms from the back pair, speaker every 10 ms from the front pair —
+/// emitting ONLY the kinds enabled in `kinds` (a disabled kind is never even split out, so it
+/// can never reach an encoder). Pure logic, unit-tested; the capture thread wraps it.
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+struct PadFramer {
+    kinds: u8,
+    /// Raw interleaved 4-ch accumulation, drained in 5 ms blocks.
+    acc: Vec<f32>,
+    /// Front-pair stereo accumulation toward the next 10 ms speaker frame.
+    front: Vec<f32>,
+}
+
+#[cfg(any(target_os = "windows", test))]
+impl PadFramer {
+    fn new(kinds: u8) -> PadFramer {
+        PadFramer {
+            kinds,
+            acc: Vec::with_capacity(HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES * CAP_CHANNELS * 4),
+            front: Vec::new(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Feed one capture chunk; `emit(kind, stereo_frame)` fires for each completed frame
+    /// (haptics first — it is the latency-critical pair).
+    fn feed(&mut self, chunk: &[f32], mut emit: impl FnMut(u8, &[f32])) {
+        self.acc.extend_from_slice(chunk);
+        let block_len = HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES * CAP_CHANNELS;
+        while self.acc.len() >= block_len {
+            let block: Vec<f32> = self.acc.drain(..block_len).collect();
+            let (front, back) = split_quad(&block);
+            if self.kinds & KIND_BIT_HAPTICS != 0 {
+                emit(punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS, &back);
+            }
+            if self.kinds & KIND_BIT_SPEAKER != 0 {
+                self.front.extend_from_slice(&front);
+                let frame_len = SPEAKER_FRAME_SAMPLES * 2;
+                while self.front.len() >= frame_len {
+                    let frame: Vec<f32> = self.front.drain(..frame_len).collect();
+                    emit(punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER, &frame);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Drop the partial frames straddling a capture gap (reopen). The seq/gate state is NOT
+    /// here — [`LaneCtl`] deliberately survives reopens, so the client sees a gap, not a
+    /// restart.
+    fn clear(&mut self) {
+        self.acc.clear();
+        self.front.clear();
+    }
+}
+
+/// A running per-pad streamer. [`stop`](PadAudioHandle::stop) (or drop) flags the thread and
+/// joins it; [`signal`](PadAudioHandle::signal) only flags — the input thread's teardown flags
+/// every pad first so the joins overlap instead of serializing the capturer's worst-case ~5 s
+/// quiet-endpoint recv timeout.
+pub(super) struct PadAudioHandle {
+    stop: Arc<AtomicBool>,
+    join: Option<std::thread::JoinHandle<()>>,
+}
+
+impl PadAudioHandle {
+    /// Flag the streamer to wind down without waiting for it.
+    pub(super) fn signal(&self) {
+        self.stop.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
+    }
+
+    /// Stop + reap. Bounded by the capturer's ~5 s quiet-endpoint recv timeout in the worst
+    /// case — the mid-session reap paths run this on a detached reaper thread for that reason
+    /// (`input.rs::PadAudioSlots::stop`); session teardown affords it inline (the 10 s
+    /// side-thread join grace covers it).
+    pub(super) fn stop(mut self) {
+        self.reap();
+    }
+
+    fn reap(&mut self) {
+        self.signal();
+        if let Some(join) = self.join.take() {
+            let _ = join.join();
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// A handle dropped without `stop()` (reaper-spawn failure) still winds its thread down.
+impl Drop for PadAudioHandle {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        self.reap();
+    }
+}
+
+/// Whether this session's Welcome should advertise
+/// [`HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`](punktfunk_core::quic::HOST_CAP_PAD_AUDIO): the client asked
+/// ([`CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO`](punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO)), this is a Windows
+/// host with the feature on (`PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO` != "0"), and startup provisioning published
+/// at least one endpoint (`pad_endpoint::provision_at_startup`). Still-running provisioning
+/// reads as "none yet": a session racing host startup simply negotiates without pad audio and
+/// picks it up on its next connect.
+pub(super) fn host_cap(client_caps: u8) -> bool {
+    let asked = client_caps & punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO != 0;
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    {
+        // R5: a startup attempt that failed transiently leaves nothing latched, so retry here —
+        // this is the first moment in a session's life that anyone asks whether pad audio exists.
+        if asked {
+            crate::audio::pad_endpoint::ensure_provisioned();
+        }
+        asked
+            && std::env::var_os("PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO").is_none_or(|v| v != "0")
+            && crate::audio::pad_endpoint::provisioned_endpoints()
+                .is_some_and(|eps| !eps.is_empty())
+    }
+    #[cfg(not(target_os = "windows"))]
+    {
+        // Only the Windows virtual DualSense exposes pad audio endpoints today.
+        let _ = asked;
+        false
+    }
+}
+
+/// Start the per-pad streamer toward `conn` for `pad`, streaming the kinds in `kinds` (bit 0 =
+/// haptics, bit 1 = speaker — the arrival's audio-caps packing). `stop` is this handle's own
+/// flag (fresh per spawn — pad streamers stop individually, not with the session). `None` when
+/// the slot has no provisioned endpoint (provisioning failed or still running, or the slot is
+/// past `PUNKTFUNK_PAD_AUDIO_SLOTS` — only 0..4 can ever have one) or the thread cannot spawn;
+/// the pad itself keeps working either way, just without audio.
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+pub(super) fn spawn(
+    conn: quinn::Connection,
+    pad: u8,
+    kinds: u8,
+    stop: Arc<AtomicBool>,
+) -> Option<PadAudioHandle> {
+    if kinds & (KIND_BIT_HAPTICS | KIND_BIT_SPEAKER) == 0 {
+        return None;
+    }
+    let Some(ep) = crate::audio::pad_endpoint::endpoint_for(pad) else {
+        tracing::debug!(
+            pad,
+            "pad-audio arrival for a slot without a provisioned endpoint — not streaming"
+        );
+        return None;
+    };
+    if ep.endpoint_id.is_empty() {
+        // The devnode-without-endpoint shape (`find`) — never in the provisioned set, but
+        // cheap to refuse rather than spin the open/backoff loop on an empty id.
+        return None;
+    }
+    if ep.needs_aeb_kick {
+        // R4: this flag was computed on every path and consulted nowhere past startup. It means
+        // the endpoint's stamps are STORED but not SERVED — the audio stack never picked up the
+        // DualSense identity — and startup's one restart did not fix it. Opening anyway is worse
+        // than refusing: `AUTOCONVERTPCM` makes a wrong-format endpoint initialize *successfully*,
+        // so the stream runs, the logs look healthy, and the haptics/speaker pair is mis-routed
+        // with nothing to point at. Decline, and say which reboot-shaped problem it is.
+        tracing::warn!(
+            pad,
+            endpoint = %ep.endpoint_id,
+            "pad endpoint stamps are stored but not served — the audio stack has not adopted the \
+             DualSense identity (a reboot, or a manual AudioEndpointBuilder+Audiosrv restart, \
+             clears it). Not streaming: the endpoint would open and mis-route."
+        );
+        return None;
+    }
+    let stop_t = stop.clone();
+    match std::thread::Builder::new()
+        .name(format!("punktfunk1-pad{pad}"))
+        .spawn(move || pad_audio_thread(conn, pad, kinds, ep.endpoint_id, stop_t))
+    {
+        Ok(join) => Some(PadAudioHandle {
+            stop,
+            join: Some(join),
+        }),
+        Err(e) => {
+            tracing::warn!(pad, error = %e, "pad-audio thread spawn failed — pad streams without audio");
+            None
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Stub — pad endpoints exist only behind the Windows virtual DualSense; other hosts run pads
+/// without the audio side (and never advertise the cap, see [`host_cap`]).
+#[cfg(not(target_os = "windows"))]
+pub(super) fn spawn(
+    _conn: quinn::Connection,
+    _pad: u8,
+    _kinds: u8,
+    _stop: Arc<AtomicBool>,
+) -> Option<PadAudioHandle> {
+    None
+}
+
+/// One enabled kind's encoder lane: admission/seq control + its stereo Opus encoder + the
+/// power-of-two warn throttle (a stuck encoder would otherwise fail ~200 times a second).
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+struct Lane {
+    kind: u8,
+    ctl: LaneCtl,
+    enc: opus::Encoder,
+    encode_errs: u64,
+}
+
+/// Build one stereo encoder per enabled kind: 48 kHz LowDelay hard-CBR like the session audio
+/// plane ([`super::audio`]), at the pad plane's 64 kbps.
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+fn build_lanes(kinds: u8) -> Result<Vec<Lane>, opus::Error> {
+    let mut lanes = Vec::new();
+    for (bit, kind, frame_ms) in [
+        (
+            KIND_BIT_HAPTICS,
+            punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS,
+            HAPTICS_FRAME_MS,
+        ),
+        (
+            KIND_BIT_SPEAKER,
+            punktfunk_core::quic::PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER,
+            SPEAKER_FRAME_MS,
+        ),
+    ] {
+        if kinds & bit == 0 {
+            continue;
+        }
+        let mut enc = opus::Encoder::new(
+            crate::audio::SAMPLE_RATE,
+            opus::Channels::Stereo,
+            opus::Application::LowDelay,
+        )?;
+        enc.set_bitrate(opus::Bitrate::Bits(PAD_AUDIO_BITRATE)).ok();
+        enc.set_vbr(false).ok();
+        lanes.push(Lane {
+            kind,
+            ctl: LaneCtl::new(frame_ms),
+            enc,
+            encode_errs: 0,
+        });
+    }
+    Ok(lanes)
+}
+
+/// The per-pad streaming thread: loopback capture → framer → per-kind gate/encode → 0xD1
+/// datagrams. Capture death reopens with the session-audio backoff ([`INJECTOR_REOPEN_BACKOFF`],
+/// encoders + seq kept); a send error ends the thread (the connection — the session — is gone).
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+fn pad_audio_thread(
+    conn: quinn::Connection,
+    pad: u8,
+    kinds: u8,
+    endpoint_id: String,
+    stop: Arc<AtomicBool>,
+) {
+    use crate::audio::AudioCapturer as _;
+    let mut lanes = match build_lanes(kinds) {
+        Ok(l) => l,
+        Err(e) => {
+            tracing::warn!(pad, error = %e, "pad-audio opus encoder init failed — pad continues without audio");
+            return;
+        }
+    };
+    if lanes.is_empty() {
+        return; // spawn() refuses kinds == 0 — belt and braces
+    }
+    let mut framer = PadFramer::new(kinds);
+    // One Opus frame per datagram; 64 kbps CBR at ≤10 ms is ~80 bytes — sized with the session
+    // plane's slack.
+    let mut opus_buf = vec![0u8; 1500];
+    // Reopen-with-backoff (the audio.rs discipline): a capture death (endpoint invalidated,
+    // audio-engine restart) reopens instead of muting the pad for the rest of the session. The
+    // first open ALSO rides this loop, so an open lost to endpoint churn starts late, not never.
+    let mut capturer: Option<crate::audio::pad_endpoint::PadLoopbackCapturer> = None;
+    let mut last_failed: Option<std::time::Instant> = None;
+    tracing::info!(
+        pad,
+        haptics = kinds & KIND_BIT_HAPTICS != 0,
+        speaker = kinds & KIND_BIT_SPEAKER != 0,
+        "pad audio streaming (0xD1, Opus 48 kHz, silence-gated)"
+    );
+    'session: while !stop.load(Ordering::SeqCst) {
+        if capturer.is_none() {
+            if last_failed.is_some_and(|t| t.elapsed() < INJECTOR_REOPEN_BACKOFF) {
+                std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(200));
+                continue;
+            }
+            match crate::audio::pad_endpoint::PadLoopbackCapturer::open(&endpoint_id) {
+                Ok(c) => {
+                    if last_failed.take().is_some() {
+                        tracing::info!(pad, "pad-audio capture reopened");
+                    }
+                    capturer = Some(c);
+                    framer.clear(); // drop the partial frames straddling the gap
+                }
+                Err(e) => {
+                    tracing::debug!(pad, error = %format!("{e:#}"), "pad-audio open failed — will retry");
+                    last_failed = Some(std::time::Instant::now());
+                    std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(200));
+                    continue;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        // An empty chunk is a QUIET endpoint (the capturer's idle timeout), not a death — keep
+        // it; only a genuine Err (capture thread ended) drops the capturer for reopen.
+        let chunk = match capturer.as_mut().unwrap().next_chunk() {
+            Ok(c) => c,
+            Err(e) => {
+                tracing::warn!(pad, error = %format!("{e:#}"), "pad-audio capture lost — reopening");
+                capturer = None;
+                last_failed = Some(std::time::Instant::now());
+                continue;
+            }
+        };
+        let mut session_gone = false;
+        framer.feed(&chunk, |kind, frame| {
+            if session_gone {
+                return;
+            }
+            let Some(lane) = lanes.iter_mut().find(|l| l.kind == kind) else {
+                return; // framer emits only enabled kinds — unreachable, but never panic here
+            };
+            // Gated = deliberate silence: no datagram AND a frozen seq (the client tells
+            // silence from loss by seq continuity).
+            let Some(seq) = lane.ctl.admit(frame) else {
+                return;
+            };
+            let pts_ns = now_ns();
+            match lane.enc.encode_float(frame, &mut opus_buf) {
+                Ok(n) => {
+                    let d = punktfunk_core::quic::encode_pad_audio_datagram(
+                        pad,
+                        kind,
+                        seq,
+                        pts_ns,
+                        &opus_buf[..n],
+                    );
+                    if conn.send_datagram(d.into()).is_err() {
+                        session_gone = true; // connection gone — the session is over
+                    }
+                }
+                Err(e) => {
+                    lane.encode_errs += 1;
+                    if lane.encode_errs.is_power_of_two() {
+                        tracing::warn!(
+                            pad,
+                            kind,
+                            error = %e,
+                            count = lane.encode_errs,
+                            "pad-audio opus encode failed — dropping frame"
+                        );
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        });
+        if session_gone {
+            break 'session;
+        }
+    }
+    // Dropping the capturer stops its WASAPI thread. Nothing to park: pad capture is per-pad,
+    // per-session by design (unlike the session audio slot there is no cross-session reuse).
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use punktfunk_core::quic::{PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS, PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER};
+
+    /// A stereo frame of `n` samples at a constant level.
+    fn frame(level: f32, n: usize) -> Vec<f32> {
+        vec![level; n * 2]
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn gate_opens_immediately_and_closes_after_hangover() {
+        let mut g = SilenceGate::new(HAPTICS_FRAME_MS);
+        // 250 ms of 5 ms frames.
+        assert_eq!(g.hangover_frames, 50);
+        // Closed from birth: an idle pad never sends.
+        assert!(!g.feed(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        // A peak at exactly the threshold opens on THIS frame (haptics are felt latency).
+        assert!(g.feed(&frame(GATE_OPEN_PEAK, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        // 49 quiet frames ride the hangover; the 50th completes 250 ms and is suppressed.
+        for _ in 0..49 {
+            assert!(g.feed(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        }
+        assert!(!g.feed(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        // ... and stays closed.
+        assert!(!g.feed(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        // Sub-threshold wiggle does not reopen; real signal does (negative peaks count).
+        assert!(!g.feed(&frame(9e-4, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        assert!(g.feed(&frame(-0.5, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        // A loud frame mid-hangover rearms the full 250 ms.
+        for _ in 0..49 {
+            assert!(g.feed(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        }
+        assert!(g.feed(&frame(0.02, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        for _ in 0..49 {
+            assert!(g.feed(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        }
+        assert!(!g.feed(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn gate_hangover_scales_with_frame_ms() {
+        let mut g = SilenceGate::new(SPEAKER_FRAME_MS);
+        assert_eq!(g.hangover_frames, 25); // 250 ms of 10 ms frames
+        assert!(g.feed(&frame(0.1, SPEAKER_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        for _ in 0..24 {
+            assert!(g.feed(&frame(0.0, SPEAKER_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+        }
+        assert!(!g.feed(&frame(0.0, SPEAKER_FRAME_SAMPLES)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn seq_freezes_while_gated_and_survives_reopen() {
+        let mut lane = LaneCtl::new(HAPTICS_FRAME_MS);
+        // Two audible frames: seq 0, 1.
+        assert_eq!(lane.admit(&frame(0.5, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)), Some(0));
+        assert_eq!(lane.admit(&frame(0.5, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)), Some(1));
+        // The hangover is still sent (seq advances), then the gate closes and seq FREEZES —
+        // deliberate silence the client tells from loss by continuity.
+        for i in 0..49u32 {
+            assert_eq!(lane.admit(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)), Some(2 + i));
+        }
+        for _ in 0..500 {
+            assert_eq!(lane.admit(&frame(0.0, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)), None);
+        }
+        // A capture reopen resets ONLY the framer (PadFramer::clear) — LaneCtl is deliberately
+        // untouched, so the next audible frame CONTINUES the sequence (gap, not restart).
+        assert_eq!(lane.admit(&frame(0.9, HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)), Some(51));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn splitter_exact_pairs() {
+        // Interleave [FL FR BL BR] × 2 frames with distinct values everywhere.
+        let quad = [0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0];
+        let (front, back) = split_quad(&quad);
+        assert_eq!(front, [0.0, 1.0, 10.0, 11.0]);
+        assert_eq!(back, [2.0, 3.0, 12.0, 13.0]);
+        // A ragged tail (never produced by the capturer) is dropped, not smeared.
+        let (front, back) = split_quad(&quad[..7]);
+        assert_eq!((front.len(), back.len()), (2, 2));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn framer_cuts_the_wire_cadence() {
+        let mut f = PadFramer::new(KIND_BIT_HAPTICS | KIND_BIT_SPEAKER);
+        let mut got: Vec<(u8, usize, f32)> = Vec::new();
+        // 10 ms of capture (480 samples), fed in ragged chunks: exactly two 5 ms haptics
+        // frames from the back pair, then one 10 ms speaker frame from the front pair.
+        let mut quad = Vec::new();
+        for _ in 0..2 * HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES {
+            quad.extend_from_slice(&[0.25, 0.25, -0.5, -0.5]);
+        }
+        for chunk in quad.chunks(101) {
+            f.feed(chunk, |kind, frame| got.push((kind, frame.len(), frame[0])));
+        }
+        assert_eq!(
+            got,
+            vec![
+                (PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS, 2 * HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES, -0.5),
+                (PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS, 2 * HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES, -0.5),
+                (PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER, 2 * SPEAKER_FRAME_SAMPLES, 0.25),
+            ]
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn framer_masks_disabled_kinds() {
+        // 20 ms of all-ones capture: 4 potential haptics frames, 2 potential speaker frames.
+        let quad = vec![1.0f32; 4 * HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES * CAP_CHANNELS];
+        let mut kinds_seen = Vec::new();
+        // Haptics-only: the front pair is never split out, let alone encoded.
+        let mut f = PadFramer::new(KIND_BIT_HAPTICS);
+        f.feed(&quad, |kind, _| kinds_seen.push(kind));
+        assert_eq!(kinds_seen, vec![PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS; 4]);
+        // Speaker-only: no haptics frames.
+        let mut f = PadFramer::new(KIND_BIT_SPEAKER);
+        kinds_seen.clear();
+        f.feed(&quad, |kind, _| kinds_seen.push(kind));
+        assert_eq!(kinds_seen, vec![PAD_AUDIO_KIND_SPEAKER; 2]);
+        // kinds = 0 is never spawned, but the framer must still be total: nothing comes out.
+        let mut f = PadFramer::new(0);
+        kinds_seen.clear();
+        f.feed(&quad, |kind, _| kinds_seen.push(kind));
+        assert!(kinds_seen.is_empty());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn framer_clear_drops_partials_only() {
+        let mut f = PadFramer::new(KIND_BIT_HAPTICS | KIND_BIT_SPEAKER);
+        let mut emitted = 0;
+        // 100 samples: no frame boundary reached yet.
+        f.feed(&vec![0.1; 100 * CAP_CHANNELS], |_, _| emitted += 1);
+        assert_eq!(emitted, 0);
+        f.clear();
+        // After the gap: exactly one haptics frame from 240 fresh samples — the 100 stale
+        // samples are gone (they would skew every later frame boundary).
+        f.feed(
+            &vec![0.2; HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES * CAP_CHANNELS],
+            |kind, frame| {
+                emitted += 1;
+                assert_eq!(
+                    (kind, frame.len()),
+                    (PAD_AUDIO_KIND_HAPTICS, 2 * HAPTICS_FRAME_SAMPLES)
+                );
+            },
+        );
+        assert_eq!(emitted, 1);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn host_cap_requires_the_client_bit() {
+        // Without CLIENT_CAP_PAD_AUDIO the answer is no on EVERY platform (on Windows the
+        // env + provisioning legs are environment-dependent — not unit-tested here).
+        assert!(!host_cap(0));
+        assert!(!host_cap(punktfunk_core::quic::CLIENT_CAP_CURSOR));
+    }
+}