diff --git a/htdocs/lib/AudioProcessor.js b/htdocs/lib/AudioProcessor.js
index f0a7025..3789608 100644
--- a/htdocs/lib/AudioProcessor.js
+++ b/htdocs/lib/AudioProcessor.js
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@ class OwrxAudioProcessor extends AudioWorkletProcessor {
         super(options);
         this.maxLength = options.processorOptions.maxLength;
         this.reduceToLength = options.processorOptions.reduceToLength;
-        this.audio_buffers = [];
+        // initialize ringbuffer, make sure it aligns with the expected buffer size of 128
+        this.bufferSize = Math.round(sampleRate * this.maxLength / 128) * 128
+        this.audioBuffer = new Float32Array(this.bufferSize);
+        this.inPos = 0;
+        this.outPos = 0;
         this.port.addEventListener('message', (m) => {
             if (typeof(m.data) === 'string') {
                 const json = JSON.parse(m.data);
@@ -11,48 +15,39 @@ class OwrxAudioProcessor extends AudioWorkletProcessor {
                     this.reportBuffers();
                 }
             } else {
-                this.audio_buffers.push(new Float32Array(m.data));
+                // the ringbuffer size is aligned to the output buffer size, which means that the input buffers might
+                // need to wrap around the end of the ringbuffer, back to the start.
+                // it is better to have this processing here instead of in the time-critical process function.
+                if (this.inPos + m.data.length <= this.bufferSize) {
+                    // we have enough space, so just copy data over.
+                    this.audioBuffer.set(m.data, this.inPos);
+                } else {
+                    // we don't have enough space, so we need to split the data.
+                    const remaining = this.bufferSize - this.inPos;
+                    this.audioBuffer.set(m.data.subarray(0, remaining), this.inPos);
+                    this.audioBuffer.set(m.data.subarray(remaining));
+                }
+                this.inPos = (this.inPos + m.data.length) % this.bufferSize;
             }
         });
         this.port.addEventListener('messageerror', console.error);
         this.port.start();
     }
     process(inputs, outputs, parameters) {
-        //console.time('audio::process');
+        const samples = Math.min(128, this.remaining());
         outputs[0].forEach((output) => {
-            let total = 0;
-            while (this.audio_buffers.length) {
-                const b = this.audio_buffers.shift();
-                const newLength = total + b.length;
-                const ol = output.length;
-                // not enough space to fit all data, so splice and put back in the queue
-                if (newLength > ol) {
-                    const tokeep = b.slice(0, ol - total);
-                    output.set(tokeep, total);
-                    const tobuffer = b.slice(ol - total, b.length);
-                    this.audio_buffers.unshift(tobuffer);
-                    break;
-                } else {
-                    output.set(b, total);
-                }
-                total = newLength;
-            }
+            output.set(this.audioBuffer.subarray(this.outPos, this.outPos + samples));
         });
-        //console.timeEnd('audio::process');
+        this.outPos = (this.outPos + samples) % this.bufferSize;
         return true;
     }
-    bufferLength() {
-        return this.audio_buffers.map(function(b){ return b.length; }).reduce(function(a, b){ return a + b; }, 0);
+    remaining() {
+        const mod = (this.inPos - this.outPos) % this.bufferSize;
+        if (mod >= 0) return mod;
+        return mod + this.bufferSize;
     }
     reportBuffers() {
-        var we_have_more_than = (sec) => {
-            return sec * sampleRate < this.bufferLength();
-        };
-        if (we_have_more_than(this.maxLength)) while (we_have_more_than(this.reduceToLength)) {
-            this.audio_buffers.shift();
-        }
-
-        this.port.postMessage(JSON.stringify({buffersize: this.bufferLength()}));
+        this.port.postMessage(JSON.stringify({buffersize: this.remaining()}));
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/htdocs/openwebrx.js b/htdocs/openwebrx.js
index 4eced94..1722b43 100644
--- a/htdocs/openwebrx.js
+++ b/htdocs/openwebrx.js
@@ -1586,8 +1586,6 @@ function audio_onprocess(e) {
     }
 }
 
-var audio_buffer_progressbar_update_disabled = false;
-
 var audio_buffer_total_average_level = 0;
 var audio_buffer_total_average_level_length = 0;
 
@@ -1596,8 +1594,11 @@ function audio_buffers_total_length() {
 }
 
 function audio_buffer_progressbar_update(reportedValue) {
-    if (audio_buffer_progressbar_update_disabled) return;
-    var audio_buffer_value = (reportedValue || audio_buffers_total_length()) / audio_context.sampleRate;
+    var audio_buffer_value = reportedValue;
+    if (typeof(audio_buffer_value) === 'undefined') {
+        audio_buffer_value = audio_buffers_total_length();
+    }
+    audio_buffer_value /= audio_context.sampleRate;
     audio_buffer_total_average_level_length++;
     audio_buffer_total_average_level = (audio_buffer_total_average_level * ((audio_buffer_total_average_level_length - 1) / audio_buffer_total_average_level_length)) + (audio_buffer_value / audio_buffer_total_average_level_length);
     var overrun = audio_buffer_value > audio_buffer_maximal_length_sec;
@@ -1609,14 +1610,7 @@ function audio_buffer_progressbar_update(reportedValue) {
     if (underrun) {
         text = "underrun";
     }
-    if (overrun || underrun) {
-        audio_buffer_progressbar_update_disabled = true;
-        window.setTimeout(function () {
-            audio_buffer_progressbar_update_disabled = false;
-            audio_buffer_progressbar_update();
-        }, 1000);
-    }
-    progressbar_set(e("openwebrx-bar-audio-buffer"), (underrun) ? 1 : audio_buffer_value, "Audio " + text + " [" + (audio_buffer_value).toFixed(1) + " s]", overrun || underrun);
+    progressbar_set(e("openwebrx-bar-audio-buffer"), audio_buffer_value, "Audio " + text + " [" + (audio_buffer_value).toFixed(1) + " s]", overrun || underrun);
 }
 
 
@@ -1748,8 +1742,7 @@ function audio_init() {
             }, audio_flush_interval_ms);
             audio_node.port.addEventListener('message', function(m){
                 var json = JSON.parse(m.data);
-                if (json.buffersize) {
-                    audio_buffer_progressbar_update_disabled = false;
+                if (typeof(json.buffersize) !== 'undefined') {
                     audio_buffer_progressbar_update(json.buffersize);
                 }
             });