From 5662dafe978609e8516e43d1bd97924ab0df1bba Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Frank Stellmacher <171614930+Psychotoxical@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 2 May 2026 21:37:15 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] docs(changelog): backfill #426 Windows stutter fix entry
 (#428)

PR #426 was merged earlier today without a CHANGELOG entry; adding it
under [1.45.0] / Fixed retroactively. From now on the entry should ship
inside the PR itself rather than as a follow-up commit on main.
---
 CHANGELOG.md | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2bed3e0c..b7cc2972 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -126,6 +126,8 @@ Saving uses the native OS save dialog — no silent dump into Downloads, the use
 
 - **Track preview audio in sync with progress ring; huge files no longer abort** *(Issue [#421](https://github.com/Psychotoxical/psysonic/issues/421), PR [#423](https://github.com/Psychotoxical/psysonic/pull/423), by [@Psychotoxical](https://github.com/Psychotoxical))*: Previews used to start audio about 25 % into the preview window on mid-track starts because `Sink::try_seek` ran in parallel with `sink.append` while the 30 s `take_duration` cap was already counting wall-clock from append. The seek now runs on the bare source before append, and the progress-ring animation only starts once the engine actually emits `audio:preview-start` — a small loading spinner is shown during the download/decode/seek warmup. The preview HTTP-client timeout was raised from 30 s to 5 min, so multi-hundred-megabyte Hi-Res files no longer abort the download mid-fetch.
 
+- **Windows playback stutter under GPU load** *(Issue [#334](https://github.com/Psychotoxical/psysonic/issues/334), PR [#426](https://github.com/Psychotoxical/psysonic/pull/426), by [@Psychotoxical](https://github.com/Psychotoxical))*: Audio could stutter and crackle on Windows whenever another app put GPU/CPU pressure on the system (browser, 3D apps, games). The WASAPI render thread is now promoted to MMCSS "Pro Audio" via `AvSetMmThreadCharacteristicsW`, so it survives priority contention from competing graphics work. Reproed and validated under a Half-Life parallel-load stresstest. Companion mitigations for high-GPU situations: cosmetic UI animations now pause when the window loses OS focus, and a new **Reduce animations** toggle in **Settings → Appearance** caps animated seekbar styles (pulsewave, particletrail, liquidfill, retrotape) to 30 fps for users on GPU-constrained machines (off by default).
+
 
 
 ## [1.44.0] - 2026-04-29