diff --git a/Sources/AudioCommon/StreamingAudioPlayer.swift b/Sources/AudioCommon/StreamingAudioPlayer.swift
index 5be907eb..6e8d72d2 100644
--- a/Sources/AudioCommon/StreamingAudioPlayer.swift
+++ b/Sources/AudioCommon/StreamingAudioPlayer.swift
@@ -110,6 +110,14 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
     /// Number of samples written for external diagnostics.
     public var totalWrittenSamples: Int { totalWritten }
     private var totalRead: Int = 0
+    private var underflowEvents: Int = 0
+
+    /// Number of render callbacks that had to output silence while playback was active.
+    public var underflowCount: Int {
+        lock.lock()
+        defer { lock.unlock() }
+        return underflowEvents
+    }
 
     public private(set) var isPlaying = false
     private var playbackFinishedFired = false
@@ -118,6 +126,14 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
     /// Default 1.0s — sufficient for streaming TTS at RTF < 0.6.
     public var preBufferDuration: Double = 1.0
 
+    /// Optional silence prepended to the first audible chunk so CoreAudio starts from a stable zero signal.
+    /// Default 0 preserves existing playback latency for models that already start cleanly.
+    public var startupPrerollDuration: Double = 0
+
+    /// Fade-in applied to the first audible chunk to avoid a discontinuity from silence to waveform.
+    /// Default 5 ms preserves the previous first-chunk fade behavior.
+    public var startupFadeInDuration: Double = 0.005
+
     /// Callback when all audio has finished playing.
     public var onPlaybackFinished: (() -> Void)?
 
@@ -205,12 +221,13 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
             let rms = sqrt(sumSq / Float(samples.count))
             if rms < 0.005 { return }  // Only drop near-silence (codec init noise)
             isFirstChunk = false
-            // 5ms fade-in to prevent pop
+            // Start from explicit silence and fade in the first real waveform to prevent pops/clicks.
             if let fmt = format {
-                let fadeFrames = min(samples.count, Int(fmt.sampleRate * 0.005))
-                for i in 0..<fadeFrames {
-                    output[i] *= Float(i) / Float(fadeFrames)
-                }
+                output = Self.startupDeclick(
+                    samples,
+                    sampleRate: fmt.sampleRate,
+                    prerollDuration: startupPrerollDuration,
+                    fadeInDuration: startupFadeInDuration)
             }
         }
 
@@ -229,6 +246,30 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
         lock.unlock()
     }
 
+    static func startupDeclick(
+        _ samples: [Float],
+        sampleRate: Double,
+        prerollDuration: Double = 0,
+        fadeInDuration: Double = 0.005
+    ) -> [Float] {
+        guard !samples.isEmpty, sampleRate > 0 else { return samples }
+        var conditioned = samples
+        let fadeFrames = min(
+            conditioned.count,
+            max(2, Int((sampleRate * max(0, fadeInDuration)).rounded(.up))))
+        for i in 0..<fadeFrames {
+            let x = Float(i) / Float(max(fadeFrames - 1, 1))
+            let gain = x * x * (3 - 2 * x)
+            conditioned[i] *= gain
+        }
+        let prerollFrames = max(0, Int((sampleRate * max(0, prerollDuration)).rounded(.up)))
+        guard prerollFrames > 0 else { return conditioned }
+        var output = [Float](repeating: 0, count: prerollFrames)
+        output.reserveCapacity(prerollFrames + conditioned.count)
+        output.append(contentsOf: conditioned)
+        return output
+    }
+
     /// Write samples with resampling from sourceSampleRate to the player's rate.
     public func play(samples: [Float], sampleRate: Int) throws {
         guard let fmt = format else { return }
@@ -361,6 +402,7 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
         isFirstChunk = true
         totalWritten = 0
         totalRead = 0
+        underflowEvents = 0
         ringBuffer?.reset()
         lock.unlock()
     }
@@ -380,6 +422,7 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
         isFirstChunk = true
         totalWritten = 0
         totalRead = 0
+        underflowEvents = 0
         ringBuffer?.reset()
         lock.unlock()
         isPlaying = false
@@ -404,6 +447,7 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
         isFirstChunk = true
         totalWritten = 0
         totalRead = 0
+        underflowEvents = 0
         ringBuffer?.reset()
         lock.unlock()
         isPlaying = false
@@ -443,6 +487,11 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
                 // Zero-fill remainder if not enough
                 if read < frames {
                     dst.advanced(by: read).update(repeating: 0, count: frames - read)
+                    if !complete {
+                        self.lock.lock()
+                        self.underflowEvents += 1
+                        self.lock.unlock()
+                    }
                 }
                 self.lock.lock()
                 self.totalRead += read
@@ -458,6 +507,11 @@ public final class StreamingAudioPlayer: @unchecked Sendable {
             } else {
                 // Underflow — output silence, keep waiting for more data
                 dst.update(repeating: 0, count: frames)
+                if !complete {
+                    self.lock.lock()
+                    self.underflowEvents += 1
+                    self.lock.unlock()
+                }
             }
 
             return noErr
diff --git a/Tests/AudioCommonTests/StreamingAudioPlayerTests.swift b/Tests/AudioCommonTests/StreamingAudioPlayerTests.swift
index 9b71c2b4..638f1ab8 100644
--- a/Tests/AudioCommonTests/StreamingAudioPlayerTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/AudioCommonTests/StreamingAudioPlayerTests.swift
@@ -85,6 +85,44 @@ final class StreamingAudioPlayerTests: XCTestCase {
         // Without engine, can't truly test — but should not crash
     }
 
+    func testStartupDeclickDefaultDoesNotAddLatency() {
+        let input = [Float](repeating: 1, count: 100)
+        let output = StreamingAudioPlayer.startupDeclick(input, sampleRate: 1000)
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.count, input.count)
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.first ?? -1, 0, accuracy: 0.0001)
+        XCTAssertEqual(output[4], 1, accuracy: 0.0001)
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.last ?? 0, 1, accuracy: 0.0001)
+    }
+
+    func testStartupDeclickPrependsSilenceAndFadesFirstChunk() {
+        let input = [Float](repeating: 1, count: 100)
+        let output = StreamingAudioPlayer.startupDeclick(
+            input,
+            sampleRate: 1000,
+            prerollDuration: 0.010,
+            fadeInDuration: 0.020)
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.count, 110)
+        XCTAssertTrue(output.prefix(10).allSatisfy { $0 == 0 })
+        XCTAssertEqual(output[10], 0, accuracy: 0.0001)
+        XCTAssertGreaterThan(output[29], 0.99)
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.last ?? 0, 1, accuracy: 0.0001)
+    }
+
+    func testStartupDeclickCanDisablePreroll() {
+        let input = [Float](repeating: 1, count: 10)
+        let output = StreamingAudioPlayer.startupDeclick(
+            input,
+            sampleRate: 1000,
+            prerollDuration: 0,
+            fadeInDuration: 0.004)
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.count, input.count)
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.first ?? -1, 0, accuracy: 0.0001)
+        XCTAssertEqual(output.last ?? 0, 1, accuracy: 0.0001)
+    }
+
     func testEmptyChunkIgnored() {
         let player = StreamingAudioPlayer()
         player.scheduleChunk([])