Latency budget pipeline for a voice bot

Voice Bots in 2026: STT + TTS That Actually Ship (Performance-First, Open-Source Where It Counts)

Voice agents aren’t a model demo. They’re a latency + streaming systems problem. Here’s what’s current in STT/TTS (Pipecat, Parakeet MLX, modern TTS), how to evaluate it, and how to ship it without vibes.

February 10, 2026 · 6 min · 1213 words · Marco