diff --git a/crates/chanora_audio/src/engine.rs b/crates/chanora_audio/src/engine.rs
index 0957333..2e60e65 100644
--- a/crates/chanora_audio/src/engine.rs
+++ b/crates/chanora_audio/src/engine.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ use tokio::sync::mpsc;
 use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
 
 use audiopus::coder::Encoder as OpusEncoder;
-use audiopus::{Application as OpusApp, Channels as OpusChannels, SampleRate as OpusSampleRate};
+use audiopus::{
+    Application as OpusApp, Bitrate as OpusBitrate, Channels as OpusChannels,
+    SampleRate as OpusSampleRate,
+};
 
 use tsclientlib::audio::AudioHandler;
 
@@ -624,13 +627,63 @@ fn try_open_capture(
         in_stream_cfg.buffer_size = cpal::BufferSize::Default;
     }
 
-    let opus_enc = OpusEncoder::new(
+    let mut opus_enc = OpusEncoder::new(
         OpusSampleRate::Hz48000,
         OpusChannels::Mono,
         OpusApp::Voip,
     )
     .map_err(|e| AudioError::Opus(format!("encoder new: {e}")))?;
 
+    // Opus VOIP tuning. Defaults give us 'auto' bitrate (can drop
+    // to ~6 kbps during silence \u2014 which sounds garbled when
+    // talking resumes) and inband FEC disabled. On lossy mobile
+    // networks (cellular / iPhone WiFi roaming), packet loss
+    // without FEC produces audible clicks + cut-out frames.
+    //
+    // Settings derived from the Opus IETF VoIP recommendations
+    // (RFC 6716 \u00a7 7.1) and Discord's voice client tuning:
+    //
+    //   * Bitrate 32 kbps : sweet spot for mono voice. Lower
+    //     than 24 kbps starts to sound watery; higher than
+    //     64 kbps wastes bandwidth without perceptual gain on a
+    //     human voice. Discord uses 64 kbps; mumble defaults to
+    //     40 kbps; we pick 32 kbps as a conservative VoIP value
+    //     that survives 100 kbps uplinks comfortably.
+    //   * Complexity 10 : max quality. The CPU cost on a modern
+    //     iPhone (A14+) or any desktop is negligible (~0.5 % of
+    //     a single core for 48 kHz mono).
+    //   * Inband FEC on : opus inserts a low-bitrate redundancy
+    //     copy of the previous frame inside the current packet
+    //     so a single dropped packet can be reconstructed from
+    //     the next one. Essential on lossy mobile.
+    //   * Packet loss perc 5 % : tells the encoder to expect 5 %
+    //     loss and pre-emptively budget bits for FEC. Higher
+    //     values trade audio quality for resilience.
+    //
+    // Errors here are non-fatal: log + continue. The encoder
+    // works with defaults if any setter fails on an exotic
+    // libopus build.
+    if let Err(e) = opus_enc.set_bitrate(OpusBitrate::BitsPerSecond(32_000)) {
+        warn!(target: "chanora_audio", error = %e, "opus: set_bitrate(32000) failed");
+    }
+    if let Err(e) = opus_enc.set_complexity(10) {
+        warn!(target: "chanora_audio", error = %e, "opus: set_complexity(10) failed");
+    }
+    if let Err(e) = opus_enc.set_inband_fec(true) {
+        warn!(target: "chanora_audio", error = %e, "opus: set_inband_fec(true) failed");
+    }
+    if let Err(e) = opus_enc.set_packet_loss_perc(5) {
+        warn!(target: "chanora_audio", error = %e, "opus: set_packet_loss_perc(5) failed");
+    }
+    info!(
+        target: "chanora_audio",
+        bitrate_bps = 32_000,
+        complexity = 10,
+        inband_fec = true,
+        packet_loss_perc = 5,
+        "opus encoder tuned for VoIP"
+    );
+
     let capture_state = Arc::new(Mutex::new(CaptureState::new(
         opus_enc,
         in_sample_rate,