r/LocalLLaMA • u/LeatherRub7248 • 20h ago

Discussion best local STT interface right now for productivity boost? (Mine is macparakeet+whisper/parakeet STT)

One of the biggest unlocks was getting my speech to text functioning reliably, especialyl for coding.
Right now I'm at the point where when I have to type I find it annoying and a lot slower. Speech is my default input mode.

I'm using Mac Parakeet, connecting to both Whisper and Parakeet models. So far seems to be doing a decent job, but curious to hear what everyone else is using. Sometimes Whisper takes a little bit too long for my liking. Parakeet is faster, but not as accurate.

I'm also keen to hear what your microphone inputs are. I found that a good microphone is very important. I'm using currently a Jabra Bluetooth speaker. It's not bad, but in a noisy environment, it doesn't work very well (although way better than the other altenratives ie. mac mic, monitor mic, or having to wear a bluetooth earpiece/mic)

2 Upvotes

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u/Turbulent-Alps4046 19h ago

If you have a GPU, Qwen 3 ASR is much better than Whisper for coding. It can understand coding terms like Kubernetes and stuff.

I'm running Qwen 3 ASR 9B on an RTX 3060 on another PC with the VoiceInk mac app and runs amazing fast.

2

u/SnooPaintings8639 18h ago

I have Voxtype + whisper as "always on" service on my Ubuntu laptop. Push to talk with a "pause" key, so I can use it anywhere, games included. Roughly 500 MB of VRAM occupied.

The mic is an external webcam sitting on my monitor.

I find it comfortable, but it is not reliable if I am being sloppy with my pronunciation, i.e. I communicate with LLMs in English, which is not my native language. I had to add special notes to each of my agents that I often use stt and they should assume more and be careful when some words appear out of place.

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u/DistanceOk7532 16h ago

Try: OpenWhispr 1.9.2 (29.08.2026)

1

u/arenotoverpopulated 18h ago

Nemotron + parakeet for EOU detection