Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime vs Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime vs Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime at a glance

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime and Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime are both Alibaba Cloud models in the Audio Generation category, available through the EmpirioLabs API.

Key differences

• Both models have a context window of 192K tokens.
• Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime lists the lower rate for Input: audio (per 1M audio input tokens) and Input (per 1M prompt tokens).

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime vs Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime: specs

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime vs Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime: API pricing

Live rates from the EmpirioLabs catalog for both models. Each rate card always matches what the API charges.

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime vs Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime: API parameters

Request parameters each model lists on EmpirioLabs, with the allowed values or range where one applies. A dash marks a parameter the model does not list.

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime vs Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime: limits and notes

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime

Connecting

Full-duplex voice over a WebSocket at wss://api.empiriolabs.ai/v1/realtime?model=qwen3-8-omni-flash-realtime, authenticated with the ordinary Authorization Bearer header. Configure the session with session.update over the socket: voice, instructions, modalities, turn detection, sampling and the reply length limit, max_response_output_tokens.

Sending audio and video

• Append microphone audio as input_audio_buffer.append events.
• Append live video frames as input_image_buffer.append events. Frames are not message content, so an image inside a conversation item is rejected.
• Set video_representation_compact to normal before the first audio to read the same frames for a quarter of the input tokens.
• Voice activity detection decides when you have stopped speaking, so keep streaming for about a second after the speech ends.

Voices

The voices on this model are not the same set as the Qwen3.5 Omni realtime models. Pick one from the voice list rather than carrying a voice across, or leave it unset and the default is supplied for you.

Billing

Audio and text tokens are priced separately in both directions, and each completed turn is billed on its own from the usage the model reports.

Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime

Full-duplex voice over a WebSocket at wss://api.empiriolabs.ai/v1/realtime?model=qwen3-5-omni-flash-realtime, authenticated with the ordinary Authorization Bearer header. Configure the session with session.update over the socket: voice, instructions, modalities, turn detection, sampling and the reply length limit, max_response_output_tokens. Send camera or video frames as JPEG images with input_image_buffer.append, after the first audio. This model's voices differ from the earlier Omni generation, so set one it accepts or leave the default; an unknown voice ends the session rather than returning an error. Text and audio tokens are priced separately, a spoken reply is billed for its audio output tokens only, and each completed turn is billed on its own from the usage the model reports.

How to call Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime and Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime holds a live conversation over a WebSocket at wss://api.empiriolabs.ai/v1/realtime?model=qwen3-8-omni-flash-realtime, not over the HTTP endpoints. Connect with the model id qwen3-8-omni-flash-realtime and send your EmpirioLabs API key as an Authorization: Bearer header on the handshake. Audio travels both ways as base64 16-bit PCM. A browser cannot set headers on a WebSocket, so open this connection from your server and relay audio to the browser over your own socket. Both models are called through the same endpoint. Set model to qwen3-8-omni-flash-realtime or qwen3-5-omni-flash-realtime. Get an API key from the EmpirioLabs dashboard.

import asyncio, json, os, websockets

async def main():
    async with websockets.connect(
        "wss://api.empiriolabs.ai/v1/realtime?model=qwen3-8-omni-flash-realtime",
        additional_headers=[
            ("Authorization", f"Bearer {os.environ['EMPIRIOLABS_API_KEY']}"),
        ],
        max_size=None,
    ) as ws:
        print(json.loads(await ws.recv())["type"])  # session.created

        await ws.send(json.dumps({
            "type": "conversation.item.create",
            "item": {
                "type": "message",
                "role": "user",
                "content": [{"type": "input_text", "text": "Say hello."}],
            },
        }))
        await ws.send(json.dumps({"type": "response.create"}))

        async for raw in ws:
            event = json.loads(raw)
            if event["type"] == "response.audio.delta":
                ...  # base64 audio chunk, append to your playback buffer
            elif event["type"] == "response.done":
                break

asyncio.run(main())

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime vs Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime: common questions

What is the difference between Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime and Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime?

Both models have a context window of 192K tokens. Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime lists the lower rate for Input: audio (per 1M audio input tokens) and Input (per 1M prompt tokens). The specs, rate cards, and parameters on this page come from the live EmpirioLabs catalog.

Which has the lower rate, Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime or Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime?

Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime lists the lower rate for Input: audio (per 1M audio input tokens) and Input (per 1M prompt tokens). Both live rate cards are on this page and always match what the API charges.

Can I switch between Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime and Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime without rebuilding my integration?

Yes. Both models use WEBSOCKET /v1/realtime with the same EmpirioLabs API key, so most integrations switch by changing the model value. Check the parameters table on this page first if you rely on a model-specific parameter.

Can I try Qwen3.8 Omni Flash Realtime and Qwen3.5 Omni Flash Realtime in the browser before integrating?

Yes. Open each model in the EmpirioLabs playground and press Start session to try it in your browser.