diff --git a/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c b/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c
index 400484cf3..d2041ac50 100644
--- a/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c
+++ b/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c
@@ -2015,8 +2015,8 @@ static int get_avail(struct state *state, uint64_t current_time, snd_pcm_uframes
 
 			spa_log_trace_fp(state->log, "%"PRIu64" %"PRIu64" %"PRIi64, current_time, then, diff);
 
-			if (SPA_ABS(diff) < state->threshold) {
-				*delay += diff;
+			if (SPA_ABS(diff) < state->threshold * 3) {
+				*delay += SPA_CLAMP(diff, -state->threshold, state->threshold);
 				state->htimestamp_error = 0;
 			} else {
 				if (++state->htimestamp_error > MAX_HTIMESTAMP_ERROR) {