Credit to @neil's blog I finally figured out you CAN set the audio delay on #VLC Android. It even lets you bind the delay to a Bluetooth device.
https://neilzone.co.uk/2025/07/fixing-out-of-sync-audio-when-using-vlc-on-android-with-bluetooth-headphones/

The funny thing about having a background in rhythm games is that it's normal to tweak the offset by only 5ms. So, it's mildly infuriating that VLC can only do 50ms adjustments and my earbuds are somewhere between -200ms and -250ms. #audio