diff --git a/.changeset/dynamic-speech-to-text-models.md b/.changeset/dynamic-speech-to-text-models.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ebe68f79133
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/dynamic-speech-to-text-models.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"kilo-code": patch
+---
+
+Use NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 as the default speech-to-text model while retaining dynamic model discovery and offline fallback support.
diff --git a/packages/kilo-vscode/src/speech-to-text/models.ts b/packages/kilo-vscode/src/speech-to-text/models.ts
index effa6cafb80..4923c127fd8 100644
--- a/packages/kilo-vscode/src/speech-to-text/models.ts
+++ b/packages/kilo-vscode/src/speech-to-text/models.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ export interface SpeechToTextModelDef {
 }
 
 const models: SpeechToTextModelDef[] = [
+  {
+    id: "nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3",
+    label: "Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3",
+    provider: "NVIDIA",
+  },
   {
     id: "openai/whisper-large-v3-turbo",
     label: "Whisper Large V3 Turbo",
@@ -38,11 +43,6 @@ const models: SpeechToTextModelDef[] = [
     label: "Chirp 3",
     provider: "Google",
   },
-  {
-    id: "nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3",
-    label: "Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3",
-    provider: "NVIDIA",
-  },
 ]
 
 export const SPEECH_TO_TEXT_MODELS: readonly SpeechToTextModelDef[] = models
diff --git a/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-catalog.test.ts b/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-catalog.test.ts
index a4e0a8029f8..ab736c631e0 100644
--- a/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-catalog.test.ts
+++ b/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-catalog.test.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,6 @@ describe("speech-to-text discovery", () => {
   it("rejects empty or malformed catalogs so callers can use the static fallback", () => {
     expect(parseSpeechToTextCatalog([])).toBeUndefined()
     expect(parseSpeechToTextCatalog({ data: [] })).toBeUndefined()
-    expect(DEFAULT_SPEECH_TO_TEXT_MODEL.id).toBe("openai/whisper-large-v3-turbo")
+    expect(DEFAULT_SPEECH_TO_TEXT_MODEL.id).toBe("nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3")
   })
 })
diff --git a/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-models-sync.test.ts b/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-models-sync.test.ts
index 936d23ee182..21ace0c4964 100644
--- a/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-models-sync.test.ts
+++ b/packages/kilo-vscode/tests/unit/speech-to-text-models-sync.test.ts
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import {
 } from "../../src/speech-to-text/models"
 
 describe("speech-to-text model catalog", () => {
-  it("uses Whisper Large V3 Turbo as the fallback default", () => {
-    expect(DEFAULT_SPEECH_TO_TEXT_MODEL.id).toBe("openai/whisper-large-v3-turbo")
+  it("uses NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 as the fallback default", () => {
+    expect(DEFAULT_SPEECH_TO_TEXT_MODEL.id).toBe("nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3")
     expect(DEFAULT_SPEECH_TO_TEXT_MODEL.id).toBe(SPEECH_TO_TEXT_MODELS[0]?.id)
   })