Comparison

ET vs Sonofield Ear Trainer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

ET

Enhance your musical ear with interactive exercises designed for musicians of all levels. Practice active and passive hearing through a variety of drills, including interval recognition, chord identification, and melodic imitation using your instrument or voice. The app offers a unique dialogue feature with integrated voicing generation for accurate feedback.

Highlights
  • Active and passive hearing exercises
  • Microphone-based instrument/voice feedback
  • Integrated voicing generator for chords
  • Customizable educational guidance
  • Over 280 achievements and score publishing
  • Support for over 40 scales and 140 chord progressions
Features
Read full description

Yet another ear-training app? Well, this one is different! Playing jazz, pop and improvised music means being able to quickly recognize and replay what you hear. Although this app began as an ear-training tool for students of jazz and pop at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), it is also intended for musicians playing in other styles, and at all levels. It was developed by Swiss IT specialist and jazz trumpeter Daniel Schenker, professor at ZHdK, in collaboration with his son Elia. How it works The app offers a host of ear-training exercises, many of them quite enjoyable, all designed to enhance both active and passive hearing. Active hearing means reproducing what you have heard on an instrument or with your voice, while passive hearing refers to the ability to identify such things as the scales, triads and four-note-chords, tensions and slash chords, on which active hearing is based. One of the features that make our app so special is the fact that its microphone enables a sort of dialogue between the app and the musician – whether on voice, brass and reed instruments, guitar, piano or electric bass. Unlike other apps, this one uses an integrated voicing generator to ensure that the chords played (position, voicing) correspond to the actual performance situation. In addition, the app uses a detailed educational guidance system, which allows users to individually customize the exercises. You can obtain over 280 achievements. Compete with other users and publish your high scores and trophies!   Active exercises (microphone) - Five-tone range imitation, major and minor: suitable for younger students or amateurs - Diatonic imitation: reproduction of notes in a particular key, vocally or on an instrument - Atonal imitation: improvement of relative or referential hearing - Tone sequences (2 - 6 tones) - Intervals - Resolution game: technique for the improvement of downward interval singing or playing - Bass imitation exercises: double bass notes and root notes of various chords are to be reproduced vocally or on an instrument, a central skill that is often underdeveloped - Sing or replay chord tensions (e.g. #9, b13) - Scales sandbox: imitation practice in tonal spaces from over 40 different scales - Tonal memory game   Passive exercises (identification practice) - Intervals / Interval series - Triads/four-note-chords in root position and inversion; top note positions - Four-note-chords with one tension (17 types) and with two tensions (15 types) - All 12 major and minor triads above a root note (slash chords/hybrids) - Identification of scales, modes and over 140 jazz, pop and classical chord progressions Depending on the setting, the chords can also be played arpeggiated. The app supports Bluetooth MIDI (iPhones only).   For whom is the app intended? - Singers both amateur and professional who want to incorporate (noteless) ear training exercises into their practice programme. - Musicians in primary and secondary school, musicians and singers preparing for university entrance exams (practical theory), and conservatory students - Musicians and singers of all genres, especially jazz/pop/rock, who want to freshen up or expand their chord vocabulary - Brass players: control in mouthpiece exercises (buzzing)

About

Sonofield Ear Trainer

This app helps musicians develop their ear by focusing on the feeling of individual notes within a key, rather than traditional interval training. It uses sustained drones and offers various modes like identifying scale degrees, melodies, and singing exercises. The app adapts to your skill level with an intuitive interface and progression path.

Highlights
  • Feeling-based note recognition
  • Scale degree identification
  • Melody recognition training
  • Singing exercises
  • Hands-free training mode
  • Interactive exploration instrument
Features
Read full description

Sonofield Ear Trainer (SET) is a revolutionary ear training app designed to help you intuitively play the melodies you hear and imagine. Instead of relying on traditional old methods like intervals, SET focuses on helping you feel the unique character of each note within a key. By using sustained drones to create a tonal foundation, you’ll learn to recognize scale degrees based on their *feeling*, not just how they sound. The app offers a variety of ways to train: * Degrees Mode - Identify individual notes against the drone by feeling. The heart of SET. * Melody Mode - Identify short melodic phrases, preparing you for real music. * Voice Mode - Sing the requested scale degree into your microphone. * Pocket Mode - Hands-free training for when you're on the go. * Free Play - An interactive instrument for exploration. With its intuitive, color-coded interface, thoughtfully designed progression path, and multiple difficulty levels, SET adapts to your skill level while keeping practice engaging. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced musician, SET is your guide to unlocking true musical fluency through intuitive, feeling-based ear training. No ads or forced payments. The free version contains full foundations for feeling-based ear training. Download the ear training app now!

Screenshots

ET4 screens
Sonofield Ear Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sonofield Ear Trainer at Free against ET's $5.99. Sonofield Ear Trainer also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (376 vs 2). ET's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5). On rating, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Sonofield Ear Trainer is free to download; ET costs $5.99 up front. Sonofield Ear Trainer sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. ET asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for ET against 4.9 for Sonofield Ear Trainer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sonofield Ear Trainer has 376 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ET ships an update every 2 months, Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 15, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ET versus Sonofield Ear Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterETSonofield Ear Trainer
Price$5.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.9 (376 ratings)
Positive reviews—88.7% of reviews
Number of ratings2376 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size97 MB105 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel SchenkerSonofield Ear Trainer Education Ltd.

Customer experience

ET

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Sonofield Ear Trainer

All ratings376 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews151 reviews
Positive88.7%
Neutral6.6%
Negative4.6%

Bugs and requests

ET

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Sonofield Ear Trainer

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • None reported

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to switch between 12TET and just intonation
  • Ability to reduce octave range
  • Incorporate more timbre options for drone and notes
  • Tracking and visualization of progress and learned skills
  • Add interactive tutorial for level 1

In-app purchases

None

ET

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Sonofield Ear Trainer

One-time4
  • Lifetime Pro$14.99
  • Lifetime Pro$17.99
  • Lifetime Pro2 variants$19.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Pro$24.99

Questions

Is ET free?
ET costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sonofield Ear Trainer free?
Sonofield Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ET or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
ET is rated higher. ET averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Sonofield Ear Trainer averages 4.9 from 376 ratings.
Do ET or Sonofield Ear Trainer have ads?
Neither ET nor Sonofield Ear Trainer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ET or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
ET ships an update every 2 months, and Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. Most recently, ET was updated on September 15, 2026 and Sonofield Ear Trainer on September 24, 2026.

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