SPL vs LivePlayback
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SPL
This professional-grade digital sound level meter measures decibels with advanced modes and filters meeting ANSI Type 1 standards. It allows storing, exporting, and calibrating measurements, and can be used with external calibrated microphones for precise results.
- Professional-grade digital sound level meter
- ANSI/IEC Type 1 standards compliant filters and modes
- Store, recall, and export GPS/time-stamped results
- Supports external calibrated microphones
- Adjustable calibration for accuracy
- Internal mic compensation filter
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SPL is a professional-grade digital sound level meter (decibel meter) for your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. It includes all of the modes, filters, and features that you would expect from a professional ANSI or IEC Sound Level Meter. All filters and averaging modes meet or exceed the criteria for ANSI Type 1 standards or better. SPL is created from the same team who brought you the Audio Toolbox and ATB Plus. Store Results -- Uses the same powerful Save / Recall engine as our premier app, AudioTools. Allows storing GPS and time-stamped results, and exporting them to your computer. You can also use SPL with our calibrated iPhone measurement mic, iTestMic, or iAudioInterface. The screen flips if you turn the phone upside down, so that you can point the built-in iPhone mic directly at the sound source. *** Modes: Slow, Fast, Impulse, Peak, and Leq. *** Filters: A and C weighting, and 10 octave band filters. *** Includes a resettable Max field to track the highest reading. *** Includes a reference field (except in Leq mode) so that you can set a reference level and do seat-to-seat comparisons. The SPL meter can be fully calibrated. It comes preset with the calibration for a typical iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Most iOS devices will be within a few dB of this reading. If you have access, even temporarily, to a calibrated sound level meter, just use the calibration field on the settings scree to match the meter, and you will be accurately calibrated. Also, see our other professional-grade audio apps: AudioTools, our premier suite of professional-caliber audio and acoustics test apps, Speaker Pop, to test speaker polarity, and RTA, a real-time analyzer for the iPhone. And, we have a group of calibrated, accurate measurement microphones, including iTestMic,iTestMic2, and iAudioInterface2, that allows full professional results for Type 1 or Type 2 measurements. This will allow measuring a range from approximately 30 dB SPL to 130 dB SPL. Each mic will include a calibration factor that you will enter into the SPL app for calibrated measurements. This mic will also work with Speaker Pop, our speaker polarity tester, FFT, RTA, ETC, and other acoustical measurement apps in our AudioTools app that is available now. Also, see our iAudioInterface2 system, which supports any pro test and measurement mic. Now includes an iPhone internal mic compensation filter, to cancel out the low-frequency roll-off present in the iPhone and other iOS devices. See our other audio apps, including AudioTools.
LivePlayback
This audio player is designed for live events, specifically for theatrical productions requiring precise track control. It allows users to set cue points for seamless transitions and offers flexible playback and repeat modes.
- Optimized for live event audio playback
- Stop playback after each track
- Add CUE points to jump to specific positions
- Multiple play modes (Continue All, Continue Cue, Continue OFF)
- Multiple repeat modes (Repeat OFF, Repeat One, Repeat CUE)
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Optimized audio player for live events. Especially for playbacks in musicals, where playback has to be stopped after each track. You can add CUE points to jump to chosen positions in the tracks. play-modes: (Continue All / Continue Cue / Continue OFF). repeat-modes: (Repeat OFF, Repeat One, Repeat CUE).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: LivePlayback at $4.99 against SPL's $8.99. LivePlayback also leads on iOS requirement (12.1 vs 15.0). SPL's advantage is update cadence (every 6 months vs every 16 months) and ratings volume (4 vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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
SPL costs $8.99 and LivePlayback $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.0 for SPL against 3.0 for LivePlayback. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 68% of SPL's written reviews are positive against 62% of LivePlayback's.
SPL ships an update every 6 months, LivePlayback every 16 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SPL | LivePlayback |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.99 | $4.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.0 (4 ratings) | 3.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 67.6% of reviews — better | 61.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months — better | Every 16 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andrew Smith | Benjamin Lange |
Customer experience
SPL
LivePlayback
In-app purchases
SPL
No in-app purchases
LivePlayback
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is SPL free?
Is LivePlayback free?
Which has better reviews, SPL or LivePlayback?
Do SPL or LivePlayback have ads?
Which is updated more often, SPL or LivePlayback?
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