Stereophile vs The Absolute Sound
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Stereophile
This app provides authoritative reviews, informed recommendations, and helpful advice on audio components, judged by their music reproduction quality. It offers monthly issues with expert opinions and insights for audiophiles.
- Authoritative reviews of audio components
- Informed recommendations
- Helpful advice for audiophiles
- Expert opinions on music reproduction
- Monthly magazine issues
Read full descriptionHide full description
Every month Stereophile magazine offers authoritative reviews, informed recommendations, helpful advice, and controversial opinions, all stemming from the revolutionary idea that audio components should be judged on how they reproduce music. ---SUBSCRIPTION AVAILABLE--- 1-year subscription for $9.99 Your subscription will be billed to your iTunes account upon confirmation of purchase. ---SUBSCRIPTION WILL AUTO-RENEW--- The subscription will include the current issue if you do not already own it and subsequently published future issues. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. This Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period, your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. The cost of the renewal will match the initial subscription price. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. You may turn off auto-renewing subscriptions by going to your user’s Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during your active subscription period. You can view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use here: http://www.avtechmediausa.com/terms.html http://www.avtechmediausa.com/privacy.html
The Absolute Sound
Explore expert reviews, features, and commentary on high-performance audio and music. This app guides enthusiasts to components and recordings that faithfully reproduce concert hall sounds. Access digital editions through purchases and subscriptions.
- Expert audio reviews
- Music journalism
- Component recommendations
- Concert hall sound reproduction
- Digital editions
- Subscription access
Read full descriptionHide full description
The Absolute Sound is the world’s preeminent source of expert reviews, features, and commentary on high-performance audio and music. Since 1973, TAS has set the standard for quality audio and music journalism, helping to shape the industry and guiding audio enthusiasts and music lovers to components and recordings that faithfully reproduce the sounds one might hear in a good concert hall. Download our app for free, and get access to your digital editions via a purchase. Available subscription: • 1 Year Subscription for US $9.99 Or single issues can be purchased for US $1.99 LATINA Attitude publishes every month. By subscribing, you’ll never miss an issue and each new issue will automatically be available for download to your device as soon as it is released. Please note the following: • Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period • You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period, for the same duration and at the current subscription rate for that product • You can manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription • The app may offer a free trial. At the end of the free trial period, the full price of the subscription will be charged thereafter • The subscription will include the current issue and subsequently published future issues. The subscription will still include the current issue even if that issue has been purchased separately. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase You can find our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use here: Privacy policy: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/privacy Terms of use: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Stereophile at 4.2 against The Absolute Sound's 2.9. Stereophile also leads on review sentiment (17% vs 6%). The Absolute Sound's advantage is monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. Stereophile sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and The Absolute Sound sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Stereophile holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 138 and 96 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 17% of Stereophile's written reviews are positive against 6% of The Absolute Sound's.
Stereophile ships an update every 2 months, The Absolute Sound every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Stereophile | The Absolute Sound |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (138 ratings) — better | 2.9 (96 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 17.1% of reviews — better | 6.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 138 — better | 96 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 85 MB | 79 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MyTimeMedia Ltd | Nextscreen Services, LLC |
Customer experience
Stereophile
The Absolute Sound
User reviews
Stereophile
From 138 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📖 High-quality magazine content and reviews
- 📱 Works well on iPad devices
- ✨ Professional layout resembles print edition
- 🎯 Comprehensive audio equipment coverage
Room to improve
- 🐛 App frequently crashes and becomes unresponsive
- 🔐 Subscription recognition failures despite active payments
- 📥 Issues fail to download or restore properly
- ⚠️ Inconsistent performance across iOS versions
- 🔄 Restore purchases function rarely works
The Absolute Sound
From 96 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great magazine content
Room to improve
- 🐛 App constantly not working
- 🐛 Subscription issues
- 🐛 Lost access to purchased issues
- 🐛 Login problems
- 🐛 App crashes
Bugs and requests
Stereophile
Reported bugs
14 issues- App crashes every few minutes during use
- Subscription not recognized despite active payment
- Issues fail to download or load
- Restore purchases function non-functional
- App won't open on latest iOS versions
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Lost access to entire library after app updates
- Login failures with valid credentials
- Pixelated and fuzzy page rendering
- Extremely slow page navigation and loading
- App forgets subscription status on reopening
- Duplicate charges on subscription renewal
- Incompatibility with iOS 8 and newer updates
- Pages partially load then crash
- Text illegible without zooming on smaller devices
Requested features
10 requests- Access to searchable article archive
- Availability of older back issues with subscription
- Dynamic formatting for landscape and portrait modes
- Working hyperlinks to advertisers and external sites
- Better text resizing and font adjustment options
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Reader mode similar to Safari for improved readability
- Ability to remember reading position between sessions
- Background download capability
- Retina display support and higher resolution
- iPad-optimized interface instead of PDF wrapper
The Absolute Sound
Reported bugs
47 issues- Perpetual spinning wheel
- App not working
- Constantly loses issues
- Latest update removed current issues
- App forgot subscription
Show 42 moreShow fewer
- Lost decades of issues
- Cannot restore purchases after update
- Cannot login to subscription
- Stopped working suddenly
- Username and password no longer work
- No support available
- Cannot access issues
- Blue background engages on page turn
- Terrible viewer
- Slow loading
- Refuses to load new issue
- Flashes between pages
- Gets stuck on a page
- Repeatedly sends to advertisers
- Requires credentials, won't accept Apple account info
- No means to reset password
- No means to connect to publisher
- Looks and feels amateurish
- App crashed again
- App not updated for 2 years
- App updated automatically, does not allow restore of app store/iTunes subscription
- New update locks subscription out
- Login not recognized
- New version is useless
- Cannot access any issues from several years of subscribing
- Suddenly don't have access to content
- Cannot log in
- App will not allow download of purchased mags
- App crashes
- App does not work
- Instantly crashes
- App keeps updating library
- App won't work
- App no longer works
- Lost all previous issues
- Updating library - never finishes
- Hangs on "updating library"
- App won't open on new iPad Pro
- App crashes when trying to open a new issue
- Cannot access purchased mags
- App does not remember subscriptions
- Request for advice ignored
Requested features
20 requests- Fix the app
- Make the app work
- Restore access to purchased issues
- Allow restoration of iTunes purchases
- Fix the perpetual spinning wheel
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Fix the login issues
- Improve customer support
- Update the app
- Fix the flashing text on page load
- Remove the blue background on page turn
- Provide a way to reset password
- Provide a way to connect to publisher
- Make the app less amateurish
- Allow downloading of purchased magazines
- Address the "updating library" issue
- Fix app crashes
- Allow access to old magazines
- Fix app not opening on new devices
- Make the app remember subscriptions
- Respond to help requests
In-app purchases
Stereophile
- 1 Month | Stereophile$2.991 Month
- Stereophile Magazine iPad Edition1 Month trial$9.991 Year
- Annual$0.99
- February 2012$6.99
- April 2012$6.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- June 2012$6.99
- October 2012$6.99
- December 2012$6.99
- October 2013$6.99
- 2016 Buyer's Guide$6.99
The Absolute Sound
- the absolute sound1 Month trial$9.991 Year
- 2022 November$1.99
- Issue 251$4.99
- Issue 257$4.99
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Issue 261$4.99
- Issue 263$4.99
- Issue 267$4.99
- Issue 271$4.99
- Issue 254$4.99
- Issue 262$4.99
Questions
Is Stereophile free?
Is The Absolute Sound free?
Which has better reviews, Stereophile or The Absolute Sound?
Do Stereophile or The Absolute Sound have ads?
Which is updated more often, Stereophile or The Absolute Sound?
Other comparisons















