Comparison

Discrete vs SUB/WAVE

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

Head to head
About

Discrete

A sleek and lightweight music player designed for Jellyfin servers. Enjoy your music library directly from your server with features like offline playback, playlist management, and CarPlay support. Optimized for minimal resource usage and a smooth user experience.

Highlights
  • Jellyfin server integration
  • Offline playback and downloads
  • CarPlay support
  • Playlist creation and management
  • Transcoding options
  • Background playback
  • Sleep timer
Features
Read full description

Discrete — lightweight, yet powerful and sleek music player for Jellyfin server. Use any Jellyfin instance you want to listen to your music directly from your server. Minimal RAM and storage usage, fast and smooth UI built with great attention to details, proper layouts for all your devices. Built with love for music, tech and UX. - astonishing, fully fledged support for CarPlay - downloads and transparent offline mode - works even in background - fast an reliable on unstable networks - original files or transcoded - displays progress on lock screen - playlists: - create, rename and delete playlists - add, remove and reorder items - transcoding options - off (stream original files) - auto - customized (fine tune yourself) - [paid, with lifetime available] multiple accounts - add as many accounts / servers as you want - build your playback queue with tracks from any account / server - seamless work throughout whole app - home page with discovery sections - glorious pages for your playlists, albums and artists - search in single view for any type of items - built-in sleep timer - lyrics Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

SUB/WAVE

Experience radio reborn with a single, shared audio stream. An AI DJ curates the music, provides commentary, and announces station IDs, creating a communal listening experience without playlists or algorithms. Enjoy seamless playback across devices and even request songs.

Highlights
  • AI DJ curates music and commentary
  • Single shared audio stream for all users
  • No playlist building or algorithmic personalization
  • Seamless playback with lock screen and CarPlay controls
  • Create and tune into custom SUB/WAVE broadcasts
  • Live visualizer and song information
  • Song and mood requests
Features
Read full description

Remember radio? One signal, everyone hearing the same song at the same moment. SUB/WAVE is that. No playlist to build, no algorithm studying you. You press play and join whatever's already on the air. A DJ runs the station. It's an AI, but it does what a good DJ does: picks the next track, reads the station ID, checks the weather, says something on the way into the song. It never just cuts between tracks in silence. Start it and you're live. Lock the phone, switch apps, get in the car, and it keeps playing, with controls on the lock screen, your headphones, and CarPlay. POINT IT AT ANY STATION It opens on the public station, but it'll play any SUB/WAVE broadcast. Run your own off your music library and paste the address to tune in. Saved a few? Switch between them whenever you like. WHAT'S IN IT • Now playing, with cover art and a live visualiser • The booth — every pick, station ID, and segment as it goes out • Timeline — scroll back through what's played • Requests — send the DJ a track or a mood, hear it answered on air • Schedule — what's coming up • Themes that recolour the whole app to match the station One stream. No skip. It's radio, not a playlist.

Screenshots

Discrete4 screens
SUB/WAVE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SUB/WAVE at none against Discrete's 3. SUB/WAVE also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). Discrete's advantage is ratings volume (40 vs 4) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Discrete sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. SUB/WAVE asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SUB/WAVE holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Discrete has 40 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Discrete's written reviews are positive against 100% of SUB/WAVE's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Discrete ships an update fortnightly, SUB/WAVE weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Discrete versus SUB/WAVE: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiscreteSUB/WAVE
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (40 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings40 — better4
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAleksandr OrlovPerminder Singh Klair

Customer experience

Discrete

All ratings40 ratings
Positive95.0%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews33 reviews
Positive90.9%
Neutral9.1%
Negative0.0%

SUB/WAVE

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Discrete

Subscriptions2
  • Discrete Pro [Monthly]$0.991 Month
  • Discrete Pro [Yearly]$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Discrete Pro [Lifetime]$19.99
None

SUB/WAVE

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Discrete free?
Discrete is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SUB/WAVE free?
SUB/WAVE is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Discrete or SUB/WAVE?
SUB/WAVE is rated higher. Discrete averages 4.7 out of 5 from 40 ratings, while SUB/WAVE averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Discrete or SUB/WAVE have ads?
Neither Discrete nor SUB/WAVE shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Discrete or SUB/WAVE?
Discrete ships an update fortnightly, and SUB/WAVE weekly. Most recently, Discrete was updated on October 12, 2026 and SUB/WAVE on October 1, 2026.

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