Comparison

Ear Training L2 vs Riffshed

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

Head to head
About

Ear Training L2

Explore and internalize musical intervals and triads with this interactive ear training app. It features a visual tower diagram of diatonic chords, allowing you to hear individual tones and combinations against a vocal drone. Includes a challenging test mode to assess your progress.

Highlights
  • Interactive chord tower diagram
  • Vocal drone with adjustable mix
  • 12 tonal centers and 5 modes
  • Visual voice-leading connections
  • Offline functionality
  • Challenging test mode with 5 levels
Features
Read full description

The Tower is a drone-based ear training app for exploring and internalizing intervals and triads. It presents the seven diatonic chords as an interactive tower diagram where you can tap individual chord tones and hear them singly or in combination against a sustained vocal drone. To see how your ear training is coming along, the app includes a fun and challenging test mode with 5 levels: 3rds, 6ths, 4th & 5ths, Root Position Triads, Inversions Features: 12 tonal centers (all keys) 7 modes: Major, Mixolydian, Lydian, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, Dorian, Phrygian 7 diatonic chords with voice-leading connections displayed visually Snapshot - capture and navigate between up to 10 states MIDI Visualizer - see what you play displayed Male and female choirs Real acoustic cello Adjustable drone/chord mix balance Function and note name label modes Works offline — no internet required How it works: Start the drone, then tap spheres in the tower to hear chord tones. Tap lines to follow voice leading paths. The tower diagram shows how intervals and chords interconnect through voice leading. Switch between chord pairs using the bottom panel. Toggle between solfege function labels and note names to build your understanding from both angles. Test Mode: Start drone, choose levels, then begin. Listen to the tones played, click the corresponding tones to select. When the timer runs out, you’ll receive feedback as to the accuracy of your selections. There are 10 questions per round. 5 levels in Tower Test Mode: 1) 3rds 2) 6ths 3) 4ths & 5ths. 4) Root Position Triads 5) Chord Inversions Level 2 of Ear Training in The Mandala L1 — The Fan & The Curtain (simple intervals) L2 — The Tower (intervals, chords, and connections) L3 — The Moons (chords and chord progressions)

About

Riffshed

This app helps musicians improve their practice by focusing on deliberate repetition and structured work blocks. It includes a metronome, sheet music viewer, and links to music streaming services, all designed to enhance focused instrumental practice.

Highlights
  • Rep-based practice tracking
  • Focus-block timer
  • Built-in metronome
  • Sheet music integration
  • Links to streaming services
  • Curated starter libraries
Features
Read full description

Riffshed is a practice journal for jazz musicians, built on the card system. See whether you're actually getting better — or just spending more time with the instrument. THREE PHASES. ONE CARD. Every exercise is a card that moves through three phases — Explore, Integrate, Master — each with its own color and rep counter. You decide when a card is ready to move forward; Riffshed remembers when it did and how long it stayed in each phase. REPS, NOT MINUTES A timer rewards sitting with the instrument. A rep counter rewards doing the work: running a phrase through twelve keys, taking a head clean. Minutes are still tracked — but reps are the unit you optimize. FOCUS BLOCKS A 20/5 focus cycle tuned for instrumental practice: twenty minutes on one card, five minutes of mandatory break. Both intervals are configurable; the open-ended mode drops the clock entirely for jams and lessons. START FROM ANYWHERE (new in 1.1) A Home Screen widget starts a session in one tap and shows today's minutes, your streak and the weekly goal. The live timer follows you to the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island — pause and finish without unlocking; the session saves itself. Map practice to the Action Button, ask Siri, or add a Control Center switch. A METRONOME YOU'LL ACTUALLY USE Full-screen metronome with pendulum, subdivisions and swing. Configure click and accent per beat and per subdivision: silence the "and" of 2, accent any sixteenth, build polyrhythm grids. EVERYTHING LIVES IN THE CARD Notes, target tempo, separate rep counters per phase, PDF sheet music that opens full-screen (pages flip with a swipe while the metronome keeps playing), and one-tap links out to iReal Pro, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and more. SEE A YEAR OF WORK A calendar heatmap of your practice. Tap any day to see what you played, for how long, and which cards moved forward. CURATED LIBRARIES TO START Jazz Piano Fundamentals (67 cards ordered by difficulty) and iReal Pro — Essential Standards (30 standards with deep links) are pre-installed. Build your own libraries, or import a curriculum a teacher shared as a single file. YOUR DATA IS YOURS Fully offline. Full JSON backup including scores. Library export and import in one tap. No account, no ads. Free. Built for daily practice — for iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Ear Training L24 screens
Riffshed4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Riffshed at Free against Ear Training L2's $7.99. Riffshed also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days). Ear Training L2's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Riffshed is free to download; Ear Training L2 costs $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Ear Training L2 against 5.0 for Riffshed. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ear Training L2 ships an update every 5 days, Riffshed every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Ear Training L2 versus Riffshed: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEar Training L2Riffshed
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaul RussellAnton Rozhkovskiy

Customer experience

Ear Training L2

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Riffshed

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Ear Training L2

No in-app purchases

None

Riffshed

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ear Training L2 free?
Ear Training L2 costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Riffshed free?
Riffshed is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Ear Training L2 or Riffshed?
Ear Training L2 and Riffshed are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Ear Training L2 or Riffshed have ads?
Neither Ear Training L2 nor Riffshed shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ear Training L2 or Riffshed?
Ear Training L2 ships an update every 5 days, and Riffshed every 2 days. Most recently, Ear Training L2 was updated on October 6, 2026 and Riffshed on October 9, 2026.

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