Comparison

ABX vs MixRef Receiver

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

Head to head
About

ABX

Features
Read full description

Can you actually hear the difference between lossless and the streams you pay for? ABX finds out the fair way: blind, loudness-matched and scored with real statistics. STREAMING CHECK Pick a track and the services you want to test. ABX encodes the lossless original the way each service streams it (Spotify Premium, High and Normal, Apple Music, YouTube Music and SoundCloud), matches the loudness and hides which is which. You hear A, B and X, and decide whether X is A or B. At the end you get a plain answer: which streams you could hear, and which sounded lossless to you. A FAIR TEST • Loudness-matched, so volume can never give the answer away • Seamless 20 ms crossfades, so a click can't either • X is chosen at random for every guess, and services are shuffled together • Every verdict is a one-sided binomial test, and ABX tells you honestly when a score is consistent with guessing • Exclusive output on Mac takes sole control of your DAC and matches its sample rate HEARING TEST How high can you hear? An adaptive audiogram measures 13 tones from 250 Hz to 20 kHz in each ear. See every reading with a smoothed average, your highest tone in each ear and an indicative hearing age. Levels are relative to your headphones: it's for curiosity, not a medical test. YOUR RESULTS, EXPLAINED • A streaming map of what you can and can't hear • A summary written for you on your device by Apple Intelligence (on supported devices) • Free PDF reports and share cards with every setting and score LISTENING NIGHTS Run a session for your audio club, hi-fi store or friends. Name each listener, keep the same track and services for everyone, and get a group report showing who heard what. FREE, WITH ABX PRO Free: the hearing test, plus a full blind Streaming Check against SoundCloud's 64 kbps stream using the included public-domain recordings. ABX Pro is a one-time purchase, with no subscription. It unlocks: • Every streaming service in one blind session • Your own music: WAV, AIFF, FLAC or Apple Lossless, including hi-res • Advanced codec ladders: MP3, AAC, HE-AAC, Opus and Vorbis from 320 down to 32 kbps • Group sessions and group reports • 3 to 10 guesses per service, exact re-runs and exclusive output on Mac One purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Mac, and works with Family Sharing. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Encoding, playback, statistics and reports all run on your device. No accounts, no ads, no analytics. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and SoundCloud are trademarks of their respective owners. ABX isn't affiliated with them; each preset uses the service's published codec and bitrate.

About

MixRef Receiver

Features
Read full description

MixRef Receiver is the free companion app for the MixRef audio plugin. Stream your mix in real-time over Wi-Fi from your Mac DAW directly to your iPhone, then monitor on AirPods, Bluetooth speakers, or any iPhone-connected audio device. No bouncing, no cables, no waiting. Works with Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Digital Performer, and more.

Screenshots

ABX4 screens
MixRef Receiver1 screens

Verdict

The call

ABX and MixRef Receiver are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
ABX versus MixRef Receiver: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterABXMixRef Receiver
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB0 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNeil JohnsonDANIEL SHEA DENNIS

In-app purchases

None

ABX

No in-app purchases

None

MixRef Receiver

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ABX free?
ABX is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MixRef Receiver free?
MixRef Receiver is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ABX or MixRef Receiver have ads?
Neither ABX nor MixRef Receiver shows ads.

Other comparisons