Two free tools, two completely different jobs
Auxfeed and SonoBus are both free tools that get audio out of your DAW and onto other devices. If you've searched for one and found the other, the comparison makes sense on the surface. But once you understand what each tool was actually built to do, the choice becomes obvious.
SonoBus is a multi-person real-time audio collaboration platform. Auxfeed is a DAW monitoring tool. They solve different problems, and setting up the wrong one wastes your afternoon.
What SonoBus Does
SonoBus — built and maintained by Jesse Chappell of Sonosaurus LLC — is designed for musicians who want to play together in real time across the internet. Think: a drummer in Austin and a guitarist in Berlin jamming together with low enough latency to feel musical.
It works as a standalone app on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, and also as a DAW plugin on desktop (AU and AAX on macOS; VST and AAX on Windows; AUv3 on iOS). Everyone in the session installs SonoBus and joins a shared group by name. From there, each participant's audio is streamed peer-to-peer to everyone else in the room.
The audio quality is genuinely impressive. SonoBus lets each participant dial in their own quality-versus-latency tradeoff using a jitter buffer, and supports everything from uncompressed PCM down to compressed Opus at various bitrates. It also ships with per-user compression, noise gating, EQ, and a master reverb — enough signal processing to make the session usable without opening another plugin.
SonoBus is free and open source. The community is active on Discord and Google Groups. For what it does — remote music collaboration — it's one of the most polished free tools available.
The catch: SonoBus is a two-way system. Everyone participating needs to install it and run it. That's a reasonable ask if you're jamming with another musician, but a high bar if someone just wants to listen to your mix.
What Auxfeed Does
Auxfeed is a DAW plugin that streams your mix to a phone or tablet in real time — one direction, no two-way collaboration required. You install the plugin in Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, or any AU/VST3/AAX host. The listener opens the free Auxfeed app on their iPhone or Android device. The stream appears automatically on the same Wi-Fi — no IP addresses, no group names, no configuration on either end.
The workflow Auxfeed is built for: you're mixing in your studio and you want to hear what the mix sounds like through phone speakers, earbuds, or Bluetooth headphones. Or a client is sitting on the couch and you want them to listen through their own device while you work. You press play, they press play, and you're both hearing the same mix in real time.
The free tier covers the essentials: PCM lossless streaming on Wi-Fi, auto-discovery, and EBU R128 metering (momentary LUFS, short-term, integrated, and true peak) in the app. Auxfeed Pro ($9.99/month or $79.99/year) adds remote streaming over the internet — useful for sending a listen link to a client across town — along with mid/side and mono monitoring, 3-band EQ, platform loudness targets, and LRA metering.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Auxfeed | SonoBus | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | DAW mix monitoring on a phone | Multi-person real-time audio collaboration |
| Direction | One-way (DAW → phone) | Two-way (all participants send and receive) |
| Who installs what | Engineer installs plugin; listener installs free app | Every participant installs SonoBus |
| DAW plugin formats | AAX, VST3, AU (macOS); AAX, VST3 (Windows) | AAX, AU, VST (macOS); AAX, VST (Windows); AUv3 (iOS) |
| Mobile apps | Native iOS and Android apps | Native iOS and Android apps (plus desktop standalone) |
| Setup on same Wi-Fi | Zero config — streams appear automatically | Enter a group name and password |
| Internet streaming | Auxfeed Pro (paid) | Free, built-in |
| Metering | EBU R128 (LUFS, true peak, LRA) in app | Level meters per participant |
| Price | Free (Wi-Fi); Pro at $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr | Free and open source |
When SonoBus Is the Right Choice
Use SonoBus when the goal is real-time collaboration between multiple musicians or audio contributors. It was built for this — and it does it well.
- You're organizing an online jam session and every participant has a computer
- You want desktop-to-desktop real-time audio with the lowest possible latency
- You need two-way audio — everyone sends and everyone receives
- You're routing audio into a stream or podcast alongside other contributors
- Everyone involved is comfortable installing audio software and adjusting buffer settings
When Auxfeed Is the Right Choice
Use Auxfeed when the goal is to hear your own mix — or share it for a listen — on a phone or tablet, with as little friction as possible.
- You want to check how your mix translates to phone speakers or earbuds while you work
- A client is in the room and wants to listen on their device without installing software
- You need real LUFS metering on the phone, not a simulation
- You're A/B referencing between your monitors and a consumer playback device in real time
- You need to share a live listen link with a remote client without asking them to configure audio software
Auxfeed is a one-way tool by design. There's no group session to configure, no latency tradeoff to explain to a client, and no requirement that the listener understand anything about audio routing. They open an app and hear the mix.
Can You Use Both?
Yes — and they don't compete much in practice. If you're running a remote jam session with SonoBus and want to check how the mix sounds on your phone's speakers, Auxfeed handles that side. The two tools operate on different layers of a typical studio workflow, and there's no reason not to keep both installed.
Try Auxfeed Free
Other Comparisons
For a complete guide to using your phone as a reference monitor while mixing, see Phone as Studio Monitor — The Engineer’s Guide.
The plugin is free. The iOS and Android apps are free. On the same Wi-Fi, there's nothing to sign up for and nothing to configure. Download Auxfeed at auxfeed.com and hear what your mix actually sounds like on a phone — not a simulation, the real thing.