Really depends on the narrator. Some are actual accomplished stage actors who invest a lot of preparatory time into the book they narrate, developing the sound of each character and reading between the lines to extract the right emotional cadence for their speech in the scene. John Lee is one of my favorites in this regard:

http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/narrators/john-lee/

Listening to these audiobooks at anything other than 1x diminishes the result.