As a long-time Audible subscriber, I’d estimate that I skip 1 in 3 books because of the narrator’s voice or bad recording setup.

My main reason of returning or not listening to audiobooks, be it with Audible or competitors, has been either a) a whiny or nasal voice, or, b) a strong accent that i dislike (e.g. strong British or Australian accent).

I have found myself finding more new books by checking which other books a specific narrator has voiced, rather than finding a book I want to listen to and hoping for a good narrator.

/rant i guess

Ah - I have probably listened to maybe 8-10 audiobooks and all ones that have been recommended to me as excellent. I guess I just assumed that that’s what audiobooks are like, which I guess doesn’t make sense.