Narrator bake-off

Temporary listening page · round 3 posted 7/29

Round 3: four real “How to read this” notes, with the Gemini 2.5 Flash/Iapetus test voice first and free local models after it. Every engine reads the exact same title, summary, and explainer text. Kokoro uses a neutral American preset. Chatterbox Turbo uses its built-in stock voice, with no voice clone, reference recording, or style prompt. The optional Qwen trial failed before producing audio and is not listed.

Round 3 · local annotation models

Spying on Morel at the Maineville brothel

Gemini 2.5 Flash · Iapetus (baseline) 2.0 min · American-register style prompt

Kokoro 82M · af_heart 2.0 min · neutral American preset, no style prompt

Chatterbox Turbo 4-bit · built-in stock voice 1.9 min · no style prompt, reference audio, or clone

Algebra at two in the morning

Gemini 2.5 Flash · Iapetus (baseline) 1.6 min · American-register style prompt

Kokoro 82M · af_heart 1.7 min · neutral American preset, no style prompt

Chatterbox Turbo 4-bit · built-in stock voice 1.5 min · no style prompt, reference audio, or clone

Why money has a colour

Gemini 2.5 Flash · Iapetus (baseline) 1.5 min · American-register style prompt

Kokoro 82M · af_heart 1.5 min · neutral American preset, no style prompt

Chatterbox Turbo 4-bit · built-in stock voice 1.4 min · no style prompt, reference audio, or clone

How jealousy enriches the mind

Gemini 2.5 Flash · Iapetus (baseline) 1.7 min · American-register style prompt

Kokoro 82M · af_heart 1.6 min · neutral American preset, no style prompt

Chatterbox Turbo 4-bit · built-in stock voice 1.5 min · no style prompt, reference audio, or clone

Round 2 changes: style prompt now demands a consistent American accent with French names in the “wine register” (Merlot: silent final consonant, English stress). Charon was too deep, so three lighter voices audition on P1. P3 appears both prompt-steered and lexicon-respelled (the model literally reads “Vair-duh-ran”, “Sant-oo-vairt”, “Frahnk-toh”) to compare the two levers.