They both sound perfectly normal now. I like the quality of the C-1U. Further, I was able to apply our Audiobook Mastering tools and it passes ACX technical quality control right out of the gate.
I applied very gentle “Noise Reduction of the Beast” (6, 6, 6) and it’s good to go for submission almost anywhere, not just Audible.
I would have no trouble listening to a story in that voice.
One note. You should not be saying the “MP3 Word” anywhere in your production pathway. Export a WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit sound file of raw readings, and then again for your own personal Edit Master before shipping it off to a client. Then you make the MP3 if the client demands it (Audible/ACX) or to listen to the work on your personal music player while running on the beach.
Being professionally obsessive. I also applied “DeEsser” correction in the forum of Trebor’s DeSibilator.
This gets rid of the slightly harsh SS sounds in your reading. It returns them back to normal speech. Compare.
“To compile groupSS that were exSStremely resiSStent…”
I applied the tool at the default settings after mastering. I don’t think it makes any difference before or after Noise Reduction.
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/updated-de-clicker-and-new-de-esser-for-speech/34283/199
It’s much more smooth and pleasant In My Opinion.
Koz