How good is a  $10 AI audio tool compared to a $1000 AI audio tool?

We all want great audio at the click of a button. And so I’m gonna run these 4 tools ranging from $10 all the way to $1200, on some of the worst audio I could find. And see whether these tools are worth their price tags. 

Starting with this $10 tool,

Adobe Podcast’s Enhance Speech v2.

This tool is simple, which I liked. You drag your audio in, and it gives levers to tweak how much enhancement to apply to your audio, and how low to make the background noise.

Where this tool really shined is making the audio sound fantastic. I actually ran it on the first Youtube video ever uploaded on this platform, and checkout this before and after. 

Before:

After Adobe Podcast:

Still a bit muffled but you can totally make out what he’s saying now. A really big improvement.

But where it didn’t shine so bright is in breath Removal and dealing with Mouth Noises. 

You can see that here 

Before: Notice the Mouth click, Inhale, Exhale.

After Adobe Podcast Enhance: The mouth click, Inhale and Exhale are all still present.

It doesn’t do much of anything to improve the mouth sounds and exhales.

And here

Caution there is a swear word in this clip.

Before Notice chewing sounds around 0:07-0:13, 0:15-0:24. 0:24-0:30.

After Adobe Podcast Enhance: 0:07-0:13 mouth sounds are undetectable. 0:13-0:15 has some hint of chewing. 0:24-0:30 chewing and mouth sounds are completely audible.

(1-4 grading scale)	Adobe Podcast
Foreground vocal	3.16
BG noise suppression	3.66
Echo removal	4
Sigh/Inhale Removal	2.5
Mouth Noise Removal	2.5
Average	3.16

Auphonic

That contrasts massively with our next tool Auphonic which ranges from $13-$119 depending on your volume. 

After Auphonic:

Where Auphonic really shines is in it’s breath, and mouthe noise removal.

Before:

After Auphonic: Mouth click is gone, inhale is gone, exhale is gone. The audio is completely pristine of mouth sounds. Fantastic.

But in almost the reverse of Adobe Podcast, Auphonic didn’t shine as well when it came to simply improving audio quality. 

Before

After Auphonic: – Sample 2 – sounds a bit tinny, i don’t love how it came out, but it definitely transformed it

I don’t want to be too unfair to Auphonic, because there were some samples where audio quality was much improved too. But it was not as reliable as Adobe Podcast at this. 

(1-4 grading scale)	Auphonic
Foreground vocal	2.66
BG noise suppression	2.5
Echo removal	4
Sigh/Inhale Removal	4
Mouth Noise Removal	4
Average	3.43

Well what about these 2 higher priced tools? Do they give a more balanced performance than the cheaper tools?

Davinci Resolve Voice Isolate

After Davinci Resolve Voice Isolation

Davinci Resolve dialogue isolation can be bought for $295. Although you’re really paying for a suite of features related to both video and audio. Dialogue isolation only being one of them.

Davinci’s dialogue isolation was slightly better than Auphonic at improving the basic audio quality. But not as good as Adobe Podcast.

Voice Quality: Before w/Auphonic

Voice Quality: After Davinci Resolve Isolate – substantially better

Davinci Resolve was slightly better than Adobe podcast at addressing mouth noises.

It performed about the same as Adobe Podcast at removing breaths and inhales.

Mouth Noises: Before w/Adobe Podcast (which basically did nothing)

Mouth Noises: After Davinci Resolve Isolate – a very subtle improvement

So..it’s a bit more even keel, performing in the middle of the pack on both sides. But not really standing out in any way.

It has convenience by being bundled inside a really nice editing software. If you’re a Davinci user, you can just click this a button rather than having to go to a different website like with Adobe Podcast or Auphonic. 

Davinci also gives you a slider controlling how much enhancement is applied.

(1-4 grading scale)	Davinci
Foreground vocal	3
BG noise suppression	3.16
Echo removal	4
Sigh/Inhale Removal	2.5
Mouth Noise Removal	2.9
Average	3.11

And next we have the most interesting and expensive tool for last. 

Izotope RX11 Advanced Suite

Izotope RX11 Advanced, which you can get for $1200, although like many tools in this price range it’s often on sale for less.

Now if Davinci was a slightly more balanced tool than Auphonic or Adobe Podcast. Izotope RX11 takes that even further. 

After RX11 Advanced Suite:

It’s the second best at mouth noise removal behind Adobe Podcast.

Before

After RX11 Mouth Noise Removal

It’s the second best at sigh and breathe removal, also behind Adobe Podcast.

Before

After Sigh and De-breathe

And it does an adequate job at sweetening the vocal track and suppressing background noise. 

Before

After RX11 Sweetens Audio

What’s special about this tool is how targeted you can be.

You can target regions of the audio, and tackle particular problems in a fine grained way.

Using one of many different modules

It has a great mechanisms to preview changes, and to undo things. That way you can use your editor’s ear to pick out if your changes were good.

The depth of this tool is both a pro and a con, because it also has a deeper learning curve.

It’s not a one and done tool like the other three.

You’ve got alot of nobs to worry about, and it may take hours of using it before you’ve narrowed down to a strong workflow.

(1-4 grading scale)	RX11
Foreground vocal	2.83
BG noise suppression	3.5
Echo removal	4
Sigh/Inhale Removal	3
Mouth Noise Removal	3.16
Average	3.29

 

So what is the best tool out of these 4?

Auphonic has standout performance in ‘extras’ like sigh/breathe/inhale removal. But underperforms some of the other tools in basics of suppressing background noise and sweetening the vocals. 

Adobe Podcast is great for sweetening your vocals and suppressing some of your background noise. But underperforms with some of the ‘extra’ capabilities many of us need. 

And Davinci and RX11 have the additional benefit that they come with a full suite of other audio processing capabilities. Bu that doesn’t mean they’re in any way similar.

Because while Davinci gives some options to noise reduce and alter various things in your audio signal, it doesn’t have a targeted set of modules built in to fix everything from mouth clicks to removing breaths. Those things are all modules in RX11 Advanced.

RX11 has a much deeper learning curve than any of these other tools.

Conclusion:

In terms of cost to value, Auphonic wins, and Adobe Podcast is not far behind it.

If you’re trying to sweeten your audio quality, Adobe Podcast is better for that. While if you’re trying to remove breaths, or mouth noises, Auphonic is your best bet.

Davinci’s voice isolation tool is only worth it if you’re already a Davinci user. It’s not a good reason to invest in the Studio License.

But if you’re really serious about audio and are willing to invest some time and money. Then Izotope RX11 may be worth looking at. It certainly has a depth and diversity that might attract someone who’s really serious about their audio quality.

	RX11	Davinci	Auphonic (Best value)	Adobe Podcast (Runner up)
Foreground vocal	2.83	3	2.66	3.16
BG noise suppression	3.5	3.16	2.5	3.66
Echo removal	4	4	4	4
Sigh/Inhale Removal	3	2.5	4	2.5
Mouth Noise Removal	3.16	2.9	4	2.5
Average Rating	3.29 ($1200)	3.11  ($295)	3.43 ($13-$119/mo)	3.16 ($10/mo)

So best cost to value is Auphonic. With Adobe Podcast as a strong second. RX11 is for people who are very serious about their audio. Davinci Resolve voice isolation is only worth it if you’re already a Davinci Studio user.