I like Voice Dream Reader. I don't know how the voice compares to Natural Reader, but it does emphasize words and pronounce things differently based on context-cues. But those context cues are like periods and commas and stuff.
I find I stay approximately as engaged when listening to Voice Dream Reader when compared to an audiobook or someone reading stuff, but this could be an effect of having listened to several days worth of content via it.
Double checking you used "plus" voices and not just "premium" on Natural Reader? Plus still has issues but is much better than premium.
For me, the physical act of scanning words takes active focus compared to the analogue in listening, which is automatic. (I don't think my comprehension or engagement is lower when listening, to be clear).
I've tried the naturalreaders.com 'pro' version, but experienced a few issues:
As a result, I think my brain doesn't register this AI-read text as 'something to listen to,' so it takes some active focus to continue listening, and eventually my focus shifts to something else while the audio keeps playing in the background. This does not happen with human-read text.
Anyone who can help me with this might have a high potential impact, since I'd be listening to text for a large portion of my day and am trying to use myself to do everything I can to help with alignment.