If you're a native speaker listening to native speakers, you can probably easily do 2x after a few hours of getting used to it.
If you're listening to someone with an accent you might have to slow it down a lot.
Likewise if your audio quality isn't very good or if you're concentrating too much on another task.
E.g. when I'm walking in familiar neighborhoods 2.7x is easy but when the area is even somewhat unfamiliar I either slow it down to 1.x or turn it off, because I suddenly find it hard to grok the content.
I first started speeding up my podcasts when I heard that blind people can listen above 4x ~ 6x speed without missing a beat.
This is an optimization I am happy to live without. I usually digest podcasts in pieces, and very rarely, outside of driving, listen to one from start to finish. I consume audio books the same way.
If you're listening to someone with an accent you might have to slow it down a lot.
Likewise if your audio quality isn't very good or if you're concentrating too much on another task.
E.g. when I'm walking in familiar neighborhoods 2.7x is easy but when the area is even somewhat unfamiliar I either slow it down to 1.x or turn it off, because I suddenly find it hard to grok the content.
I first started speeding up my podcasts when I heard that blind people can listen above 4x ~ 6x speed without missing a beat.
I'm still trying to break the 3x barrier.