| Feature | Old Ivona Eric | "New" Eric (Neural) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Sound Quality | 22khz - 48khz (Slight metallic ring) | High Definition (Crystal clear, warm) | | Intonation | Chopped, sometimes abrupt stops | Smooth, flowing, natural breathing | | Pronunciation | Phonetic, needs manual tweaking | Context-aware AI processing | | Vibe | The "YouTuber" voice | The "Broadcaster/Pro" voice |
Because Ivona was acquired and the old software is no longer sold, obtaining the original old Ivona Eric legally is tricky but possible.
If you are looking for professional narration for an audiobook, a business presentation, or a news segment, the New Eric is objectively superior. The technology is smarter, the voice is smoother, and the listener fatigue is much lower.
However, if you are a creator looking for that specific "Internet Nostalgia" sound, or you are editing a video that relies on the charm of early TTS, the Old Ivona Eric is irreplaceable. The imperfections were what gave him character. old ivona eric new
Winner: The New Eric (for quality), but the Old Eric (for legacy).
Old Eric had a “voice actor” quality. It sounded like a real person reading to you in a cozy room. New Eric sounds like a corporate chatbot.
In January 2013, Amazon acquired Ivona Software. The immediate goal was to power Alexa’s voice. But soon, Amazon rebranded and integrated Ivona’s engine into Amazon Polly (launched November 2016). | Feature | Old Ivona Eric | "New"
Polly retained many Ivona voice names—including Eric—but with significant changes under the hood.
The “New Eric” is not a single voice but a category: Neural TTS (AWS Polly’s neural version of “Matthew” or other UK male voices, Microsoft Azure, ElevenLabs, or Google Wavenet). Some users call “New Eric” the updated Polly - Matthew (neural) or custom fine-tuned models.
| Feature | Old Ivona Eric | New Neural Eric (e.g., Polly Neural Matthew) |
|---------|----------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Naturalness | Very good (8/10) | Excellent (9.5/10) – breaths, micro-pauses |
| Emotion control | None | Tags for excited, whispered, conversational |
| Latency | Low (offline/online) | Very low (cloud neural) |
| Price | Free (old bundles) / Pay-as-you-go | Higher (neural tier ~$16/1M chars) |
| API/Integration | Legacy | Full SSML + real-time streaming | Old Eric had a “voice actor” quality
If you are looking for that specific, nostalgic Ivona sound, you have a few options:
| If you want... | Stick with Old Ivona Eric | Move to New Neural Eric | |----------------|----------------------------|--------------------------| | Lower cost / offline use | ✅ | ❌ | | Emotional range | ❌ | ✅ | | SSML fine control | ❌ | ✅ | | That specific “Ivona character” | ✅ (irreplaceable) | ❌ (different voice) |
Final Score:
Recommendation: Keep a local backup of Old Eric for legacy projects. For new production work, switch to a neural UK male voice (AWS Polly “Matthew” or ElevenLabs “Adam”) – but don’t expect the exact same personality. The new voice is a different actor, not an upgrade of the same.
Review based on extensive TTS production experience and A/B listening tests of Ivona/Polly pre-2020 vs. neural models post-2022.
