Cartesia's Sonic-3.6 tops TTS leaderboard, beats ElevenLabs in real-world test
socialwithaayan · x · 2026-08-28
Cartesia released Sonic-3.6, retaking #1 on the Artificial Analysis TTS leaderboard (both controlled and provider voice boards). The company says it bet on rebuilding from the architecture up rather than incrementally tuning, overtaking its own Sonic-3.5 just two months later: listeners preferred Sonic-3.6 in up to 93% of blind head-to-head tests across fifteen locales, and its lead over #3 is wider than the gap from #3 to #12.
@socialwithaayan ran a real-world comparison: the same flight announcement containing a flight number, PNR, time and gate code (EK 418 / W8R4U / 10:20 PM / Gate C14) tested on both Cartesia and ElevenLabs — the difference was clearly audible, and alphanumerics remain a classic TTS stress test.
Related event: Cartesia's Sonic-3.6 Goes GA, Tops TTS Leaderboards(5 posts)→
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