I'm using audio books for the first time....some of the classics are issued featuring a dozen or more choices for the person reading the text....anyone know of a good way to go about choosing the best version?
Patience and practice -- a lot of the free ones are done by computer voice -- so it can be somewhat confusing with words that don't exist (scifi and fantasy, text books). If the company offers free listening for a paragraph or two, that will help. Make a list of books, authors, and readers. That will help find the readers that do well.
Perhaps I'm being a bit dim here, but are you asking people for a way to discover your individual preffered audio voice to listen to? How the hell (excuse the pun) would any random stranger know what type of voice you like to listen to? I must be missing your point here; but if not; I'd suggest you listen to each of the voice options and decide yourself on what you feel is the most pleasant to your ear.
Personally, if available, I will always choose the ones narrated by the author of the book. I feel that the mannerisms and tone they use are most authentic. It's just read the way it's meant to be read.
That being said, if that's not an option, which is often the case, I listen to the sample and decide based on that.