Full agreement about it depending on the podcast, finding a player where speed is feed specific was a huge improvement for me. There are a few podcasts I listen to where the accent and cadence makes me feel genuinely angry if I have to listen to them at 1x, yet they become interesting enough to subscribe to when they're up around 2.25x.

It makes me wonder how much of a pattern there would be based purely on the listener's birth location and general regional cadence. I know I have a tendency to speak too quickly for some people in my native English, and also in languages I've learned later in life. Perhaps there are people who'd like a 0.4x button for interacting with me ;)