[youtube=http://youtu.be/DCocK6Bocnw]

As it has done quietly in past builds, Apple’s latest iOS 8.3 release makes improvements to its Siri voice assistant in the way of more natural sounding speech synthesis. The comparison above was sent in by a reader (thanks jk9357!), showing the improvements Apple has made to Siri’s voice in its latest iOS beta.

As noted by our tipsters, the change is particularly noticeable on the words “potato” and “America” in the comparison. You’ll hear iOS 8.1.1 first in the audio comparison followed by the new and improved iOS 8.3. The improvements come ahead of the Apple Watch launch, which relies heavily on Siri and could always benefit from enhanced speech technology. 

We detailed and discovered other new features and enhancements coming in iOS 8.3 when it was released to developers earlier this month.