Below is a list of my favourite sci-fi audiobooks. I love space sci-fi more than any other genre. I especially love books that take place on alien planets.
Every book on the list is great in its own right, but the narrator of the book is also important.
The audio quality of the recording (bitrate) is also important to me. Unfortunately, I've only found Penguin books to be pleasant to listen to.
For some strange reason, Audible books are compressed to a degree where it's very noticeable. That's a shame, but I've found I get used to it after the first few hours of listening.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers on Audible
One of my all time favourites, this book takes place almost entirely on a small spaceship.
The Three-Body trilogy by Cixin Liu
This trilogy consists of: The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest and Death's End. The trilogy sits firmly within the hard science category, and chronicles the events of humanity's first encounter with aliens. The trilogy already exists as a Tencent series and there is a Netflix adaptation as well.
It is extremely well written, and what is going to happen is never obvious. I listened to, and liked the version read by Bruno Roubicek, although I can no longer find the first two books narrated by him on Audible.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky on Audible
Possibly the most interesting premise of any sci-fi book I've listened to. The book takes place over a long period of time and features two strands of story that eventually collide in the end. There are two more books after this: Children of Ruin and Children of Memory.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir on Audible
A man finds himself alone on his spaceship in other space and needs fuel to get back. He encounters someone else also alone, with plenty of spare fuel.
Most of the book revolves around how the protagonist learns to communicate with this alien he meets.
