French language Q&A Forum

the pronunciation tip at the end of this page says that -ais and -ai are pronounced the same. I found a comment by a duolingo mod linking to two pages that says otherwise:

http://bernardcousin.over-blog.com/pages/DE_LIMPORTANCE_DE_BIEN_PRONONCER-8743192.html

https://www.lalanguefrancaise.com/5-astuces-pour-ne-plus-confondre-le-conditionnel-et-le-futur

On forvo it does indeed sound like there is a subtle difference between aimerai and aimerais. é vs è. I hear the difference best when listening to other -ais words on forvo such as vais, sais, etc. It is subtle, but can someone else confirm that there is indeed an actual difference that contradicts the tip on this page?

I use Word Reference as my bilingual dictionary.  Here's their note on the two spellings.  Note: "ass(e)oir" and "rass(e)oir" have two conjugations. The conjugated forms with an "e" are more common than those with an "o". 

should there be a second 'e' on léchée in this case as the noun comes after the verb?