Quote:
Originally Posted by thejeremyman9
It's actually a little more nuanced than this, and the fundamental problem is that most people ask what exact sounds "good" or "best" when that is highly subjective. OP's question was a little point focused on volume (which is a little easier to answer quantitatively), but everyone's tolerance for volume, drone, rasp, etc, is different. Two people with the exact same setup, and one person complains it drones unbearably and other says it sounds awesome no drone (seen this with AWE and borla, especially paired with catless DP).
The other important thing to remember is that DP adds performance and is a prerequisite for tunes whereas exhaust adds nothing for performance and is purely for sound. DP also affects emissions, exhaust does not. Also, a catback replaces the mid pipe and the muffler, whereas an axleback just replaces the muffler. For a N55 F3x, there is a single resonator in the midpipe, which will make a difference if you get a catback vs a axleback as some catbacks are non resonated.
Another way to think about it is the effect each component post-turbo affects the exhaust volume. Of course, there is more than volume, there is drone, rasp, tone, etc. But volume is the easiest to quantify. So, think of it this way:
Stock muffler reduces volume 50%
Stock resonator reduces volume 20%
Stock DP reduces volume 20%. Catted DP reduces 10% and catless 0%.
So if 10/10 volume is catless DP and straight pipe (res and muffler delete), the OEM volume is 1/10 (and it is indeed very quiet). If you go catless with stock res/muffler, you are at 3/10, catted DP only 2/10. Res delete and catted DP you are at 4/10. This trend holds true with my own personal experience and all the videos and discussion i have seen with exhausts. Going from OEM DP to catted DP on my own car with completely stock exhaust only raised the volume a few dB. You almost couldnt tell unless you listen carefully. Of course, with res delete, it makes a bigger difference, since you have already removed another "muffler" from the system.
Finally, its important to remember that the muffler has the Helmholtz chamber which is critical to reduce drone. So a muffler delete will have the single largest impact on drone.
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Dang you know your stuff. Yeah I didn’t want to delete the muffler as I spoke to someone on Facebook who had both a res delete and muffler delete and he did admit for a daily it wasn’t ideal as the drone is quite bad especially on a motorway. I may get a modified back box at some point in the future but the sports cat was sold to me mainly due to me being able to keep the exhaust valve whilst getting some better sound and performance at the same time. I guess I’ll just find out tomorrow how good the sound is. I didn’t think the res delete made too much of a difference.