Interesting thread/chat. I'll suggest a nice Martzen or Belgian Strong Ale for the Fall if the darks are too heavy. It will be Ocktoberfest time ya know?!
As for the exhaust banter/chatter, I got lucky when I did my exhaust. The old timer Bay Area exhaust shop's owner pulled out of the rafters an old NOS BMW center resonator and offered it for my project. He said he had something better than my "straight pipes from the headers to a cherry bomb" idea. Of course I said "sure, go for it!"
He went on to explain the BMW center resonator was a very nice, high flow, unobstructed 2+ inches straight through piece as we peered at each other though both ends of the pipe like a telescope. We elected to omit the middle muffler and added a generic cherry bomb at the end. He did a great job custom bending all the tubing and adding my requested bolt together 'Swiss army knife/quick change/180 degree rotatable' side exhaust pipe that deletes the back muffler section for track days (Where's the sound booth?)
IMHO, the center resonator likely does the most of the job to cut the harsh factor of an exhaust system with the additional mufflers down stream further reducing sound and rasp levels.
An exhaust sound check/beer tasting gathering sounds fun (no pun intended), have fun and post comparison some videos!