Sounds good! I had the mbrp with stock downpipe for a while on my a3. Highly recommend going to the IE downpipe sounds a lot more aggressive. But if you don't want the drone I get it lol.
Not like ear piercingly loud. It’s just a good sounding exhaust. Simple as that. 1st to 2nd is definitely the loudest shift after 3rd gear they get a bit quieter.