Components & Sound Impact

[I6V8]

I currently run a Stromung Muffler on my '89 325is with the rest of the exhaust system stock.

I sounds pretty good, deep, no drone and easy to live with but it's not necessarily what I would consider the best sounding stock M20, which - to me - is this car, maybe a little less loud:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WBYK1CFTWGg

The video lacks detail so I'm wondering if any remaining OGs here can hear what this setup likely consist of. Is it straight piped, Y pipe mid section AND headers?

Another setup that sounds great (similar-ish) to me is this South African vendors equal length header + dual-x pipe exhaust:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct_Yk32xg_j/

Dual x pipes almost never get mentioned for M20s (sound unreal on S65) but what I like is the smooth idle and right amount of upper notes in the mix.

Has anyone here in the US experimented with dual x-pipes?

[hopeful]

I recently got the Turner system from ECS, tbh it sounds a lot like the first one you posted. But there's a lot of drone under 3k.

[varg]

Videos in shops and tunnels... everything sounds way better in shops, tunnels, valleys. When it gets out on the road without the enclosed space altering its sound, that's when you'll find out of it sounds good or not. I haven't figured out exactly why so many BMW I6s sound bad, it appears it's mostly down to OEM unequal length manifolds and unequal length dual tube exhaust systems which are a recipe for the buzz/rasp, as are chambered mufflers.

[Northern]

I don't think there's much in the way of mufflers/resonators in that video. I think either the midsection is straight piped, or the catback is.

[I6V8]

hopeful do you have a sound clip of yours? Would love to hear that idling and revving warmed up.

varg you make a good point about the amplification factor. That said, I know what my car sounds like in a tunnel and factored that in if that makes sense. The sound signature of my car is more muffled in the midrange and higher frequencies.

I remember from my E46 M3 days, the catless headers sounded like they changed the sound in the same direction I'm looking for here (but added rasp and drone).

My problem is that any of the combinations I've heard so far in clips (including headers + full straight pipe) aren't close enough to that first clip to be at least a likely candidate, hence the original question.

Hopefully others recognize what the mid and end section might be.