Stock to FMF Q4 and then to Megabomb... some thoughts

I recently went from the stock exhaust to the FMF Q4 w/stock header... then to the Q4 w/megabomb header... here are my thoughts:

Q4 + stock header
- Significantly louder... louder than I had expected, definitely a harsher tone.  Not loud enough that I wanted to switch back (liked the performance bump too much), but it did make me think about riding with ear plugs (which I'm not fond of)

- Nice performance gain... I have an FMF programmer and also did the ultimate air box mod when I added the exhaust... I could definitely tell a nice bump in power.  The front end came up a LOT easier in first gear and it pulled really nice and hard at higher speeds. It wasn't night and day mind you, but enough that I didn't want to go back to stock for sure.

Q4 + megabomb header
- Adding the megabomb definitely dropped the sound level a good amount.  FMF claims a 1.5db drop... theoretically that works out to an 11% decrease in "loudness" (see here for nerdy info on how to figure that out: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-levelchange.htm).  I think it's just a tad bit louder than stock now... much more in line with what I was wanting with a Q4.

- Noticeable performance gain in the low end... a bit more torque/power down low... not crazy amounts, but noticeable (the front wheel now comes up a little in 2nd (w/o clutching)... didn't quite do that before)

Conclusion: If you have a Q4 (stock header) and think it's too loud, before you give up on it to back to stock, the megabomb might be just the ticket to making the noise acceptable. I liked the Q4's performance gain, but the noise with the stock header was a bit much for me.  The megabomb header tones it down enough to justify adding it in my opinion... very pleased with the combo!

Bob

I performed the same experiment with my 2008 WR-250X a few years ago.
Although I didn't dislike the noise in either combination, I definitely felt more low end power with the Megabomb header vs. the stock header.