The stock exhaust vs. slip on is a very small change to sound if you leave the baffles in. If you take them out it is louder, but not obnoxious and similar tone to stock. A little deeper, mostly louder. If you replace the link pipe it makes a big difference to the sound, even with the stock mufflers. I put an SC-1S on my mine while waiting for the link pipe, and removed the db killer to get a good sound. When the Arrow link pipe arrived yesterday I tried it out and immediately had to put the db killer back in because it was much louder than I wanted. It's a great sound but very loud like a racebike. Honestly, the stock pipes aren't ugly and they aren't that heavy. I'd consider just doing the link pipe and saving a bunch of money.