UncleDude

So this is long, but I wanted to take my time as I would've found this information really useful. The short version, sounds great, comes with drone, keeping it, great service, video below.


So a short intro, this is my first Porsche, and first aftermarket exhaust and the car is a GTS Cayman with a manual transmission.

General:
Stock does drone 1900 to 2400 RM. Once I started reading all the exhaust threads I paid attention to the RPM zone from 1900 to 2400 (or thereabouts) and you can hear the drone trying to fight through the stock muffler. I have to say Porsche did a good job and crushing that down, and still producing a pretty good sounding exhaust system (especially after break in). IMO the only downside with stock are the volume valves closed (too quiet) and the overall raspy tone full on - neither of these were / are big issues for me - but my curiosity eventually got the better of me so I ordered the rear section I thought gave me the best chance at the following:
.

• blended x-pipe tone, something smoother
• not much louder
• minimal added drone over stock

The really high pitched GT car tone was not really important to me, just smoother and more blended. So that was my criteria. My only after market sampling was a brief ride in a GT4 with the JCR rear section (everything else stock). It sounded really good, not too loud, and wonderful pitch. It did drone a bit, and that gave me pause (on the entire experiment to be honest). But I continued to read and ask other forum member opinions (thanks, and sorry everyone lol), and I felt the muffler system on the Soul might battle the drone while still meeting the criteria laid out above.

The JCR is out of my price range, and at the time of ordering I did have that memory of the drone lingering in my thoughts. I looked at Cargraphic too, but dismissed them for lack of response, confusing part numbering and naming, and verbally a lack of information. I also looked closely at BC Fabs and seriously considered them, but ultimately I felt the valves closed sound was going to be very similar to valves open stock sound (BC Fabs is pretty much straight piped valves closed, not blended). Also not many data points, I could only find two forum members running that rear section, and one just got it, and one no longer has the car. I didn’t consider Akra (box muffler, no x-pipe, expensive), or Kline (didn’t want to do rear section and OPF’s), or Fabspeed (couldn’t find out much about it, similar to BC fabs with straight pipe section).

Tone of Soul Rear Valved Section:
Really good! Valves closed it has a good rumble and has excellent presence in the cabin without being obnoxious. There are burbles when you lift off, and it sounds good under load with a smooth higher pitched sound than stock, and when the valves open it sings. It is a deeper tone than the JCR that I heard, for sure, but I like it. IMO it suits the grunt of this 4.0L engine. Really happy with this part, it gets a big thumbs up.

Valve Transition:
Transition from closed to open is quite smooth, smoother and less obvious than stock. Also valves closed, at higher rpm’s before the valves open, you still get the blended x-pipe tone (probably why the transition is smooth, double x-pipes). Inside the car, at idle, there’ is not much difference in volume valves open or closed (unlike stock).

Drone City:
It drones through gears 1-2, and also as the rpm’s fall on downshifts. You can hear that in the video. Can you work around it? Sure, but not always as the rpm leap from 2nd to 3rd gears is pretty high. I didn’t find much difference on take off with PSE on or off. The other night I got stuck behind a bus going up a hill, and my choice was high first gear or drone in second. So adjustments have to be made.

Drone Highway:
Highway driving is generally pretty good. Anything above 2400 rpm is fine. Below that, you’ve got to go really easy on the throttle. If you want it to drone really hard, hit 6th gear at 2000 rpm and floor it - it’ll make your ears ring. I will also note that in the drone zone, you can cruise without obnoxious noise, it is when you accelerate that the drone hits. This is a subtle point, but important to people with no experience with this stuff (like me). You can certainly cruise at 2000 rpm in 6th gear, just be prepared to drop a gear or two if you want to punch it and avoid the boom (I would normally do this anyway).

Quality:
Porsche tech’s thought it was awesome, and enjoyed looking at the welds and the design. To me it looked very well made and the signature satin tips are really sexy with my silver wheels.

Service:
Top notch, hard to do it better than the guys and gals at Soul.

Sound Symposer Delete:
On a GTS, I would not do this because it seems to provide the added intake sound, in the sport and sport + modes which is really appealing.


I have since driven in the GT4 with the JCR rear section, back to back with mine, and the drone zone is very similar in range and intensity. The JCR tone is louder, and rawer than the Soul IMO. So after having it on for a week I’m going to keep it, and see if it changes much as it breaks in. I admit though, I was disappointed at the amount of drone and I don’t blame anyone (note Soul doesn’t say it has no drone). I think it is a matter of managing expectations, and getting used to the sound and ensuring it doesn’t ruin your experience. At this moment, the improvement in sound is worth the adjustments noted above. I hope this helps anyone on the fence, and I was (and still am) prepared to go back to stock and be happy if this irritates me in anyway, or takes enjoyment from driving. I use this car almost daily, in all situations. It isn’t just a weekend toy, and it is a killer car!

Westcoast

Uncle thanks for taking the time and providing not only a video but an informative honest appraisal of the Soul system!

It is easy to get lost in the marketing hype and go for the must have GT3 sound when really there are some of us who really have to live with our purchase and drive the car more (or less) daily and might like to hear the radio or talk to our passenger...

Cheers!

TXshaggy

Awesome post!

Soul customer support is the best!

Alpha Ice

Hey Uncle, I appreciate your thoughts and insights. While my schedule, available daylight and frozen temperatures here in MN, I've had minimal time to get out and drive the car unfortunately. I can relate to your concerns of the drone and an aftermarket exhaust. I did just install my Fabspeed last week and already had the JCR manifolds (long story, but I had some credit from a previous purchase from Fabspeed and was hoping to sell that to fund the new JCR exhaust...no sales/warranty concerns so I said the heck with it). I can state that windows open around town, even 3-5" does make a world of difference in the drone zone around town and on the highway. I actually got a chance to drive mine yesterday with windows down and it was fantastic...but too dark to really get to explore the upper realms given all the deer and poor road conditions.
I echo most of what you state as well about the 4.0 and how the exhaust and valves perform. I did find a pretty good uptick in both drone, overall sound, and power from the manifolds, which was not a surprise at all, but I did realize that when I thought I was flat out, I was really only 75-80%, again I'm blaming temperature and conditions, plus the +8-10 lb (at minimum) heavier winter wheel/tire combo.

I do love the sound and tone of this more than I thought, and kudos for being able to enjoy it and drive your car in most scenarios. I find them to be too sweet to just relegate to weekend enjoyment! Definitely lower the windows a few inches and you'll be pretty surprised at how much that helps, I'm sure once the warmer temps come around (when we can have windows down full time) as well as the exhaust settling in it will get better.

PS, I appreciate the motivation to get my stuff together and make some clip of my own with my Jeckell & Hyde setup

Soul Performance

Thank you very much for the in-depth review, touching on many points which we are commonly asked about! Cheers!

I don't want to take away from your post but I'd like to touch on the subject of drone. One thing I've learned over years of experience with exhaust R&D is that most cars will have a range where drone is inherent. This can vary in the range through the RPM's, the duration of the range, and overall intensity. Part of our R&D process is experimenting with stock, mild, and aggressive exhaust variants to gauge and understand where and how drone can come into play. If you ever miss John Gaydos on the phone it's because he's out testing a car under a wide range of conditions. On the 718 GT4 the "drone zone" is around 1,800-2,800 RPM once you start increasing the flow, and as you mentioned some do find the factory system drones as is. There are several methods to mitigate it - each with pros and cons. Increasing the amount of muffler material can reduce this sound but it can neuter tone as a result. You can use helmholtz resonators to cut out a specific range of drone while leaving the overall quality and tone of the exhaust note intact. Using this method requires equal parts math, engineering, and experimentation as depending on the volume of the chamber you can shift the drone range around, mitigate part of the range while exacerbating it elsewhere, and just fail completely to get a result. Every car is different and we deploy helmholtz resonators to great effect on several applications, and on some cars after testing several variants we resort to taking efforts in other directions.

A major plus about the 718 GT4 platform is that there a lot of options, different designs, and varying price points on the exhaust bits enabling everyone to find a solution. Thank you for choosing ours! You may notice that companies are using different methods on the 718 GT4 to try and coax out better sound while - hopefully - attempting to target and reduce this drone range without sacrificing tone. Our secret sauce is a perforated core muffler with an internal x-pipe to cut down on harshness while still enhancing tone through blending the exhaust paths with valves closed. With valves open - where most want the magic to happen - we're eliciting enhanced tone through an x-pipe large diameter piping with carefully engineered piping to cut down on drone in spite of increased flow. We want someone buying this exhaust to be reminded of the 981 GT4 and the epic wail that can be unleashed. All of this said, if you aim to reduce the drone further it would require a denser or larger muffler - reducing overall tone - or attempt to deploy even more helmholtz resonators or other provisions which would add weight and take up precious space. While not being able to completely defeat the drone, our focus was on enhancing the other positive elements such as volume and tone without increasing drone. Ultimately we've achieved a mark of great functionality at a good price point. Wrapping it all up, we back purge our welds and back the system with a lifetime warranty and awesome customer service! I do my best to accurately and honestly market our components and any and all feedback is always appreciated - especially great posts like this.

-Mike

lowbee

Is the drone you described between 1900-2400 rpm happen in both valve closed and opened cases ?

RoadrunnerGTS

Thanks for the in-depth review. I have the exact same Soul muffler and tips sitting in a box still.

Are you happy with the tips? Are they the angle cut tips? Any photos?

UncleDude

In my case no drone valves open because I’m using the OEM valve programming so they open higher up in the rev range which sounds awesome. No unwanted sounds above the drone zone, just great Porsche sound! I mentioned to John on the phone that sound is the sound I had in my head when I first realized i’d be able to get a Porsche. He thought that was pretty cool.

The tips are gorgeous. Slash cut and I’ll try to get some better photos when I clean the car next.

Josh_357

I'm one of the others that got the rear valved system recently. I have a valve controller and SS delete, and in my GT4 I notice very similar drone levels with both valves open or closed. I echo everything that UncleDude said. I find this a blend of 718 GT4 stock and 981 GT4 stock. The 981 being just marginally more even and louder across the rev range, for that I blame the OPF . To me this makes the car sound the way it should other than the drone. In a PDK car I have to go looking for the drone it seems. Mine Soul system is staying as well, with maybe OPF deletes someday.

lowbee

Thanks for the great review...

The next you do a test run in Mexico I suggest covering the digital speedometer 😉

This car can get me into trouble so quickly

UncleDude

Glad you read the entire thing

It took me an hour to figure out how to mask the licence plate, but I get your point LOL and agree these things reach speed very quickly. I also tried last night cracking the windows down a few inches and it does make a difference in the intensity of the "worst" frequencies (those really low ones). It does make you wonder what other tools are available to combat drone other than the rear section - has anyone tried a specially designed OAP?

MaddMike

Good review. I plan on doing the Soul OPF delete and see how it goes from there.

Josh_357

UncleDude hope you are ok if I share my video in your thread. I want to try to get a video next to a building to get the reverberations it sounds awesome.

UncleDude

Sounds awesome Josh. I find the tone very smooth and that comes across in your video.

UncleDude

Inspired by Josh I took the new insta 360 Go2 out to a farm area and set it up on an old pipe. Thumbs up from the truck driver lol….

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