Thanks to everyone of the posters over the years who've shared their setups and video clips/sound clips, made working out what I wanted nice and easy..
I've went down the following path after lurking this thread for about 8 months:
First: Deleted the stock resonators and put in an X-pipe with stock muffler
Results: Way more pronounced "V8" tone, especially on vacuum when off throttle, less crackly overrun, more deep and burbly, overall volume is mostly the same unless over 50% throttle under 3k rpm, then about 10-15% louder. WOT the volume didn't seem that much different.
Second part, loved the idea of the vibrant ultra quiets and the videos posted by pennsiveguy(?)
Setup is now: Stock downpipes, deleted resonators, 2.5" X pipe, into 2x Vibrant ultra quiet resonators (part # 1142, the 2.5" in/out piping) into quad stepped, angle cut double wall 3.5" quad tips
Results: Love the volume, I'd say about 35% louder than stock. Without the resonators I think there's a touch of low drone only between 1150-1300 RPM, but it doesn't seem to go through the entire car, nor did my partner notice/give me any grumbles in the car.
Super deep/bassy exhaust sound now, thunderous overrun now with really nice V8 tones.
Here's a quick video of me stuffing around at night playing with the exhaust.