Honestly, the answer to your question changes from person to person so it’s hard to answer. This is my first Catback system on a vehicle so I don’t have much to compare it to. I did have the B2 Fab cut and clamp muffler before I put the AWE system on mine though. The B2 did have some drone, especially when the ECO mode would kick in. To me, there is absolutely no drone with the AWE. I was really surprised by the sound of the AWE. I started my truck with the B2 muffler and then an hour or so later started it with the AWE catback and couldn’t believe how all of the sound was channeled to the rear of the truck. That was not the case with the B2 muffler.
Basically, no aftermarket muffler or catback system will be quite like stock. The B2 was only slightly louder than stock but the overall sound of the AWE is leaps and bounds better. It’s relatively quiet until you get in the throttle. You can definitely hear it more than the stock exhaust no matter how you are accelerating. Once at cruising speeds it’s very quiet though. I think I read a review of a person that went from one of the Borla catbacks (not sure which one) to the AWE and he said the AWE is way quieter inside the cab. That’s all subjective though, best thing to do is fine someone local that has the systems you are interested in and see if they’ll let you hear it, hard to do most of the time though.