Well i installed the quiet baffles today. At idle they are just a bit more quiet than the stock baffles and less resonating. They still have a strong sound but has a deeper tone to them. They're still kinda loud but at a cruise it's definitely more quiet than stock. I like the sound overall but i do agree the stock baffles sure sounded bad a$$! Only took 45 minutes to swap so i can see myself going back to the stock baffles at times. All in all i like them for riding back and forth to work but love the stock ones for the weekends!

 

I've had my Big Shots for three years now. I had a Thunderheader before on my Softail and loved it, but I wanted to try something different after 30K miles. To me the Big Shots sound good, but they do have a crisper "bark" then the TH. I've gone back and forth with the quiet vs stock baffle on the Big Shots.

Be careful if you do as it's easy to strip the allen head bolts that hold the baffles in.

The stock baffle is a cleaner, crisper sound. They sound good, but definitely pretty loud...very close to obnoxious, but I like them and feel they are just under the threshold not too bad (I'm 44 years old by the way). If it was a carbed bike and I could lower the idle I think they would be perfect. With the injected idle being faster it sometimes feels a little noisier than I want. The quiet baffles muddy the sound up a bit (some call it deeper), but definitely take the edge off (even though it's only a few dbs). It's not as interesting a sound as the stock baffle imo, but still nice.

Overall The quiet baffle let's you blend in a little more while still making good sounds (and plenty loud). The stock baffle really lets you enjoy the engine's presence and NEVER let's you forget you are riding a Harley. More flavor, more bite....kinda like a good single malt scotch vs a nice Guiness...both work given your mood.

 

ThingFish, I'm also 44 and feel exactly the same about the stock baffles. Overall i do like them better than the quiet baffles but the one thing worries me is the badge that woke up on the wrong side of the bed who meets me at the same street corner and wants to give me a ticket or the early morning start-up. Have you or anyone ever play with removing the wrap on the quiet baffle or cutting it in half? Maybe it would be a nice compromise.

 

Yes, I've heard both in person. My bike came fitted with Double Barrels (The Quiet series pipes), which in my opinion is too quiet.

Picked up a set of VH Quiet baffles & replaced the Q series baffle in the Double Barrels with Quiet baffles. (No, they are NOT the same!). Now they sound perfect. Deep & loud enough with a great sound on acceleration.

The only differences in the Big Shot staggered vs Double Barrels are the heatshields (1-piece on Bigshots, 2-piece on Barrels) and the baffles. Rest of pipe is exactly the same.

 

Went for a 1-1/2 hour ride today and I'm starting to miss the sound of the stock baffles when cruising. Even though the quiet baffles are only a little bit more quiet at idle, the deeper tone does help the pipes not be so obnoxious. IMO the quiet baffles did more for quieting the sound more at cruising than at idle. I wish it was the other way around. LOL. As i said in my other posts, i will be playing around with the wrap on the baffles to maybe get a little back towards the sound of the stock ones. All else fails the stock baffles will be put back for good! LOL

 

I took off the fiberglass wrapping off the quiet baffles and re-installed them tonight. They sound great! Got back that nice strong sound but not too obnoxious. Lost a lot of the lower deep tone but all in all i like this so much better. I just thought after riding a while with the wrapped quiet baffles, the deeper tone was too "muffled" (excuse the pun). Perfect compromise between the stock baffles and the quiet ones with the wrap. Thankfully reading posts in here helped me out with some good ideas to try out.

 

I did this last year and i thought it sounded odd. To me it had an odd sound, hard to explain. So i put the stock baffles back in. I wish V&H made it eaisier to change out the baffles. You have to pull the heat shields off completly to change out the baffles. I saw a post on here a while ago that someone just drilled a 3/4" hole where the baffle screw is. This way you just use an allen key to remove the baffles with the heat shields still on. I havent got chance to do this yet but it would make it easier. In the past year i have tried out 3-4 different baffles.

 

The Big Shots are understandably popular, but I'm surprised you don't see more folks with the Double Barrel pipes. I prefer how the muffler section is slightly larger diameter than the header section. And with the ability to change baffles, the fact that the DBs are quieter to start with doesn't really matter.

 

I had the BSSs on my Heritage and they were much too loud for me.Tried the "quiet baffles" (made the tone lower and richer but still loud) and even added the Smartzparts and still too loud. After an hour (or less) I was done. Lots of people like them though. I've only heard clips of the DBs. My bike came with V&H Big Radius 2in2s and they are really loud. Replaced with Fatbob exhaust with SE mufflers. Love it. I'm sure I'm in the minority. I have to say the the BSSs are the best looking pipes out there.