Which exhaust should I buy, and how bad is drone/cold start?

This question never ends because owners want contradictory things at the same time: louder tone, minimal drone, calm cold starts, and aggressive sound on demand. The community answer is basically that you have to pick your compromise. Muffler-delete and very aggressive axle-back setups are consistently described as loud on cold start and more likely to drone. Muffled axle-backs and cat-backs are usually the safer daily-driver choice, but even those can still drone depending on your sensitivity. So the consensus buying advice is: decide whether you care most about volume, tone, or comfort first, then buy accordingly, because there is no universally “best” VB exhaust. However, a muffled and resonated setup will be the best choice if your goal is to minimize drone.