I couldn't decide between the Berk or the MadDad setup, but a holiday special at EAS swayed me to go with the Berk.
The fitment was generally good, but the midpipe bends were not a good fit. Starting about a foot back from the mating at the downpipe, the passenger side midpipe drops to 1 1/4" below the underbody and leaves a 2" gap between it and the heat shield above. With a proper bend, this could have easily been routed flat with no obstructions towards the exhaust pipe. The drivers side midpipe has the same general bend radius, but is not as bad. I'm usually careful about scraping anything, but it's a prime area behind the front wheels for a speed bump and suspension compression to smack it.
The tailpipes lined up perfectly left-to-right. It hangs about 1/2" lower than ideal but bending, and properly aligning, the hangers would be difficult with the hanger design.
I've had it installed for about 2 hours and driven about 30 miles and so far I'm very happy. It's exactly what I was looking for... noticeable but still civilized at idle/cruise/normal operation, and assertive on the throttle.
My butt-dyno is happy with it as well. The throttle feels snappier, it might've reduced or at least smoothed out the turbo lag, and there's a little extra oomph, especially at higher RPMs. Of course that could all be just in my head, but I'm satisfied nonetheless.
One word of advice... or in this case multiple words. I spent hours doing general research, listening to YouTube clips and reading people's impressions of various exhausts. But now that I have an exhaust installed, I realize that I didn't need any of that information or "advice", at least not as a typical consumer who will never buy more than one exhaust for any particular vehicle and have no reference point for aftermarket exhausts.
As long as it generally meets what I expected (louder, no offensive noises, performance increase, weight reduction) I'm not going to be unhappy to return/exchange it, so why try to play the comparison game with poor reference material?
Also, it's impossible to understand or appreciate the audible qualities of an exhaust, especially in the cabin, without driving the vehicle. With the Berk exhaust (and I'm guessing most other respectable brands) I can alternate between loud and sensible with the gas pedal, so all the video clips, advice and comments given about loudness, sound and general likability are too subjective to provide any meaningful value to you.
My advice is to purchase a reputable exhaust without too much analysis, then tweak it to your tastes. The only major consideration would be for removal of the muffler or catless downpipes, but unless you want to be obnoxious that's not really an option. All good systems appear to maintain a resonator to tune unwanted noises out of the exhaust note.
