HPS Performance intake hose/resonator delete kit Review

So when I heard about the "orange cap mod" on the intake box on the M96, I was interested because induction sound under wide open throttle has always pleased me. I remember hacking up the bottom of my airbox in my 96 Jetta VR6 over 20 years ago. Man that motor sounded good, especially with the Borla muffler and other mods I had done. I looked around and found this kit by looking for a black hose, I didnt want red or blue and this one comes with a nice, neat plug to take the place of the resonator, and a simple black hose. Install was easy but dont forget to transfer the o-ring from the resonator to the new delete plug. I forgot and had to go back in. (the plug fits pretty snugly without it so I didnt notice at first) LINK The main reason I did this was for the sound. It does make a little more noise, and sounds a little different, at WOT, in the higher RPMs. Not a whole lot louder, but a little. And not just a difference in volume, but different sound. Sounds a little more exotic, racy, in a really good way. So Im pleased with that. (By the way, this is running on an otherwise stock engine with stock paper filter.) Any increase in power would be icing on the cake and I didnt expect much, if anything. The website shows dyno charts with peak HP gains of 5.7 HP at 4700 RPM, and peak torque gain of 6.3 lb/ft at 4700 RPM on a stock motor. I have done several hard pulls through 2nd adn 3rd gear and I may be mistaken, but I swear I can feel a little bit extra in the 4500-5000 RPM range. Power delivery seems a little smoother to me. And this is not just based on the sound, because I often have my radio up louder than the sound of the engine, (although that will probably change after I do the Fister mod!) But regardless of all that, this one difference I have noticed may be more impactful than the other two and was totally unexpected. As I have been learning this clutch, when starting from a stop, I tend to feather the throttle and will often bog down just a hair, right before taking off. I have stalled the vehicle 4-5 times in my first 2k miles of driving the car, and read about taking out the power spring or whatever its called, but I have not done that. But after this modification, I have not experienced that bog down when pulling away, one single time. It seems the throttle response is much better, even at low RPMs and maybe especially at low RPMs. It definitely makes it more enjoyable to drive, especially around town. Then I saw the dyno chart of the torque curve and noticed the increased torque at really low RPMs around 2k, and wonder what the increase is at evn lower RPMS. Maybe the air flow at low RPM increases the torque just that tiny bit enough to get rid of that bogging down when taking away from a standstill. Or maybe Im getting better with the clutch, but it did happen all at once after I completed this modification. Anyway, all in all, between the small increase and change in sound, the small boost in peak power/torque I experience in the peak power rev range, and the better throttle response and low RPM power delivery that seems to have gotten rid of a tendency to bog down when taking off from a standstill, all for $150, Im very happy and would definitely recommend the product. I purchased it from Pelican Parts and got free shipping. Please excuse my dirty engine bay, this Millenium Edition has got 157k miles and is my daily driver....

My engine bay picture is too large apparently, but there are pics of it installed in the link above, and heres the torque dyno chart showing the increase at low RPMs I was talking about