I never really noticed a huge difference (exhaust sound-wise) between the DE and HR. This really boils down more to the type of exhaust system installed and how that system was/is tuned.

 

It's the Same exhaust. I switched over the Nismo S-tune from my DE to the HR before I sold the DE. The only difference was the DE had a K&N typhoon intake , so I got an injen dual short ram intakes from my HR but it still sounds very different.

The DE just had this rumbling baritone sound to both the intake and the exhaust. The HR sounds more mechanical and a bit tamer

 

People only care about performance metrics and how tuneable it is sadly. It takes someone like me in nature to look at the whole picture.

 

sound aside, the hr is a vastly better engine, internally its very different.