viewtopic.php?f=55&t=2382 is the best place for exhaust sounds, however most of them are revving in neutral, not drive bys so a lot of them won't give you all the info you need.
To intake I have had the Cobb short ram in box and I thought it was a really good intake but too noisy for my liking. Fun for a bit but too much for 365 days a year. Lots of suction sound and bov sounds - because the bov vents into the intake and the short ram + pod makes all intake related sounds more prominent.
I now have an apexi panel filter in the stock box, which is fine for me. That with the resonator removed gives a little intake sound without being excessive.
If you get the pod and don't like it you will have no trouble selling it I imagine, so you'll only be losing a bit of cash. Prob < $100.
In terms of power between the intake types, with just an exhaust and intake I'd say the difference is almost zip.