Ping, swords, Mario, duck, it's all attention getting and not the normal release of boost back into the intake during lift throttle shifts.
But I'd get some kind of aftermarket BPV in a heart beat (as silent as possible) if my BPV leaked or if I could make my stock BPV leak. It does not, and I can't get it to, not even at 28,000 miles and with my mods. I'm spiking to 20-21 psi and holding at 17, sometimes 18 psi with my mods on the stock valve.
Personally, I think a lot of "leaking" stock BPV's are needlessly replaced because someone "thinks" their valve is leaking because they have "heard" from less that objective reliable sources that these valves "leak," and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy that the stock valve is bad when the owner really just wants to spend money on a noisemaker that they have to tinker with and adjust and change almost endlessly just to get it to work properly.
I'd rather put my money into mods that produce power gains and leave the sound effects to others, but that's just me.
Here's a chart, I guess everyone has seen by now, where Grassroots Motorsports compared the performance of the stock BPV and the Forge BPV on an MS3. Forge did not "hold boost better."
With the particular adjustments on the Forge for that test, they were able to demonstrate that boost would recover quicker right after a slow granny shift (more lively in language of OP) with the Forge, but when you look closely at the chart, once the ECU allows full power (which does not happen until third gear), the stock BPV held boost better and at higher levels than the Forge. Fact.
And who can use full power in first or second gear anyway? Full throttle just breaks 'em loose for me in both gears. It's third gear and up that you really see whether performance gains are meaningful.
Since I flat shift in competition at 5,500 rpm, there is no manifold vacuum during that kind of shift and no loss in "lively." Yet I get the benefit of the higher boost level of the stock BPV. When I'm driving around town and shifting slowly, I really don't want to be perceived by the general public as giving them armpit farts. But Ii recognize that there are those here who enjoy that experience.
So, I think OP is right about the "lively" provided he is talking about lift throttle granny shifting, and that he is also right in calling out the unnatural sounds produced by this valve.
I agree that we should mod for whatever reasons we like, including sound, but let's be realistic about whether there is any true performance reason to criticize the stock valve.
