I bought my 2001 m900 which had the arrow exhaust already installed. Having never heard it with the stock cans, I can attest the arrows are not obnixously loud.
I am always so surprised when i hear this - I had such a different personal experience.
I went from stock to Arrows (no dbs). In the process I drove around for a week with just an udder. I found the bike was jsut as loud, and possibly even more noticeable (maybe in a good way) with the Arrows on. Especially on decel it was just plain evil, and somewhat inappropriate for the town i live in.
I also started to notice tinnitus setting in
![Cry](http://ducatimonsterforum.org/Smileys/classic/cry.gif)
which was probably not 100% bike related, but hte Arrow straight pipes weren't helping, even with ear protection.
With the Db killers i am really happy - it is much louder than stock, but more important to me changes the tone to a deeper, rumblier note that screams when run up into high rpms vs. the stock exhaust that i could never really hear over the clutch.
Personally (and that's all) i think the bike should have come from the factory sounding like this, with the option to open it up for those that wnat it on the track or to be a holligan.