I have Smithy on my car and love them. I get a lot of compliments on how they sound. I don't think you can go wrong with either.
Exhaust tone is a personal choice. Some like a little louder tone or a possible old school rap to the exhaust and others like a nice mellow tone. I like the Smithy I have on my 53 with flathead motor. It has a nice mellow tone and barks nicely when the engine is revved. I have heard other flatheads with no mufflers, just straight 1.75" pipe to the rear, it sounded awesome. I have to replace my exhaust and I am going to run straight 1.75" pipe to the rear. If it is too loud I can always cut and insert the Smithy's in very easily.
Getting a little off the OP's question, but I have straight pipes on my flathead (duals). It was a little sharp and loud. I added these tips with resonators. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hed-17120/overview/ and took the harshness out of the exhaust and left the deep rumble. And they are east to remove/install to change the sound.
There are a lot of exhaust sounds on youtube.com to chose from by muffler brand and by engine if you use headphones an a PC you will get the best sound effect.
That's funny because I was going to mention them. I want sure if everyone had heard of them so I didn't bring them up.
Had Smithys on the '47 Ford w/ a flatty. I really liked the sound of them. I'm putting them on a '41 Ford pickup with a 302 Ford. I will probably put them on the '54 Club coupe with a 351W also.
When I was a teenager I had a set of Hollywood low tones on a 303 Olds and I thought they sounded really good. Don't know if they even exist anymore??
Now you can't be mentioning cherry bombs and then leave out Thrush. Growing up it seemed like every other car and tool box had that bird's head pasted on it, right next to the STP sticker. This is mine with a 289 -
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