My speedie has a 1776 with dual Dellorto carbs. My exhaust is this 4- tip GT exhaust from Empi: https://www.jbugs.com/product/3414.html. It's reasonably quiet, yet still a little bit throaty, unlike the stock VW exhaust. I've discovered that most of the noise I hear while driving is actually from the intakes of my Dellortos. The car gets pretty quiet inside when I put up the top, the wife and I can have a conversation at two-lane backroad speeds without shouting. Can't do that with the top down.
I'm finishing an MG TD replica. It came with the same 4-tip GT exhaust on a 1500 single port. It's rather quiet, without that distinctive VW whistle. I'm changing it to this single-tip GT exhaust, also from Empi: https://www.jbugs.com/product/3487.html. I imagine it will be just as quiet, perhaps moreso, but the reason I'm changing is because the single tip looks more aesthetically correct on an MG TD. I hope this helps.