Interesting, i always wondered why the machine rN better with a smaller air filter surface area and the only thing I could think of was that Stinger, and it definitely runs better than the stock filter. However I must admit that the change of filter was done at the same time as the AR exhaust and I am sure that made a performance difference too. So I suppose it is a which came first the chicken or the egg.
I took off the AR exhaust and am currently running the BaffleEctomy and the biggest difference I have noticed is less noise.