This is entirely possible through the valving on the exhaust alone, which is what I suspect is really going on.
Could be , but the service tech at Acura stated that it sports plus the ECU adjust parameters on the release of the throttle after the vehicle is warmed up this is where the pops come from. So I’m not sure
My little 1.5 pops and burbles in all drive modes and all I changed was the exhaust. No engine mods whatsoever. No tune no downpipe. Therefore I'm convinced the drive modes do nothing to the engine map and you're getting the soundtrack simply by bypassing a resonator.
The 1.5 and the 2.0 are totally different, the pops and bangs are way more pronounced in the ITS sports plus mode (only happens when the vehicle is warm which would indicate a ECU controlling the pops and bangs). I get what you're saying with the valve , what the Acura tech said makes sense as well, usually pops and bangs come from extra fuel and timing.
There's been some good theories and sound explanations. Acura has been mum on how they engineered it. I suppose for good reason to keep their secret sauce for making a 4CYL vehicle and exhaust sounds so damn good stock.
