My personal opinion is the FMF does the best job across the board. Their build quality is fantastic, they have several designs to give you all the effects you asked about, and their stuff is easy to find and buy. Pro Circuit makes a great pipe too, but I prefer the nickle plated FMF. I have the SST on my bike and don't run a carburetor spacer. Therefore, my bike is setup for a pretty major top end hit...and it hits!
My only problem was that my bike is a bit old ('87), so the previous owner had to fab some stuff to get an '88 & up pipe to fit. Worked out great!
There are pics of the pipe and mods in the gallery FYI.