I’ve gone down this same road before, I did catted downpipes and muffler delete and the sound was very raspy/farty. However, I added a resonated X pipe where the remaining factory resonators were and the sound was magnificent. This is a thread by a forum member that inspired me to do this, check out the before and after sound clips:
https://f10.m5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1198054
I am on the same boat as you and refuse to spend 3k for an exhaust. This was by far one of the best sounding cars I had. I recently picked up a 2015 F13, and am doing the same now. The only difference is when this thread I am sharing was first created, magnaflow only offered a 2.5 inch resonated X-pipe, they now offer a 3 inch option on amazon prime (part number 12469), and is what I ordered this time around, as it matches the 3 inch diameter of the factory exhaust.