Ended up with the K&N Filtercharger panel, and must say, it's made a noticable difference. Acceleration is much smoother, picks up a little better from lows revs and unless my ears are deceiving me the exhaust note sounds a tad throatier as well. My DTE was 204 after a $25 fill of Optimax, and after installing the K&N just after, was 240 with much heavier driving.
Cost was $135, but no more buying replacement paper filters so it works out cheaper in the end.