I'm not even going to bore you by writing the same thing as everyone else, I'll just cover all the important things that they all left out and a few things they are wrong about.

If you decide to add forced induction to your vehicle, regardless of which method you choose there's a whole lot more too it than what was previously mentioned. However I'd like to first point out that there is a significant difference between a Blow off valve and a waste gate. If you're turbocharged you have both, it's not one or the other. The sound you hear is the release of pressure between the intake and the intake manifold so the piping doesn't blow up. That air is released by the blow off valve. A waste gate is the blocking plate that controls the flow of exhaust through the turbo's hot side. So the "bad ass" sound is from a blow off valve that doesn't recirculate, this isn't actually a good thing.

Anyway the important things missed:
1. Either way you'll be dealing with heat soak, much more with a turbo than with a supercharger

2. Superchargers are much easier to implement, they don't often require special parts to be made, for example: exhaust manifolds, mounting brackets, piping...

3. Turbo parts are more expensive and there are more of them

4. Heat soak will eventually kill your engine if your turbo is placed improperly it's possible for it to literally melt any piston near it

5. Tuning a turbo is more difficult than a supercharger

6. Either way you'll need new computer chips

7. A supercharger is more readily run without an intercooler

8. Turbochargers are higher maintenance

If a control part on your turbocharged setup goes out, such as a boost controller, a waste gate, a blow off valve, a turbine blade, manifold, you WILL blow the head off your engine.

So ultimately which is a better choice? Still depends on what you want and how much you're willing to spend.

If you want a more reliable way to get power throughout the power band, albeit likely a lower level, the go all motor.

This isn't an opinionated article, these examples are from experience. I didn't just Google it.

Learn more about this author, Neil Young.
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