I have seen the AWE IC's they are quite abit larger then both stock and RS4. The only argument I have herd (and I don't know if this is true) is that the AWE IC's have smaller inlets and thus can restrict hp.
I know for sure that the RS4 Ic's have bigger inlet and outlet piping but if this makes a difference I don't know. All I can say is you would assume that the Audi people thought that the inlets needed to be bigger.

As for the AWE Ic's I would assume that they would not need a hose kit due to the fact that thay are the same inlet diameter as stock

 

No hose kit, they use the stockers. I just installed them last weekend. The inlet/outlet is the same size as OEM.



Yes, the RS4's have bigger IN/OUT, that's one of the reasons you need a hose kit. Since the hoses need to tapper to attach to the turbo & uppipe, I don't see any performance gain there. OF course if you added the whole RS4 turbo to throttle body, then it all be larger diameter, and I'm sure help HP up top. But then your looking at $4000 in parts!

 

Wow definitely a clean look. I agree that there might be a minimal difference in the total upgrade of the RS4. But from the look of it there is no restriction in those Ic's. Not only that butthey are clean install even better than the RS4.

In the end it doesnt matter to me they don't fit on a 4.2 : (