I think the big advantage of the brake is being able to shoot multiple rounds instead of just a few. In my experience the brake is loud, but not what people make it out to be. My friend took her "ears" off while we were shooting, I didn't notice and fired my braked 300WM while she was sitting next to me. She said it was loud, but didn't have any ringing in her ears and was fine.

While at the range the other day, we were shooting the .260 and braked 300WM. There was one other shooter on the range shooting his 300WM. After seeing my female friend putting 20+ 300WM rounds downrange, he came over and was asking about the rifle's setup, telling us he wants to get a brake on his 300 because he could only shoot 12 rounds and had to take break because the recoil was too much. So a 105lb woman was able to put more rounds downrange than a ~180lb man all thanks to a well designed brake. Shooting next to the brake isn't a big deal either. Plus. seeing the rounds hit is a bonus.

Now on a hunting rifle, a brake is debatable, depending on the rifle's purpose, e.g. hog gun, varmint gun were a faster follow up shot may be needed because of multiple hogs, yotes etc. So I think the brake making the rifle intolerably "loud" is just hype, along with hurricane force muzzle blast; though it does depend on how well the brake is designed. It's not a jet engine after all.