It makes quite a difference to the sound of the car (internally). There seems to be a little sound actuator action in “normal” (engine seems louder than when in “eco” and a lot in “sport”.
I wasn’t a fan of the sound actuator when I got my car a week ago, it sounded rattly/rumbly rather than hummy/rumbly (like my Scirocco was). The engine note somehow seems different now, more raspy (probably just in my mind) and I now prefer it. I would guess at a device behind the windscreen causing the noise – this is how it worked on the Scirocco 170TDI and MK6 GTD.
If you don’t like it, you can set the engine to “normal” within “individual” driving mode and have everything else set to “sport” (like steering etc) – although it will dull the throttle response to do this (seems no way of separating sound actuator from pedal response within “engine” setting). You could unplug it if you never want to hear it again but want the “sport” throttle response.