No carrier based aircraft should ever be "near idling" during the approach.....you need the motors spooled up in order to have both good power response (we go up and down on glideslope with the left hand/throttle) as well as acceptable waveoff/bolter capability, especially with really poorly performing and slow spooling motors like the Tomcat had. More aerodynamically efficient airframes like the Tomcat and T-45 use/used things like speedbrakes open to artificially drive the power requirement higher while still being able to fly a ~3.5 degree glideslope. One thing the Tomcat did have, which might contribute to it being quieter, was Direct Lift Control (DLC), which allowed the pilot at least in theory, to keep the throttles steadier while dumping lift via DLC vs chopping the throttles. Or maybe it was just different intake aerodynamics......most of the noise you hear on approach is coming from the fan, not from the tailpipe. What you will hear with the Hornet is typically louder multiple throttle corrections to correct glideslope deviations. Power down to correct a climb, power back up above what is required to maintain glideslope to stop the descent, and then back to your "neutral power setting" that will then hold glideslope. These are very rapid throttle movements, but the effect is a lot of little surges of power and the fan speeds changing quite frequently and I'd imagine creating more noise. That being said, a lot of us use a minor amount of "Hornet DLC" in close, to avoid bringing the power back too far, which would get you severely underpowered after entering the "burble".......ie you waggle the wings really gently and rapidly, which kills some lift (tiny little wings), without actually inducing a lineup problem, and all the while you are able to keep the motors spooled up and ready to respond if you start to settle. Hopefully that babbling paragraph of run on sentences made some sense