No slouch,
Read my reviews of both cartridges if you haven't (link by my signature). Short version:
The Airy 3 is a great cartridge. It has the tonal balance, accurate voicing and seamless integration of all ZYXs, but it's faster, more dynamic and more full-bodied than its lesser cousins. It's easily worth the extra vs. the Airy 2 (especially at Mehran's discounted prices).
The UNIverse is on a different plane. It does all the above, better, and has a much lower noise floor and finer resolution. It portrays the most complex musical lines with ease. Imagine Wagner's 'Die Walkure' with all nine sopranos going stong and Wotan thundering in the background. You can point to and name each of them. At the same time you will hear every instrument in the orchestra, and I mean individual instruments in a section playing the same line. Individual cellists and bassists. Individual horns and clarinets. If there's a large chorus you will hear individual singers. Yet none of this comes from any sense of over-hyped detail. The UNIverse simply plays more of what's on the recording. Small ensembles and soloists are so clearly and physically presented they are in the room with you.
If you have the table, arm and system to do it justice (a very important question) a UNIverse will outplay an Airy 3 by a margin that makes comparisons meaningless. It is not only worth the extra cost, in my opinion and that of the others mentioned by SirSpeedy it is a bargain.
Both cartridges come in silver or copper coil versions. The copper is pure, neutral and faster. The silver is decidedly warmer and smoothed a bit. My taste is definitely for pure, neutral and fast, YMMV of course. Depending on your arm you'll probably want the optional weight also. The performance without it will not be nearly so good.
***
SirSpeedy,
Yup, that was one exciting afternoon ... evening ... night ... morning ... oy!
30 of those LPs were from the complete Harnoncourt/Bach cantatas I finally found on ebay, after 24 months of searching. Last year I was outbid on another set by some lunatic who paid > $100 PER VOLUME (two LPs per) for 35 volumes! I just got all 35 volumes for just over $10 per.
Of course I got what I paid for. The vinyl's fine but the idiot owner had left that stupid piece of foam which record companies used to put inside boxed sets, for 30 years. As I'm sure you know, that stuff eventually turns to a powdery dust that gets everywhere and sticks like glue. Getting it off the vinyl is possible, but it's not easy and it's not fast.
In addition, the owner was from FL and obviously stored the records in non A/C conditions for a while. Yes, I mean mold and mildew on most of those 60 sides. Buy stock in Buggtussel before the word hits the street!
I still have 14 LPs from that collection to clean. Wanna drive up and watch? ;-)
