Here are the direct comparisons of these cartridges that I'm aware of:
1. On our Teres 265 and/or 320 + TriPlanar VII:
- Airy 2, copper coils, silver weight
- Airy 3, copper coils, silver weight
- UNIverse, copper coils, silver weight
- UNIverse, silver coils, silver weight
- UNIverse, gold coils, silver weight
Compared by: myself, Paul and two experienced audio friends. One of them owns more stepups than Raul owns cartridges, plus multiple cartridges and several good arms, including a Schroeder and a TriPlanar. The other is the fellow who built our custom amp and will be building our custom preamp. He runs a Verdier/Schroeder/Onyx Platinum. I believe they would both concur with what I wrote above. One of them bought a UNIverse a few weeks after visiting us, even though his stated reason for the visit was to find some reason NOT to buy one. ;-) The other guy would buy one, but he has two young kids to pay for.
2. On Cello's Teres 340 + Graham 2.2
- Airy 2, copper coils, silver weight
- Airy 3, copper coils, silver weight
- UNIverse, copper coils, silver weight
- UNIverse, silver coils, silver weight
Compared by: Cello, an experienced friend of his, Paul and myself (except Paul and I didn't hear the silver coil UNIverse in his system, only in ours). In Cello's system the Airy 2 was slightly preferable to the Airy 3, as discussed in the review. There was no debate about the UNIverse however. Cello called Mehran and ordered one while we were sitting there.