I've seen the article here that showed APEXi intake is the best... it had the best filtering of all.

The worst was the HKS cone filter, and the Blitz steel filter, both did badly.

 

Blitz is a high-end company that puts a lot of time/money into research and development of their parts. Your average AutoZone brand is more of the "get it done as cheap as possible" type.

I actually have an extra Apex'i filter, but you'd have to make an adapter for you MAS...

 

i paid $50 for the steel mesh filter and $15 for the adapter.

 

Paying a lot doesn't make it a good part.

Bottom line - the steel mesh probably flows a lot of air, but it also probably does a crappy job of filtering. So you have a lot of dirty air going into your motor.