Well, a cold-air intake setup is a air inlet system designed to draw cooler air from outside the engine compartment, usually from inside a fender, wheelwell, or the front of the vehicle.
Mass-Air is not a type of intake setup; it is one of the methods of air metering used in Fords to measure the amount of air coming into the engine. Mass-air systems use a Mass-Airflow-Sensor that measure the amount of air (mass) and speed of the incoming air (Airflow) to help determine how much fuel and ignition timing is needed for the engine along with the throttle position sensor, oxygen sensor (sometimes called an O2 sensor), the MAP sensor (short for Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor, sometimes also called the barometric or "baro" sensor), and the knock sensor (which most 2.3 enthusiast disconnect because it's overly sensitive). Mass-air systems are incredibly accurate and are better for performance than their predecessors, known as "Speed-Density" systems, which use all of the sensors except a Mass-Airflow Sensor to collect data and compare it to a set of tables stored in the computer to estimate the amount of fuel and ignition timing needed.
__________________ 1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".) | 
