Kit, yeah, I am a hardcore fan of the Waves stuff. I own a Platinum Bundle that I bought about 2 years ago to help me complete some audio editing tasks I was doing for a local museum. I have used the bundle ever since and, although it would be good to have something cheaper, the software works very well and - I think - is the best at what it does. Bar none. For cleaning audio and repairing them, the Waves plugs have helped me work on some very tricky restorations. I worked on some Smithsonian archived audio and those old records were old, very noisy, and had clips all over the place. working with Waves made the task easier because it integrates well with Wavelab (my main audio editor) but it was still a long process of restoring the music to a digital format.
Moreover, I wouldn't really compare UA and Waves plugs simply becausee, even if it is for similar plugs like the analog based EQ models on the UAD-1 and the Waves bundles, all of them sound different. In the long run, you basically keep different EQs and compressors in your plug folder to use on specific tracks because there really isn't a one-for-all EQ, I've found.