A valve amplifier against a solid-state one. They are not really rivals: they differ in character, in what they will drive and in what owning them involves, so start there rather than with the watts.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 has more power - 125W against 80W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.9dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Naim Uniti Nova has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Streaming | B | Only Naim Uniti Nova has AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Roon. |
| Phono stage | depends | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 has a built-in phono stage and Naim Uniti Nova does not. Decisive if you own a turntable, completely irrelevant if you do not - and an outboard phono stage is easy to add later either way. |
| Room to grow | A | Only Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 offers a pre-out/main-in loop - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Amplifier type | depends | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 is Hybrid and Naim Uniti Nova is Solid State. Valve designs are usually warmer and softer at the limits and need their tubes replaced eventually; solid state is the lower-maintenance choice. This is a taste and ownership decision, not a quality one. |
| Shelf space | depends | Naim Uniti Nova takes up about 21% less shelf area (1371cm² against 1728cm²), and it is 86mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | A | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 costs less - $6,499 against $6,899 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 is the cheaper watt - about $52 per watt against $86. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 B Naim Uniti Nova
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is. If you play records, Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely. If you already own a DAC or a streamer, the built-in one is money you are paying twice for, and Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 becomes the more rational buy.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.