Different price classes - Advance Paris NOVA A-i190 costs roughly 1.6x what Advance Paris A12 APEX does. Expect it to lead on paper; the question is whether you will hear the difference through the speakers you own.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 185W against 190W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output increases strongly (276W and 292W). |
| Noise floor | evenly matched | Much the same signal-to-noise ratio (105dB vs 104dB). |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Room correction | A | Advance Paris NOVA A-i190 has room correction (Manual DSP EQ: measure in REW with your own mic, load the file by USB). In an awkward room that does more for the sound than any other difference on this page. |
| Price | B | Advance Paris A12 APEX costs less - $4,999 against $7,999 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Advance Paris A12 APEX is the cheaper watt - about $26 per watt against $43. 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-i190 B Advance Paris A12 APEX
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?
Neither runs away with it - they trade advantages. Let the "depends" rows and the speakers you already own settle it. Think about the whole system: the roughly $3,000 saved by taking the cheaper one would buy better speakers or a subwoofer, which does more for the sound than the difference between two competent amplifiers.
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.