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 | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 115W against 125W 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 (180W and 186W). |
| Noise floor | B | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 is the quieter design on paper - 112dB against 98dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Advance Paris Playstream A7 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Amplifier type | depends | Advance Paris Playstream A7 is Solid State and Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 is Hybrid. 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. |
| Price | A | Advance Paris Playstream A7 costs less - $2,499 against $6,499 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Advance Paris Playstream A7 is the cheaper watt - about $22 per watt against $52. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Advance Paris Playstream A7 B Advance Paris NOVA A-i130
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 Playstream A7 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 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. Think about the whole system: the roughly $4,000 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.