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 | B | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 has more power - 125W against 75W into 8 ohms. That is about 2.2dB, so it plays usefully louder before it runs out and has more in hand on peaks. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output increases modestly (110W and 186W). |
| Noise floor | B | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 is the quieter design on paper - 112dB against 90dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Advance Paris X-i75 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Room correction | B | Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 has room correction. In an awkward room that does more for the sound than any other difference on this page. |
| Amplifier type | depends | Advance Paris X-i75 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. |
| Shelf space | depends | Advance Paris X-i75 takes up about 13% less shelf area (1494cm² against 1728cm²), and it is 56mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | A | Advance Paris X-i75 costs less - $1,299 against $6,499 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Advance Paris X-i75 is the cheaper watt - about $17 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 X-i75 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 NOVA A-i130 is ahead, but on only 1 of the measured areas, and it costs about 5x the price. That is a lot of money for a narrow margin - Advance Paris X-i75 is the sensible buy unless a specific feature above decides it for you. Start with the room. In a large or open-plan room, or with speakers that are hard to drive - low sensitivity, or an impedance that dips - Advance Paris NOVA A-i130 has the headroom, and headroom is what stops an amplifier hardening up on peaks. At desk distance or in a small room, 75 watts is already more than most people ever use, and the extra 50 watts would be headroom you pay for and never hear. 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.