No single best amplifier here. What decides it is what you have to drive, what you need to plug in, and how much of the system you want in one box.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Audiolab 7000A has more power - 70W against 50W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.5dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Audiolab 7000A the better fit for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room, and Rega Brio for desk or near-field listening and a small room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Audiolab 7000A has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Rega Brio takes more analogue sources - 4 against 3. |
| Room to grow | A | Only Audiolab 7000A offers preamp outputs and a pre-out/main-in loop - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Shelf space | depends | Rega Brio takes up about 51% less shelf area (745cm² against 1510cm²). |
| Price | A | Audiolab 7000A costs less - $999 against $1,100 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Audiolab 7000A is the cheaper watt - about $14 per watt against $22. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Audiolab 7000A B Rega Brio
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?
Audiolab 7000A 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 Rega Brio 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.