One is a streaming all-in-one and the other is an amplifier. Judge them on how many boxes you want and what you already own, not on the spec sheet alone.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE has more power - 150W against 100W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.8dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output increases strongly (250W and 155W). |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Streaming | A | Only Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE has AirPlay 2 and Chromecast. |
| Phono stage | depends | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE has a built-in phono stage (MM) and Cambridge EXA100 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 | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE is Class D and Cambridge EXA100 is Class A/B. Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle; Class A/B runs warm and is the long-established mainstream choice. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE takes up about 26% less shelf area (1185cm² against 1595cm²). |
| Price | B | Cambridge EXA100 costs less - $2,199 against $3,299 at list. |
A Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE B Cambridge EXA100
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?
The usual trade-off: Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE measures better, Cambridge EXA100 costs about 33% less. With most speakers in most rooms that gap is smaller in practice than it looks here. If you play records, Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely. Think about the whole system: the roughly $1,100 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.