Different price classes - Devialet Astra costs roughly 1.7x what Technics SU-R1000 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 - 150W against 150W 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 nearly doubles (300W and 300W). |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Technics SU-R1000 takes more analogue sources - 5 against 2. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Technics SU-R1000 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Devialet Astra is ADH (Analog Digital Hybrid) and Technics SU-R1000 is Class D. Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Devialet Astra takes up about 25% less shelf area (1490cm² against 1974cm²), and it is 73mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | Technics SU-R1000 costs less - $11,999 against $20,000 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Technics SU-R1000 is the cheaper watt - about $80 per watt against $133. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Devialet Astra B Technics SU-R1000
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?
Technics SU-R1000 is the easier recommendation: it leads on most of the measured areas and costs less. Take Devialet Astra if one of the "depends" rows above describes your system. Think about the whole system: the roughly $8,001 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.