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 | A | Hegel H200 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. |
| Speaker load rating | A | Hegel H200 is rated down to 2 ohms against 4, so it is the safer partner for a low-impedance speaker. |
| Noise floor | A | Hegel H200 is the quieter design on paper - 100dB against 97dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Hegel H200 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Streaming | evenly matched | Only Hegel H200 has Chromecast. Neither list is longer in a way that matters - check the one service you actually pay for. |
| Room to grow | A | Only Hegel H200 offers preamp outputs - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Headphones | depends | Only McIntosh MA252 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier type | depends | Hegel H200 is Solid State and McIntosh MA252 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 | McIntosh MA252 takes up about 24% less shelf area (1347cm² against 1763cm²), and it is 30mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | evenly matched | Priced within a few per cent of each other. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Hegel H200 is the cheaper watt - about $33 per watt against $50. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Hegel H200 B McIntosh MA252
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?
Hegel H200 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 McIntosh MA252 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.