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 | B | Emotiva BasX A2+ has more power - 160W against 110W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.6dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Integra DTM-7.4 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | A | Integra DTM-7.4 takes more analogue sources - 3 against 2. |
| Phono stage | depends | Integra DTM-7.4 has a built-in phono stage (MM) and Emotiva BasX A2+ 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. |
| Use with a TV | depends | Only Integra DTM-7.4 has HDMI ARC, so the television can drive it directly and one remote controls the volume. If the system is for music only, this changes nothing. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Integra DTM-7.4 is Class G and Emotiva BasX A2+ is Class A/B. Class G/H switches its supply rails to cut the heat a Class A/B design wastes; 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. |
| Price | B | Emotiva BasX A2+ costs less - $799 against $950 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Emotiva BasX A2+ is the cheaper watt - about $5 per watt against $9. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Integra DTM-7.4 B Emotiva BasX A2+
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?
Neither runs away with it - they trade advantages. Let the "depends" rows and the speakers you already own settle it. If you play records, Integra DTM-7.4 saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely. If this sits under a television, Integra DTM-7.4 is the one to buy - HDMI ARC means the TV remote controls the volume and there is no second box in the way.
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.