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 | JBL SA550 C has more power - 90W against 60W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.8dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate JBL SA550 C the better fit for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room, and Primare I15 for desk or near-field listening and a small room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output increases strongly (150W and 100W). |
| Noise floor | A | JBL SA550 C is the quieter design on paper - 106dB against 97dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | A | JBL SA550 C has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Primare I15 takes more analogue sources - 5 against 3. |
| Phono stage | depends | JBL SA550 C has a built-in phono stage (MM) and Primare I15 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. |
| Headphones | depends | Only JBL SA550 C has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier class | depends | JBL SA550 C is Class G and Primare I15 is Class D. Class G/H switches its supply rails to cut the heat a Class A/B design wastes; Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Price | B | Primare I15 costs less - $1,695 against $1,999 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | JBL SA550 C is the cheaper watt - about $22 per watt against $28. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A JBL SA550 C B Primare I15
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?
JBL SA550 C leads across most of the measured areas for a fairly modest premium, so it is the easier pick if the budget stretches. Primare I15 is the one to take if it does not. If you play records, JBL SA550 C saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely. If you already own a DAC or a streamer, the built-in one is money you are paying twice for, and Primare I15 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.