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 | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 100W against 90W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Marantz Model 30 the better fit for a large room and a very large room, and Yamaha A-S1200 for a small room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | A | Marantz Model 30 holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output nearly doubles to 200W, where the other increases strongly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Noise floor | B | Yamaha A-S1200 is the quieter design on paper - 110dB against 88dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Analogue inputs | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (6). |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Marantz Model 30 is Class D and Yamaha A-S1200 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. |
| Price | evenly matched | Priced within a few per cent of each other. |
A Marantz Model 30 B Yamaha A-S1200
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 your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Marantz Model 30 is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating.
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.