One is a streaming all-in-one and the other is an amplifier. Judge them on how many boxes you want and what you already own, not on the spec sheet alone.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | B | Arcam SA20 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 Marantz Model 60n the better fit for desk or near-field listening and a small room, and Arcam SA20 for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | B | Arcam SA20 holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output increases strongly to 150W, where the other increases modestly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Noise floor | A | Marantz Model 60n is the quieter design on paper - 113dB against 106dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Streaming | A | Only Marantz Model 60n has AirPlay 2, Roon and HEOS. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Arcam SA20 takes more analogue sources - 4 against 3. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Marantz Model 60n is Class A/B and Arcam SA20 is Class G. Class A/B runs warm and is the long-established mainstream choice; Class G/H switches its supply rails to cut the heat a Class A/B design wastes. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Arcam SA20 takes up about 17% less shelf area (1580cm² against 1912cm²), and it is 68mm 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 | B | Arcam SA20 is the cheaper watt - about $18 per watt against $27. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Marantz Model 60n B Arcam SA20
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?
Arcam SA20 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Arcam SA20 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.