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 | B | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 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. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output increases strongly (160W and 250W). |
| Built-in DAC | B | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Streaming | B | Only Cambridge Audio Evo 150 has AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Roon. |
| Use with a TV | depends | Only Cambridge Audio Evo 150 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. |
| Room to grow | B | Only Cambridge Audio Evo 150 offers preamp outputs - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Amplifier type | depends | McIntosh MA252 is Hybrid and Cambridge Audio Evo 150 is Solid State. 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. |
| Price | B | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 costs less - $3,249 against $5,000 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Cambridge Audio Evo 150 is the cheaper watt - about $22 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 McIntosh MA252 B Cambridge Audio Evo 150
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?
Cambridge Audio Evo 150 is the easier recommendation: it leads on most of the measured areas and costs less. Take McIntosh MA252 if one of the "depends" rows above describes your system. If this sits under a television, Cambridge Audio Evo 150 is the one to buy - HDMI ARC means the TV remote controls the volume and there is no second box in the way. 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.