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 | Primare I35 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 | B | Primare I35 holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output nearly doubles to 300W, where the other increases strongly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Noise floor | B | Primare I35 is the quieter design on paper - 100dB against 97dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Phono stage | depends | McIntosh MA252 has a built-in phono stage and Primare I35 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 | B | Only Primare I35 offers preamp outputs - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Headphones | depends | Only McIntosh MA252 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier type | depends | McIntosh MA252 is Hybrid and Primare I35 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. |
| Shelf space | depends | McIntosh MA252 takes up about 32% less shelf area (1347cm² against 1970cm²). |
| Price | B | Primare I35 costs less - $4,595 against $5,000 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Primare I35 is the cheaper watt - about $31 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 Primare I35
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?
Primare I35 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 - Primare I35 is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating. If you play records, McIntosh MA252 saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely.
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.