These are not the same size of amplifier: Michi M8 has roughly 14.6x the power of Naim Uniti Nova. That is about 11.7dB, so it is a question of room size and how hard your speakers are to drive, not of one being the better amplifier.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Michi M8 has more power - 1170W against 80W into 8 ohms. That is about 11.7dB - a different class of amplifier rather than a bigger version of the same one, and far more than most rooms will ever ask for. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Michi M8 the better fit for a large room and a very large room, and Naim Uniti Nova for desk or near-field listening, a small room and a mid-size room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Naim Uniti Nova has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (2). |
| Use with a TV | depends | Only Naim Uniti Nova 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. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Naim Uniti Nova has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Shelf space | depends | Naim Uniti Nova takes up about 39% less shelf area (1371cm² against 2255cm²), and it is 149mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | Naim Uniti Nova costs less - $6,899 against $9,499 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Michi M8 is the cheaper watt - about $8 per watt against $86. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Michi M8 B Naim Uniti Nova
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?
Michi M8 is ahead, but on only 1 of the measured areas, and it costs about 38% more. That is a lot of money for a narrow margin - Naim Uniti Nova is the sensible buy unless a specific feature above decides it for you. Start with the room. In a large or open-plan room, or with speakers that are hard to drive - low sensitivity, or an impedance that dips - Michi M8 has the headroom, and headroom is what stops an amplifier hardening up on peaks. At desk distance or in a small room, 80 watts is already more than most people ever use, and the extra 1090 watts would be headroom you pay for and never hear - we rate Michi M8 poorly for near-field use for exactly that reason. If this sits under a television, Naim Uniti Nova is the one to buy - HDMI ARC means the TV remote controls the volume and there is no second box in the way.
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.