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 | A | Naim Nova PE has more power - 150W against 105W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.5dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Naim Nova PE the better fit for a large room and a very large room, and Devialet Expert 140 Pro 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. |
| Speaker load rating | B | Devialet Expert 140 Pro is rated down to 2 ohms against 4, so it is the safer partner for a low-impedance speaker. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Both decode on board. Naim Nova PE goes higher - 384kHz against 192kHz. Very few recordings exist above 192kHz, so treat this as headroom, not as sound quality. |
| Streaming | A | Only Naim Nova PE has AirPlay 2 and Chromecast. |
| Analogue inputs | A | Naim Nova PE takes more analogue sources - 2 against 1. |
| Phono stage | depends | Devialet Expert 140 Pro has a built-in phono stage (MM,MC) and Naim Nova PE 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 | A | Only Naim Nova PE offers preamp outputs - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Naim Nova PE has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Naim Nova PE is Class D and Devialet Expert 140 Pro is ADH (Analog Digital Hybrid). Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Naim Nova PE takes up about 25% less shelf area (1145cm² against 1521cm²), and it is 132mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | Devialet Expert 140 Pro costs less - $6,500 against $9,999 at list. |
A Naim Nova PE B Devialet Expert 140 Pro
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?
The usual trade-off: Naim Nova PE measures better, Devialet Expert 140 Pro costs about 35% less. With most speakers in most rooms that gap is smaller in practice than it looks here. If you play records, Devialet Expert 140 Pro saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely. Think about the whole system: the roughly $3,499 saved by taking the cheaper one would buy better speakers or a subwoofer, which does more for the sound than the difference between two competent amplifiers.
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.