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 100W 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 Naim Nova PE the better fit for a very large room, and Yamaha A-S3200 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. |
| Grip on hard loads | A | Naim Nova PE holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output increases strongly to 250W, where the other increases strongly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Naim Nova PE has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Streaming | A | Only Naim Nova PE has AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Roon. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Yamaha A-S3200 takes more analogue sources - 7 against 2. |
| Phono stage | depends | Yamaha A-S3200 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 | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Naim Nova PE is Class D and Yamaha A-S3200 is Class A/B. Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle; Class A/B runs warm and is the long-established mainstream choice. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Naim Nova PE takes up about 46% less shelf area (1145cm² against 2136cm²), and it is 226mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | Yamaha A-S3200 costs less - $8,000 against $9,999 at list. |
A Naim Nova PE B Yamaha A-S3200
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?
Naim Nova PE leads across most of the measured areas for a fairly modest premium, so it is the easier pick if the budget stretches. Yamaha A-S3200 is the one to take if it does not. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Naim Nova PE is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating. If you play records, Yamaha A-S3200 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.