No single best amplifier here. What decides it is what you have to drive, what you need to plug in, and how much of the system you want in one box.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | B | NAD C 399 has more power - 180W against 140W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.1dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate PS Audio Stellar S300 the better fit for desk or near-field listening, a small room and a mid-size room, and NAD C 399 for a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | A | PS Audio Stellar S300 holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output nearly doubles to 300W, where the other barely increases. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Noise floor | A | PS Audio Stellar S300 is the quieter design on paper - 100dB against 95dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | B | NAD C 399 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | B | NAD C 399 takes more analogue sources - 2 against 1. |
| Phono stage | depends | NAD C 399 has a built-in phono stage (MM) and PS Audio Stellar S300 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. |
| Use with a TV | depends | Only NAD C 399 has HDMI eARC, 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 NAD C 399 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Shelf space | depends | PS Audio Stellar S300 takes up about 28% less shelf area (1316cm² against 1818cm²), and it is 113mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | A | PS Audio Stellar S300 costs less - $1,999 against $2,899 at list. |
A PS Audio Stellar S300 B NAD C 399
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?
NAD C 399 is ahead, but on only 1 of the measured areas, and it costs about 45% more. That is a lot of money for a narrow margin - PS Audio Stellar S300 is the sensible buy unless a specific feature above decides it for you. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - PS Audio Stellar S300 is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating. If you play records, NAD C 399 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.