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 | PS Audio BHK Mono 600 has more power - 600W against 140W into 8 ohms. That is about 6.3dB - 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 PS Audio Stellar S300 the better fit for desk or near-field listening, a small room and a mid-size room, and PS Audio BHK Mono 600 for a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Noise floor | evenly matched | Much the same signal-to-noise ratio (100dB vs 100dB). |
| Analogue inputs | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (1). |
| Amplifier type | depends | PS Audio Stellar S300 is Solid State and PS Audio BHK Mono 600 is Hybrid. 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 | PS Audio Stellar S300 takes up about 15% less shelf area (1316cm² against 1544cm²), and it is 51mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | A | PS Audio Stellar S300 costs less - $1,999 against $14,999 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | PS Audio Stellar S300 is the cheaper watt - about $14 per watt against $25. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A PS Audio Stellar S300 B PS Audio BHK Mono 600
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?
Neither runs away with it - they trade advantages. Let the "depends" rows and the speakers you already own settle it. 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 - PS Audio BHK Mono 600 has the headroom, and headroom is what stops an amplifier hardening up on peaks. At desk distance or in a small room, 140 watts is already more than most people ever use, and the extra 460 watts would be headroom you pay for and never hear - we rate PS Audio BHK Mono 600 poorly for near-field use for exactly that reason. Think about the whole system: the roughly $13,000 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.