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 | PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power has more power - 100W against 40W into 8 ohms. That is about 4dB, so it plays usefully louder before it runs out and has more in hand on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate PrimaLuna EVO 100 Power the better fit for desk or near-field listening and a small room, and PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Analogue inputs | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (1). |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier type | depends | PrimaLuna EVO 100 Power is Tube and PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power 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 | PrimaLuna EVO 100 Power takes up about 28% less shelf area (1128cm² against 1559cm²). |
| Price | A | PrimaLuna EVO 100 Power costs less - $3,095 against $7,195 at list. |
A PrimaLuna EVO 100 Power B PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power
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?
PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power is ahead, but on only 1 of the measured areas, and it costs about 132% more. That is a lot of money for a narrow margin - PrimaLuna EVO 100 Power 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 - PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power has the headroom, and headroom is what stops an amplifier hardening up on peaks. At desk distance or in a small room, 40 watts is already more than most people ever use, and the extra 60 watts would be headroom you pay for and never hear - we rate PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power poorly for near-field use for exactly that reason. Think about the whole system: the roughly $4,100 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.