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 | A | PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power has more power - 100W against 70W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.5dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| 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 300 Hybrid Power is Hybrid and PrimaLuna EVO 400 Power is Tube. 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. |
| Price | B | PrimaLuna EVO 400 Power costs less - $5,995 against $7,195 at list. |
A PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power B PrimaLuna EVO 400 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?
The usual trade-off: PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power measures better, PrimaLuna EVO 400 Power costs about 17% less. With most speakers in most rooms that gap is smaller in practice than it looks here.
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.