Different price classes - Primare I15 MM costs roughly 2.2x what Audiolab 6000A does. Expect it to lead on paper; the question is whether you will hear the difference through the speakers you own.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 60W against 50W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Grip on hard loads | A | Primare I15 MM holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output increases strongly to 100W, where the other increases strongly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Noise floor | A | Primare I15 MM is the quieter design on paper - 97dB against 76dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Audiolab 6000A has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | A | Primare I15 MM takes more analogue sources - 5 against 4. |
| Room to grow | B | Only Audiolab 6000A offers a pre-out/main-in loop - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Audiolab 6000A has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Primare I15 MM is Class D and Audiolab 6000A 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 | Primare I15 MM takes up about 25% less shelf area (1200cm² against 1605cm²). |
| Price | B | Audiolab 6000A costs less - $899 against $1,995 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Audiolab 6000A is the cheaper watt - about $18 per watt against $33. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Primare I15 MM B Audiolab 6000A
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. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Primare I15 MM is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating. If you already own a DAC or a streamer, the built-in one is money you are paying twice for, and Primare I15 MM becomes the more rational buy.
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.