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 | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 50W against 50W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| 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 | evenly matched | The same number of line-level inputs (4). |
| Room to grow | B | Only Audiolab 6000A offers preamp outputs and a pre-out/main-in loop - which decides whether you can add a subwoofer or a power amplifier later without replacing the box. |
| Shelf space | depends | Rega Brio takes up about 54% less shelf area (745cm² against 1605cm²). |
| Price | B | Audiolab 6000A costs less - $899 against $1,100 at list. |
A Rega Brio 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?
Audiolab 6000A is the easier recommendation: it leads on most of the measured areas and costs less. Take Rega Brio if one of the "depends" rows above describes your system. If you already own a DAC or a streamer, the built-in one is money you are paying twice for, and Rega Brio 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.