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 60W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Cambridge Audio CXA61 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Cambridge Audio CXA61 takes more analogue sources - 5 against 4. |
| Phono stage | depends | Rega Brio has a built-in phono stage (MM) and Cambridge Audio CXA61 does not. Decisive if you own a turntable, completely irrelevant if you do not - and an outboard phono stage is easy to add later either way. |
| Room to grow | B | Only Cambridge Audio CXA61 offers preamp outputs and a subwoofer output - 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 53% less shelf area (745cm² against 1595cm²), and it is 25mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | evenly matched | Priced within a few per cent of each other. |
A Rega Brio B Cambridge Audio CXA61
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?
Cambridge Audio CXA61 has the edge on paper, though not by much. The rows marked "depends" are more likely to decide this than the score is. If you play records, Rega Brio saves you buying a phono stage; if you do not, ignore that row entirely. 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.