One is a streaming all-in-one and the other is an amplifier. Judge them on how many boxes you want and what you already own, not on the spec sheet alone.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | B | Rotel RA-1572 MKII has more power - 120W against 90W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.2dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Yamaha A-S1200 the better fit for a small room, and Rotel RA-1572 MKII for a large room and a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | evenly matched | Both behave much the same into 4 ohms - output increases strongly (150W and 200W). |
| Noise floor | A | Yamaha A-S1200 is the quieter design on paper - 110dB against 100dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Rotel RA-1572 MKII has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Streaming | evenly matched | Only Rotel RA-1572 MKII has Roon. Neither list is longer in a way that matters - check the one service you actually pay for. |
| Analogue inputs | A | Yamaha A-S1200 takes more analogue sources - 6 against 4. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Shelf space | depends | Rotel RA-1572 MKII takes up about 21% less shelf area (1675cm² against 2123cm²), and it is 102mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | Rotel RA-1572 MKII costs less - $2,100 against $3,000 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Rotel RA-1572 MKII 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 Yamaha A-S1200 B Rotel RA-1572 MKII
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?
Rotel RA-1572 MKII 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 already own a DAC or a streamer, the built-in one is money you are paying twice for, and Yamaha A-S1200 becomes the more rational buy. Think about the whole system: the roughly $900 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.