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 | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 100W against 120W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Streaming | evenly matched | Only Yamaha R-N1000A has AirPlay 2. Neither list is longer in a way that matters - check the one service you actually pay for. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Rotel RA-1572 MKII takes more analogue sources - 4 against 3. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Price | B | Rotel RA-1572 MKII costs less - $2,100 against $2,300 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Rotel RA-1572 MKII is the cheaper watt - about $18 per watt against $23. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Yamaha R-N1000A 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.
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.