Different price classes - Naim Uniti Nova costs roughly 5.3x what Yamaha WXA-70A 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 | B | Naim Uniti Nova has more power - 80W against 55W into 8 ohms. That is about 1.6dB, which is a small step in loudness but real headroom on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Yamaha WXA-70A the better fit for desk or near-field listening and a small room, and Naim Uniti Nova for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Built-in DAC | evenly matched | Both have a DAC on board with much the same capability. |
| Streaming | evenly matched | The same streaming platforms and services on both. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Naim Uniti Nova takes more analogue sources - 2 against 1. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Naim Uniti Nova has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Shelf space | depends | Yamaha WXA-70A takes up about 57% less shelf area (587cm² against 1371cm²), and it is 49mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | A | Yamaha WXA-70A costs less - $1,300 against $6,899 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Yamaha WXA-70A is the cheaper watt - about $24 per watt against $86. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Yamaha WXA-70A B Naim Uniti Nova
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?
Naim Uniti Nova is ahead, but on only 1 of the measured areas, and it costs about 5.3x the price. That is a lot of money for a narrow margin - Yamaha WXA-70A is the sensible buy unless a specific feature above decides it for you. Think about the whole system: the roughly $5,599 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.