NAM A2 Lite and multi effects using 44.1kHz

I think the main bottleneck of current budget amp modelers is the sample rate of 44.1kHz. NAM natively runs at 48kHz and most (if not all) NAM files are trained at 48kHz. NAM has built in support for different sample rates but it will do resampling which takes an additional DSP load. I think most current Valeton/Hotone/Sonicake/Mooer/M-vave units run at 44.1kHz, even on some of their flagship models. This probably explains why Ampero II Stage's native NAM implementation takes a lot of DSP (based on initial reports), and it seems it's even running A2 Lite, not Full.

This is also my guess why NUX was quickly able to support native NAM A2 Lite on the MG-300 MKII, a budget unit (MG-400 also supports it). I think most NUX units run at 48kHz. Soran is also running 48kHz (which I feel is using NUX technology).

The current Valeton/Hotone units that run at 48kHz are the newer releases: GP-150, GP-180, Pulze Mini. So I think there's a chance these could run native NAM A2 Lite. However it would be hard for Hotone/Valeton to explain to general customers why some budget tier units would run more efficiently compared to their higher end models.

One path they can take is invest more development on improving the quality of their NAM conversion so they could justify not needing to run NAM natively.

Product development on these units could take years before they get released to the market. I think Hotone (as a company) got lucky (or good foresight) with the GP-5, GP-50, Pocket Master in terms of the portability aspect (bluetooth, mobile app support, built in battery).

NUX seems is still catching up on those aspects. Their only battery powered unit right now is their flagship NUX MG-50 Li. Even the upcoming MG-30 MKII doesn't have bluetooth or battery. It doesn't seem to be a cost issue because even the M-vave Tank G has bluetooth & battery. These products probably take years in the pipeline, or maybe they just do not want to cannibalize their own product line up.

It looks like NUX invested more on the DSP aspect, with most of their units running at 48kHz/32-bit. They're also known for low latency (1-2 ms), compared to ~5ms on typical budget units. These aspects are not very marketable to general consumers, some probably don't really care. But it seems NUX got the better end of the stick because NAM came out of nowhere and these companies didn't expect that an open standard would be adapted so quickly.

Even some of the well known high end companies seem to be in denial that NAM is the present and the future, and would insist on using their own capture format exclusively. This is perfectly understandable as they already spent a lot of R&D on their own technology, and of course their best interest is to keep you in their ecosystem.

With all these, I think the Valeton GP-150/180 is in a good position right now. Hardware specs look up to date, the DSP seems capable, memory storage look good (100 capture slots), and it's priced at the sweet spot. I do hope they can still improve the latency. It's up to Valeton how they plan to do things.