Difference between tekbox TBWA vs TBDA models

[julianhigginson]

So, I was looking at these tekbox RF amps.
they sell a range of them nowdays
https://emcsupplies.com/collections/rf-amplifiers

one pair, with either 20dB gain, or 40dB gain are called the TBWA (Wideband AMP) series
https://www.tekbox.com/product/TBWA2_Manual.pdf

the other pair with 12 dB gain, 24dB gain are called the TBDA (Driving Amp) series...
https://www.tekbox.com/product/TBDA1_Manual.pdf

the thing is though, there only seems to be 1-2 dB difference in the output level...
TBWA goes to +20dBm for 1dB compression point,  and TBDA goes to 21 or 22dBm depending on frequency..

In this case - what's the point of the TBDA models? yes they are called driving amps, but if they don't drive noticeably higher than the normal wideband amps, what do they actually do? it seems to me that you can do almost the everything the same with the TBDA, but they have nicer gain amounts.

It's possible I'm missing something here, in which case I'd love to know what.

[julianhigginson]

I'm still wondering what the difference is meant to be here (other than the obvious gain and bandwidth specs) And would really appreciate it if someone would like to help explain?

It seems to me that if you have one amp that will get to +20dBm output at it's 1dB compression point  and another amp that will get to +22dBm at its 1dB compression point, there's really not that much difference in terms of what each of them could drive.

Or is there something else that I'm not seeing with these "Driving Amp" models?

[CopperCone]

Not sure but old hp microwave power/signal amplifiers had this peculiarity. I looked at the specs and I was surprised to see it was only a few dB difference.

Something you missed: 3 vs 6 GHz

but the driver one seems alot worse in general? also a bit cheaper. Would love some one with experience to do a detailed analysis.

[julianhigginson]

Yeah I saw the bandwidth, but it's the relatively tiny output level difference for 1db compression that is the bit I really don't get.

But yes, the bandwidth makes the DA models even less relevant.