Help me choose Parasound or McCormack

I just bought the p3 preamp and I really like it. I heard the .5 is good, but not great without the upgrades. I can't afford the upgrades. The a23 has gotten great reviews. I honestly don't care much about getting components from the same manufacturer just for the namesake.

Thanks Blindjim. I looked at the odysey, there's a pair going for $1150, but its not the SE version. What's the difference? I can't find any vk500 now. But the vk600 runs around $6k. Is the vk500 usually in the $1k range used?

Did some research, the vk500 seems incredible. But it's way beyond my budget. A 2 channel ss amp for less than $1k is about all I can afford.