Which Budget HT Bypass Option?

I will second the recommendation on the PS Audio Steller Gain DAC/preamp.  It is going to be a superior sounding preamp to all of your other choices, and it does include a very excellent DAC - better than the TEAC UD-301.  If you can swing the cost, I would go in that direction.  And it will leave you open for a better high current amp.  The Emotiva A-500 is somewhat light, in my opinion, but it's all about budget! lol.
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The Parasound P6 is like a "jack of all trades" preamp with any sort of feature you can think of, but it does not have the best audio circuit and the DAC isn't that great (even though the new one uses ESS Sabre, it's all about the I/V analog circuit).
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The Emotiva XSP-1 is said to be very good, but I have not had good performance with the Emotiva DAC and preamps I have tested.  They usually sound compressed and closed in.  The XSP does have one set of fully discrete analog stages (most likely the final output), but the rest of the analog stages is littered with op amps (which Emotiva likes to use the OPA2134 a lot, and sometimes LM4562).  Then again, it is probably better than the Parasound P6, but it does not have a built-in DAC.

The PS looks pretty nice.  I think it will be a few weeks before I make a decision.

I had been looking at the Parasound P5 a while back, but recently became aware of the PS Audio Stellar Gain DAC/pre-amp, which includes home theater bypass.  So, I ordered one and am about to hook it up, once I receive my xlr interconnects.  The DAC implementation in it is supposed to be very good, as is the analog performance.  We shall see.