Philips 963 or NAD 541i

Thanks for the feedback guys, looks like the Philips 963 is the way to go for me. I haven't heard anyone concerned about the absence of balanced outputs on this unit? Is this a concern, or for $400 is it not expected?

If you end up with the 963, let it run 24/7 for 6-7 days before doing any serious evaluating on redbook, same goes for sacd..
Use the 6 channel outs as they use superior sounding op amps and cap.
I added a used Virtual dynamics power 3 for 50.00 that lowered the noise floor quite a bit.

I also want to mention that any aftermarket pc will plug into the back of the 963 without a 2-3 prong adapter, and the unit responds well to high quality ic's and isolation tweeks, as well as Cardas caps for the unused rca outs.

Thanks alot. I will plan on a power cord upgrade along with caps and possible Cardas reference ics. I'm also planning on running this direct to my amp with EVS nudes in place of my preamp.

I want to run my 963 directly to my amps too. What are EVS nudes?

www.tweakaudio.com will tell you all about them. They run $350 a pair and are used as a volume control for a source run directly into your amp, thus eliminating your preamp & cables. Being relatively new to hi end stuff, I'm not decided on a preamp yet (ss or tube) and I wanted a clean low cost altenative to a simple system. Of course, these would be used on a system that only has one source. I'm very pleased with the performance of my ss amp and tube cdp in this configuration. There are many posts here that discuss the advantages/disadvantages of this type of arrangement. Hope this helped.