I recently bought an Auralic Aries G1 from an online retailer. It was their demo unit and the previous generation but they gave it a full warranty and knocked $1K off the price. Then I bought a new Denafrips Venus 2 12th edition. The match up is heavenly and was the total price for both was right about at your budget. There is not a lot of difference between the G1 and the G1.1.... Several revisions back in my system I had the Bluesound Node 2i and the Denafrips Ares II. It was very good but to my ears the people that are saying that an upscale streamer and App don’t make much of a difference must have a less resolving system. To me it is night and day. Everything has improved and noticeably. Rounding out the system is a Parasound Halo Hint 6 and Martin Logan ESL-X speakers.