I have tried many DACs over the years at various price points and I always end up coming back to Lampizator. There is just something about Lampi DACs. You can get a Baltic 4 in your budget, which will be hard to beat unless you spend a lot more money, especially if you are willing to do a little tube rolling, which isn't to say you need to spend a fortune to get great sound. I've got some fairly modest tubes in mine and it sounds amazing. I'll be keeping it unless or until I can upgrade to the Horizon.
Good luck!