I have had my Einstein Turntable's Choice XLR for years and beat out many (BAT VK-P10SE, Sonic Frontiers Phono 1 SE, ASR Phono Exclusive, etc). It's above your budget, but RCA version which is 90% of the XLR performance could be within reach in second hand market.
Another one to consider is also German, Restek Miniria+, this one has no visibility in US but can be bought direct from German retailer. It's way below your price range, I heard it in an ultra high end system and it was as good as Einstein or Tom Evan's best effort. I am getting one for my second system.