I had a chance to meet Dan Wright and hear the Modwright preampm at RAMF. It was paired with Dusty Vawter's CIA D-200 amps. This set-up sounded extremely nice and I was very impressed with the preamp, which was also used in a few other systems at the show. I also met Keith Herron and heard the new Herron prototype preamp and think highly of their products. Keith Herron is a very talented so as Jond says, you may want to check out VTSP-1A whcih is still available.
If you're looking for a DAC that brings music to life I would recommend you listen to non-oversampling filterless DAC designs. The better of these designs are very close to analog in their music reproduction. Audio Note, 47 Labs, Scott Nixon, Audio Zone, and Audio Mirror, which is the one I own, are all very good and you should be able to find something in your budget with one of those vendors (I'm biased but I think the Audio Mirror is a great value at $500). Personally I would stay away from tubes here. An excellent tube preamp would provide much better returns on sound improvement.
By the way, I own a Cary SLP-98L which is also a fine tube preamp. You can find them used on Audiogon in your price range, but they're over $3k new.
Good luck with your search.
