The discontinued Theta Pearl and Jade transports both offer AES/EBU output on XLR's, and employ the Pioneer Stable Platter mechanism. I own the Pearl and think it sounds great, but I have only compared it against lower-priced one-box players used as transports. The higher-line Jade featured a digital buffer circuit to reduce jitter which the Pearl lacks. Pearls seem to go for about $600-$700 used, Jades a few hundred more, but both are well under your budget max. (Theta dropped these models a couple of years ago to focus on transports based around DVD drives exclusively.)
