Pre amp with Dac

I have the C510 (same internals as M51) and would say it's very detailed & doesn't have any glaring faults.  I recently auditioned the Codex and found it just a little bit better all around (but not enough to feel it was worth the price to upgrade).  The following week I heard the Chord Hugo2 and that just seemed to do everything right. Saving my money for one now.

If you want to save some money for other parts of your setup, The Emotiva Stealth DC-1 gets really good reviews. It comes with a remote, one set of RCA inputs, a Balanced DAC, and a great headphone amp.

is having the DAC inside your preamp a must as you really are losing out on many great used Preamps and DAC as separates. having an outboard DAC also lets you upgrade the DAC down the road.  DAC's Are getting smaller by the year and could easily be placed behind another component if you don't want to see it.

Hello The Lumin player is excellrnt and for under $2500 you can get with optional linear tube audio outboard Linear PS and upgraded umbilical cord.beating systems 3x as much and very analog sounding. 
I bought it and added the Synergistic Blue fuses it has 
Tidal with MQA as well as Soon. The Lumin D-1 plentty of very good reviews and the Linear Tube Audio is the best linear power supply for it under $700 - with upgraded umbilical ford.

I'm really liking the audio alchemy dac/preamp unit. With the optional power supply it is exceptional and well within your price range. It was also highly recommended in an absolute sound review.