New Phono Pre-Amp

A Black Cube, Musical Surroundings Phenomena, or Trichord Dino, would be candidates in that price range.

If you decide to audition or buy the Black Cube, I strongly recommend you get the Black Cube SE with the new, larger power supply. I have owned both, and the "SE" version is a significant improvement over the original model.

I spent only slightly more than that on my used Camelot Technology Lancelot, which Fremer rated above the others mentioned FWIW (it sells for about $900-$1K new). It's battery-powered BTW, something which I suspect is a very canny design choice for a phonostage, and permits relatively easy loading- and gain-resistor swaps. It also sounds great, to me. Somewhat unwieldy physically however (2-chassis, though not too large), and it ain't exactly beautiful to behold. Excellent supportive company to deal with concerning any eventualities, and made in USA.

If you look long and hard enough, you might find the EAR 834P at that price...it's a cut above the units mentioned thus far, and has that "tube magic".