A new pair of Milab VM-44's are hard to beat in that sorta price range and they sound great. Full Compass has a 6 month, no interest, "credit" special going at various times which may be worth checking in to. Basically you get a Full Compass credit card that is in your best
interest to pay off before the 6 month promo expires.
I absolutely
DO NOT like the Milab VM-44 Link
shock mounting option and have considered adding a pair of VM-44 Classic (full bodies) to the arsenal, especially if a hyper cap becomes available for these.
Also, there may be a VM-44 Link "stereo bar" option available in the future... Which would eliminate the Milab "spear" shock mounts for the 44-links. That would make me very happy.
And a nice used pair of Gefell M20, M21, M27 for 1400-1500 would be sorta close to the price range that you mention too.
Dirk also had a demo pair of Nevaton MK49's for around 1600 recently as well... Nice mics!!