Best integrated amp for imaging/soundstage at $1K?

Listened at length to the Jolida 1301 hybrid integrated and it is very good with stock Chinese tubes. Imagine hardwiring a PC and rolling the tubes. Antique Sound Labs also has great integrateds. Audio Refinement very good.

Listening to the KandyIII as I type this. The amp has been in my system for nearly a year. It replaced the Audio Refinement Complete you also mention. It sounds wonderful to me and has many features I find useful including remote, headphone out, and phono input. There are many fine integrateds out there and the Roksan ranks with the best in its price range. Good luck.

Buy a used Classe Integrated: Cap-100, 101, 150, or 151.

Densen B-100, if you can find one. A true minimalist solid state design, with what has been described as a tube-like treble. They have been discontinued and will shortly be replaced by a new model.