Firstly about acoustic guitars (steel string), pick the right size. There's the Jumbo, Dreadnought, Grand Concert, Grand Auditorium. Solid tops sound better than laminate tops as they age. Cutaway or no cutaway, depending on your preference.
Decent (acoustic) guitars within your price range can be found from Martin, Ibanez, Fender, Epiphone and of course, Yamaha.
But when you really want to buy a "high-end" acoustic guitar, look into Maton, Martin again, Taylor, Ovation/Adamas. Avoid Gibson, Ibanez and Fender's so-called "high end" acoustic guitars. Because they don't look, sound or feel high end at all.