Lots of good "step up" lathes to choose from. Mori Seiki made awesome lathes. Think of something as accurate as a Hardinge or Monarch but with greater capacity. They also licensed several Korean companies to sell clones that are very well made. Hwacheon is one such. There are other great Japanese lathes as well such as Okuma and Takisawa.
Also consider the Nardinis. They were made in Brazil of all places, but seem to be extremely well regarded.
I mention these in addition to the Taiwan lathes, which seem a cut above Chinese lathes.
There are a number of good European makes. Emco (not Enco!) made lovely lathes that come up sometimes. For more money there are Schaublin and Rivett lathes as well.
There are various interesting and well made clones of the Hardinge lathes. For example, Feeler made them in Taiwan.
All of these are pricier than buying a "one better" model of the various Chinese machines, but they have correspondingly higher performance.
I keep a page of tool brands so I have notes on which things folks are recommending:
http://www.thewarfields.com/cnccookb...rcesBrands.htm
Visit Practical Machinist to see what the pros there like.
Cheers,
BW