Personally I don’t quite believe the ‘one bike, two wheelsets’ thing quite works, but if it’s going to you have to compromise somewhere.
Agreed. It is doable, but all depends on the compromise you want to make. If you’re realistic about goals/usage it’s doable.
To illustrate with my own example: I ended up with a Giant Revolt; my compromise was pressfit, and 2x. The Giant is at the less rowdy end of gravel, but still capable: 700×45 or 650×47 (maybe 50) clearance; 11-34 out back and 48-32 up front (and you could go 46-30 with GRX now). The geo works ok as an endurancey road bike, albeit a slightly chunkier one, and it’s fun off road. No fork mounts, 3x bottle mounts. I really get the appeal of 1x off-road, but on – was riding 1x today – I always found the ratios a bit spread out. The front mech is maybe annoying off-road, but makes for nicer road gearing.
But it’s not going to compete with a rowdy, steel 1x ATB – Surly or Richey or Brother Mehteh, etc – or even, really, the Carbonda (and Free Ranger and Tripster). But it’s working for me. You just have to pick which end of the all-road spectrum you’re going to aim for, and by extension, which you compromise on. (I think a lot of the best fits perhaps fall out of your price range – Ribble CGR, Fairlight Secan, some of Brother’s frames)