Not sure if you're asking about higher-end blade steel, or or higher-end handle materials, or both.
In terms of blade steel, a bunch of the ZDP-189 knives hover at or just below the $100 mark (I'm going retail pricing on this, you can probably find cheaper if you look in other places). In terms of higher end overall package, there's the Chaparral just above $100, which I own and love - it's a fantastic EDC knife and you can wear it to dress-up functions even, very classy. If the lockback and blade size of the Chaparral are too small, I'd go with the Chaparral's bigger brother, the Sage in CF with the liner lock, it's a little further north of $100 but still below $150. One of these days I'll get my hands on a Sage...