You say you want comfort... Specialized Roubaix seems to be the climax of comfort these days...
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...01&scname=Road
$2k MSRP isn't all that out of your range with a little stretching/saving, and it's got SRAM.

Cannondale also sells a full carbon "comfort" bike, Synapse? No experience but can probably get a low end groupset version for near 1500.

The real question, is what about Al is uncomfortable? I've got a race geometry Al/Carbon fork bike, the definition of uncomfortable, and perfectly comfortable over 100-120Mi rides... I suspect you'd benefit more from fit adjustment. Saddle position, model, handlebar orientation, stem length/height....