It depends on the guitar. Phospher bronze, although great sounding on my Larrivee dreadnaught, are too bright for my Webber OM. The Elixers, OTOH, sound great on the Webber and they last. I did not like the GHS on the Webber, they sounded "tinny".
Spending $8 - $10 on a set of strings for a $1,000 - $2,500 guitar is not an extravagant expense IMO.