even if you spent 2 grand on a pro mic, if your pre amps blow, and your monitoring chain sucks... it wont matter. it will still sound like shit. unless you have a solid studio going, i wouldnt spend more than 200 bucks... at the very most. my friend had an old Mbox on his PC and just bought a nady LDC for like 59 bucks from musiciansfriend, and it worked fine. unless you really know what youre doing, have good equipment and know what to listen for, and how to add EQ and other effects and things... no matter how much you spend on a vocal mic, it probably wont sound too much better than a 100 dollar mic from musicians friend. thats just my two cents.