Okay, I think that I can say that in 90% (a lot of) cases, the cheaper an audio tool is, the worser the quality will be, thus, the more pricier a product is, in general it will be better. Again, in most cases!
Another important aspect is that even if you have a superb and expensive setup, however, only one single transition element is cheap, your whole setup will sound cheap. So basically whenever you have a lower quality equipment element in your āchainā, the whole chain will sound like āthis lower quality equipment elementā. A good example would be: a cheap cable, even if you use UAD interfaced with Barefoot speakers. A poor pre-amp and you use an U87. Or great mic, pre-amp, interface, but average speakers.
Of course, you canāt buy everything at once, if you donāt have extra cash, but itās still good to know that the more you focus on ācheap audio equipmentā, the cheaper you will probably sound at the end of the day.
What I would always recommend is focusing on interface, cables, headphones & speakers. Everything else has second place for me, even acoustics nowadays. Maybe someone will argue, I know how important acoustics are, I build custom treatment myself incl. measuring the room, but itās far better to know the room than investing $2-3k in acoustics and still donāt know how to operate your studio.
As a composer, there is actually only ONE question to answer yourself to know where you need to invest in more: What will IMPROVE my music?
After you have answered that one, you know where your next money will go
Sincerely,
Alexey