Please, PLEASE watch this video before buying a new microphone .
Great breakdown of why a $85 mic is often, for many applications, better than a $4500 mic (and probably better than that $250 one you might be eyeing).

If you've read my sound posts before you know I'm a fan of "best for OUR PURPOSES" over "best", and for home recording (especially of intimate content) that usually means forgiveness over fidelity.

For example, I have a $350 Sennheiser condenser that is great for field sampling or grabbing percussive foley, but would *never* use for vocals in anything but a pristine studio setting. I bought it when I, frankly, knew a lot less about modern mics. It's bad for vox because...

...it picks up *everything*. If there's a water pipe in the wall, it hears it. If there's a gassy mouse a block away it hears it. If the harmonic and saturation characteristics of a room aren't *perfect* (like, Abbey Road Studios perfect)... you get the idea.

By contrast, one of my all-time favorite microphones that totally ignored all that and captured buttery, silky vocals that made me sound WAY better than I actually do (and can sadly cannot replace)... was a $15 (in '98) cardioid "web meeting" microphone I modified by...

...jump-soldering a bypass on the voice-activation circuit so it was "always on". The EMF noise was thunderous but *consistent* (i.e. easy to filter out), the saturation was totally blown, the optimal range was about 3" *exactly*...

... and it was so forgiving, such a tight pattern, that I could have a cold with dogs behind me and it still sounded workable (for my purpose) w/ NR and EQ.

I'll come back to this soon, but for now, consider going CHEAP on the mic (and saving that $$$ to spend elsewhere).

And also, seriously, follow @thehouseofkush, especially their YouTube channel. They're a gold mine of insight. I am not affiliated, just a fan. https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHouseofKushTV