As others are saying, there are a LOT of factors to consider here—mostly what you need it for. When I was trying to decide on my first serious instrument mic, I went to a friend's studio and shot out something like 10 mics, ranging from the humble SM57 (which sounded pretty good!) to very expensive Neumanns. But I was looking for a mic that I could use on my playing my guitar; my little studio is built for me to record my stuff. If it works for other people, that's just an added benefit. I'm still looking for the mic I like best for my voice (I've got a few that a use, depending on what sound I'm looking for).
Consider this: you can get some workhorse mics that aren't as expensive as the Neumanns that will serve you just fine until you start dropping even more money on preamps and interfaces and plugins. Then you can sell off older gear to finance newer, better gear.
(For instance, I just picked up a Warm Audio WA87 that is a multi-pattern LDC that is proving very useful for a variety of purposes. You can get them on Ebay for less than $600.)
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