Cloths, headphones, handbags. Anything that's just buying the brand.
I don't get why I should want these high end brands when the only thing I can afford from them is plastered with their logo.
I've seen the Gucci tracksuit, the Jordans, the Beats, everything and I'm not impressed. Even though luxury things are luxury I don't even agree with the luxuriousness of many of these products. For example, if I'm going to wear a Gucci tracksuit covered in the Gucci logo and using Gucci colors then it's gotta look good first and foremost. If I'm going to hold a Hermes bag that's not comfortable, or durable, or robust but is just supposed to look cool, then it's gotta actually look cool! Not like something Shien could design.
And yes I am aware of the concept of buying a store of value: diamonds, expensive watches, actually rare and valued handbags. But most of the famous luxuries I see in public are not that. They're literally a poor man's status symbol IMO.
For headphones, DEFINITELY not true in my experience. There’s cheap and gimmicky (like Skullcandy), there’s perceived “luxury” brands like Beats (which aren’t actually worth their money) but then there’s brands that actually offer significantly better quality and longevity for the price, like Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica and Sony to name a few.
I bought some $50 open back headphones a while back and they a just worlds better than anything I'd had before. Is there a step up from there that'd similarly rock my world?
My mic is pretty similar. $100 got me an SM58 and it's wonderful. You have to basically eat it and I can peak it if I'm loud. But it sounds so much nicer than most things. I know there's a few steps up from there. But I don't sing so think I'm fine.
The headphones: Depends on what they are. Likely, not a better pair without spending $300+
Sm58s are the standard. Some (myself included) prefer sm57s. Though the 58s are the 'hammer' (many have used them as such, they still function well after if you don't absolutely destroy them with the hammering).
You forgot Bose their ANC is insanely good. Sennheiser aren't impressive to match their high price at least not the model I tried speakers are good but fitment and feel they put all the money into drivers and sound rather than comfort wait for gen 2 or 3. I tried the newest Sony 1000xm5 earbuds and headphones and they didn't hold a candle to jabra, crapple, Bose. Only kind I tried and didn't like was the JBL (mid brand), and Samsung buds.