I went the "cheap" route initially. Got a Pilot Avionics PA11-60. The headpad was terrible and the ear seals weren't great. I swapped them out for some DC gelseals and the big pillow like DC headpad.
Also, the plastic knobs on the adjustment nuts cracked and came off after a while and I had some issues with the mic boom attachment point working loose over time. Ended up having to use some loctite to get things to stay where they should.
Having said that all that, it did the job and only cost me something like ~US$100 off of Ebay (back in around 2004).
Eventually I managed to secure a 2nd hand DC 13.4 and found it to be similar in terms of comfort (again, using gelseals and big pillow type headpad) and audio/mic quality. However, it just felt more solid and robust. Had no issues with it whatsoever. And it is still my "emergency backup".
I eventually upgraded to a set of Lightspeed Zulu's. Have been using these for probably around 1500 hrs now, in a combination of GA aircraft (the usual suspects of 152s, 172s, light twins etc) and more recently about 1000 hrs in a C208B.
The cable between battery box and ear cup started to crack and fray last year... I emailed Lightspeed to check whether it was still under warranty as I had had the headset for around 4+ years, and they said regardless (it had a 5 year warranty anyway) send it in and we'll replace it. Didn't cost anything. I just had to post it to their agent in Brisbane.
Had to do a hearing check for my medical around Xmas. Result was identical to the one I last did with that outfit back in 2008. Probably the best NZ$1200 I ever invested in my aviation career so far!
Comfort is great, and the use of ANR makes the 10 sector 6-8hr flying days that much less fatiguing. When my lightspeed was being repaired, I had to use the old DC13.4 for a few weeks. The difference was incredible.
If I had to do it again, I would either get the DC to start with, or pay out for a decent ANR like the Lightspeed Zulu or BoseA20. At the end of the day, $1000 is really a drop in the ocean when you consider how much you are going to spend getting a CPL.