Suggested recording equipment for Mac

Now that I have had my first recordings appear on pianosociety, I'm starting
to think more seriously about my recording set-up. There were some complaints
about the tonal quality of my recordings, so I'm trying to determine how I
can improve. From the research I've done so far, it appears my biggest
mistake was in using a dynamic microphone rather than a condensing one.
I have been and will continue using Garageband on Mac. Since I'm not
sure how much more recording I will do, I'd like to keep the expenses
moderate at this point.

Do you agree that condensing mics produce better results? If I do get
a condensing mic, I'm thinking of something like the Shure SM81. Does
anyone have any experience with this mic?

Also, if I do convert to a condensing mic, I'll have to get a different mic/USB
interface. The one I used was this one:

http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-US44010-I ... B00061ZM2Y

which does not support phantom power. I'm thinking of upgrading to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Avid-9900-65143-1 ... B005CTJMF8

Any comments, observations, suggestions, proposals, theories, opinions,
arguments, theses, etc. are appreciated.

Thanks.

 

IIRC there have been extensive discussions on this board about microphones and related stuff. Have you searched around a bit ?