Well, you’re not alone in going with the Milky Browns. As I said, someone who lubes a great deal was impressed by the Milky Browns. So I’m not sure of a compelling reason to get Golden Browns. If you handlube either, you’ll get the best results.
CAP Browns really are close to light 62-65 [14mm] Ergo Clears, so you might want to give those a try at some point. They are easy to lube once you know what you are doing, and take well to it. Hard getting MX Clears right now, and you’d want to go for pre-Hyperglide, though.
I have to say that CAP Golden Browns [and likely Milky Browns] can be made to sound very good in any decent modded board using decent keycaps.
With cheap keycaps, you want something that isn’t going to screw you over. There are some sub-50 keycap sets on AliExpress, clones of GMK for instance, but many of them have crooked spacebars and other problems.
So what can you buy that is reliable?
One recommendation is Artifact Bloom keycaps, which you can look up on this forum. Their “vintage” set, for instance, is $39 + shipping.
I have that set and some nice teal accents. The keycaps appear to be consistent and orderly. Spacebar is surprisingly-straight. Nothing really wrong with them. However, the tops scratch easily. Their downside is that the surface texture is very smooth, maybe like worn-in ABS [although I wouldn’t say that].
I found that those keycaps are best with clicky switches, but maybe too slippery for other types.
Then, you should look up AKKO. They have something called ASA profile, which is probably a giant OEM hi-profile [and a weird low-profile.] Keycaps typically range $50-60 + shipping. They have some OEM and Cherry keycaps in the same price range.
I don’t know AKKO first-hand. But I suspect the keys are consistent. Legends are a bit ugly to some, especially in the non-vibrant colourways.
DOMIKEY used to make SA profile and still does, but they’ve branched into Cherry profile. Should be pretty decent quality, maybe best at price-point. You can mix-and-match what you need from some vendors, hopefully you can get what you need under $60:
Tai Hao makes a profile called Cubic, which is basically Cherry at OEM height, I think. It’s squarish. Supposedly they are pretty decent and nothing really wrong with them. Limited colourways, though.
If you aren’t just looking for Cherry-profile, then there are some affordable [actually really cheap sometimes] copies of XDA profile called ZDA profile. Look up both those profiles on AliExpress. That profile isn’t for me, but I have the Matcha PBT set, and the quality is very good. Was like $33 for a full set of perfect keycaps.
There’s a Winter Sale on AliExpress right now, so you could look up AKKO, DOMIKEY, XDA, ZDA, and maybe Cubic profile there.