Yeah, because of how common they are and the max level of 30, the defensive items are really easy to max in 2-3 feedings. I think it's worth pumping some exp (like one 10 feed) into the rings, but I wouldn't worry about maxing them until later.

Also, it's usually more efficient to feed two level 1 equips together and then feed that to the equipment you want to level rather than feeding both of them straight.