Good gear vs. built-in mic: Interesting result
 

Yesterday I shot a high school pep rally in the gym with an AT3031 going through a Beachtek DXA-8 feeding both channels of my VX2100. From prior measurements with an SPL meter, I knew that SPL would reach 115 dB during peak screaming by the students so I used limiting.

Meanwhile, I had one of my video club members roving with a handheld Sony miniDV Handicam I got for $240 from eBay, using nothing but the built-in mic. I didn't care, I figured we'd use my audio track in post.

My audio was pure and perfect as I expected, but surprise: Atlhough the little roving cam's audio did distort approaching and during the crescendoes, it captured the dynamics and therefore the mood of the event better than my setup, mainly due to the flattening of the crescendoes by my limiter. His just plain sounded better.

This was an interesting object lesson for me.