It sounds really good to me, but my ears are not as discerning as others and it may not be up to everybody else's standards or tastes, but I really like it. I've only tried it this way once so far because I grew tired of not being able to talk or dance when I wear the mics on my head. I put the whole contraption up on the stage and there are a few odd noises from all the damn balloons some one let loose on Halloween and some girl kept wacking it with her magic wand all night for some strange reason. But I find the crowd noise to be less of an issue because the mics are closer to the monitors than way in the back. I really prefer the sound and the scene up in the front to the section, and I figure there's a ton of tapes being made back there anyways so I have much more fun taping without a stand to worry about. My other mics are AKG 480s and I have to say I much prefer the sound of omnis so my next investment for taping will probably be omni caps for my AKGs if I can find them, because I bought the DPAs for stealth purposes, but I now use them for everything I tape and my poor AKGs are getting lonely. If I can get them I'll be taping them to the outside of the cooler like the DPAs, but I'd really like to rig up some kind of roll cage to keep shit from wacking them.