Petrus,
Yes, you are correct. But the context was a relative budget. If you have a $3500 cam, then a reasonable budget for sound would be around the same.
Grant
More or less, yes. My point was that the price of "the best camera in the world" has fallen from $100000 to $3500, but the "best audio recording system" still costs $8000.
It is true that excellent audio can be captured with $1000 gear if you know what you are doing. Even those $400 pocket recorders are better than $10000 Nagras of yesteryear.