Conversation

The worst kind of AGC (automatic gain control) for microphones in consumer products is also the worst kind: A brick wall limiter with a slow release. A single loud peak in an otherwise quiet audio stream, and your gain is down 20 dB.

What you actually want is a compressor with a slow attack/release for overall gain, followed by a brick wall limiter with a fast release for peaks. Any loud peaks are ignored by the compressor and hits the limiter instead.

Never going to happen, of course.