---
title: 'Forget Expensive Microphones, Buy THIS Instead!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=THGdjyD2XwU'
video_id: 'THGdjyD2XwU'
date: 2026-06-14
duration_sec: 636
---

# Forget Expensive Microphones, Buy THIS Instead!

> Source: [Forget Expensive Microphones, Buy THIS Instead!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=THGdjyD2XwU)

## Summary

The video reviews affordable Fifine microphones (AM8, K688) and the SC3 mixer, highlighting their value for beginner content creators. It demonstrates the AM8's features, including dual USB/XLR output, noise rejection, and ease of use, while comparing it to pricier alternatives.

### Key Points

- **Problem with expensive mics** [00:00] — Influencers recommended costly condenser mics like Elgato Wave or HyperX QuadCast, which are overly sensitive and expensive for beginners.
- **Fifine AM8, K688, SC3 introduction** [00:28] — These products cost around $50 each, a third of the price of recommended mics, and offer great value.
- **Tap-to-mute button** [01:18] — The AM8 has a tap-to-mute button that doesn't click, allowing quiet muting without noise.
- **Sliding knobs for gain/volume** [01:35] — Instead of clicky buttons, the AM8 uses sliding knobs to minimize noise when adjusting gain or headphone volume.
- **3.5mm headphone jack for monitoring** [01:51] — The AM8 has a 3.5mm jack for zero-latency voice monitoring.
- **Solid stand and dual thread mount** [02:04] — The stand is heavy and stable, and the mic mount includes both 5/8 and 3/8 threads for easy arm attachment.
- **Cardioid dynamic mic benefits** [02:20] — The AM8 is a cardioid dynamic mic, less sensitive than condensers, offering good noise rejection and off-axis sound drop-off.
- **AM8 vs K688 sensitivity** [02:43] — The AM8 is less sensitive than the K688, making it better at rejecting background noise but with less colorful sound.
- **AM8 sound profile** [03:04] — The AM8 has less midtones and more bass, typical of dynamic mics, and its neutral sound is flexible for EQ adjustment.
- **Stand usability for streamers** [03:21] — The stand is not ideal for streamers/gamers due to keyboard noise; the AM8T version with a mic arm is recommended.
- **Dual USB and XLR output** [04:13] — The AM8 and K688 support both USB and XLR, allowing upgrade to XLR without replacing the mic, and can output to both simultaneously.
- **SC3 mixer plug-and-play setup** [05:03] — The SC3 mixer is plug-and-play with no software, works on PC, Mac, and PS5, and sets up in 30 seconds.
- **SC3 headphone and XLR connections** [05:40] — Plug headphones into the back for desktop audio, and XLR mic into the XLR port. Adjust gain with the mic slider.
- **Mute and monitor buttons** [06:20] — Each slider has a mute button except the headphone slider, which has a mic monitor button for zero-latency monitoring.
- **SC3 limitations and features** [06:56] — No onboard filters or virtual routing, but works with OBS/Discord. Includes line in/out, autotune, voice changer, and sample pads.
- **SC3 powers Shure SM7B** [09:11] — The $45 SC3 can power the gain-hungry Shure SM7B, a testament to its capability.

### Conclusion

Fifine offers affordable, high-quality microphones and mixers that rival expensive gear, making content creation accessible to beginners without breaking the bank.

## Transcript

When I started content creation, the
microphones being recommended to
beginners were expensive and not
designed for them. Influencers
recommended overly sensitive condenser
mics that cost way too much, like the
Elgato Wave or the HyperX QuadCast. But
then it got worse. Eventually, I
upgraded to an XLR setup, and that mic
that I bought became useless because it
was only USB and didn't work with
mixers. It became a literal waste of
money that I had to replace. Thankfully
these days that isn't a problem anymore
because of these. This is the Fifine AM8
microphone. This is the Fifine K688 and
this is the Fifine SC3 mixer. All of
these cost around 50 USD each, which is
a third of the price of those mics I
just mentioned. And today I want to show
you why these are an utterly amazing
choice for you to start with. And I'm
going to be giving away four of these
five fine mics. So stick around for
that. I'll be cutting between all three
of these mics for this entire video. So,
you'll be able to hear real world
examples of the sound quality as we go,
focusing mainly on the AM8 because it's
the most value for money. And before we
get into that giveaway and explain the
SC3 mixer, I want to start with the
intentional build of the AM8 because
every time I use Fifine products, I find
myself realizing that it's a brand that
puts an amazing amount of thought into
what they do. For example, when using it
as a USB microphone, it has a tap to
[music] mute button that doesn't click,
meaning you don't get a big clicking
sound when you want to quietly mute
yourself. The same can be said for the
RGB controller that's right here as
well. You're currently listening to me
speak and and now I'm unmuting myself.
See, no tapping, no clicking. Works
perfectly. The other thing I love is it
doesn't use large clicky buttons to
change the gain or the volume of the 3.5
mm headphone jack. Instead, it uses
these lovely slidy knobs to minimize the
noise that you can hear while adjusting.
Obviously, you can hear my voice
changing as I move it, but you can't
hear much microphone sound. And yes, as
I just said, it has a 3.5 mm headphone
jack, which means you can monitor your
voice without [music] any kind of delay
or latency, which is fantastic. Right
now, I am listening back to my voice and
my PC sounds through the Fifine AM8. The
stand it comes with is solid and heavy
as well, so it's not going to fall over
at the slightest bump. And when I remove
the microphone, it actually has inside
the mic mount a 5/8 and 3/8 mic thread.
So new creators don't get confused on
how to attach this mic to a mic arm or
other thread. And of course, it's a
cardioidnamic microphone, meaning it's
naturally less sensitive than condenser
microphones. For example, if you see me
moving off to the side right here,
you'll slowly hear that my voice is
dropping off pretty quickly. And if I
move over this side, it'll drop off even
more again. And if I wanted to, I could
move pretty far away. And you'll hear my
voice goes away quite quickly. Meaning,
if someone else is in the room, it's
going to be great at noise rejection
overall with a slight noise gate. One
thing I noticed about the AM8 is it's
actually less sensitive than the K688,
which is another microphone we've looked
at and love on this channel. But because
it's less sensitive, it actually means
it's better at rejecting background
noise than the K688. On that note, I
will say that the AM8 sounds a lot less
colorful. It has a lot less personality
by default than the K688. I also noticed
it naturally feels like it has less
midtones with a bit more of the bass
added into it, which now that I say that
is pretty common for a lot of dynamic
microphones. Now, this lack of
personality is technically a really good
thing. A lot of people will prefer it as
it makes it more flexible to adjust with
EQ to match their voice. Now, yes, it is
great at noise reduction, but I will
say, would I use the stand it comes with
as a streamer or gamer? Probably not,
because it would be right in front of
the keyboard on the stand while I'm
typing on my keyboard. I actually have
to hunch every bit to get close enough
to this because of the way the stand
works. Now, that wasn't terrible. that
is totally usable with a default
expander filter. But if I was a streamer
or gamer, I'd get the AM8T version,
which is the same microphone, but it
comes with a mic arm and is roughly the
same price.
Hello there. My name is LJ and I am
currently typing on my keyboard. You can
probably hear it in the background.
Podcasters or beginning voice actors or
anyone who doesn't need a keyboard or
mouse clicking constantly around them,
this stand will work great for you. Now,
I said two things earlier. first that I
had a giveaway coming up, which I do, so
stay tuned for that. And second, I said
the phrase when using it as a USB mic,
and that's because this mic, much like
the Fine K688, includes one of the most
important features of a value or budget
mic. To me, it is both USB and XLR,
meaning if you ever want to upgrade to
an XLR mixer, such as this beautiful
Fifine SC3, which we will cover in a
second, you can without needing to
replace the microphone. I will say when
you run this mic through an XLR
interface, you obviously won't be using
the buttons [music] on it to mute or
change the gain. Instead, you'd
obviously use the interface. So, these
become inactive and so does the RGB
light strip. Except that's where this
kind of becomes amazing. Just like the
Fifine K688, you can actually use this
microphone as a USB mic and an XLR mic
at the same time. It's called dual
output. So, you can send USB to your PC
and send the XLR to an external
interface or recorder or a different PC.
And with that, let's talk a little about
the SC3 because it's pretty much
plugandplay. Normally, setting up a
mixer and a new mic takes around 20 to
30 minutes of fiddling minimum. This
took me 30 seconds because that's how
long it takes me to plug a USB in when I
can't see the back of my motherboard.
Now, unlike other mixers, when you plug
this in, you'll notice that there is no
software. Your PC will read this mixer
as a pair of headphones and a
microphone. It will show up in your
sound settings as Fifine SC3 for both
input and output. And because there is
no software required, this instantly
plug and plays not just for PC and Mac,
but also for a PlayStation 5. You can
just plug this into your PlayStation 5
and use a professional microphone on
that. From here, you'll plug your
headphones into the back of the mixer
and you'll be able to hear all your
desktop audio such as your game, music,
Discord, etc., and adjust all of that
just from your desktop slider. Now, on
the other side, you have your XLR port.
This is where you'll plug your XLR cable
in that is connected to your XLR
microphone. Today I am using Amazon
basic XLR cables because if you buy the
SD3 by itself, it doesn't come with XLR
cables, but there are five bundles that
do. So, I'll link those below. Once your
microphone is plugged in, you can adjust
the gain with your mic slider on the far
left. As you can see, I'm boosting my
gain right now. I should probably lower
it back down so I don't blow your ears
out. And as I do that, you're going to
see my levels moving up and down on my
mixer. And once I've set my levels down,
those lights will disappear and I'll
just have my reactive voice levels.
That'll show where I'm talking at right
now. A really important thing to note is
underneath your mic slider, there is the
mute button, obviously for muting your
microphone. It's actually quite tactile
[music] and feels really, really nice to
press. There is obviously a mute button
for every single slider [music] except
for the headphone slider, which is
instead replaced with a mic monitor
button, so you can hear what your own
voice sounds like with zero latency,
which again is an incredibly helpful
tool. And once you've done those three
things, plugged your headphones in,
plugged your XLR in, and plugged it into
the PC, congratulations, your entire
interface is set up. You can go to OBS
or Discord and select the SC3 as your
mic and your headphones and it just
works so simply because [music] that's
what it's designed for, an entry-level
simple interface for you as a gamer and
creator. If you want to add filters such
as compressor, EQ or anything else, it
is true you can't do that inside the
device, but you can do that inside
either OBS or in post-production
software. As for virtual routing, yes,
this doesn't handle that. So, you can't
tell Chrome or music to go to one slider
and your game to go to another slider
like you could with, say, a $500 USD Go
XLR or a $400 bridgecast. But remember,
again, this is a $45 interface. And it
does have a lot more to it. So, let's
talk about the bells and whistles and
explain how to enter that giveaway I
talked about. For example, one of my
favorite parts is the 3.5 mm line input
on the back here, which will let you
connect phones, tablets, or even
instruments if you want to do that,
which means the audio from those devices
is coming through the interface as a
mixer, so you can hear it and output it.
[music]
>> [music]
>> And then we also have a 3.5 mm line out
for sending your audio to external
speakers. Or if you wanted, you could
output this into a phone so the person
on the other end hears your mic and mix.
These line in and outs are connected via
these other two sliders as you can see
right here. And the mute buttons beneath
correspond to them. Coming up to the top
of the mixer, we can see all those bells
and whistles that I talked about, such
as 12 tone autotune. And this is how my
brain decided to test that. Let it go.
It go
back anymore.
Let it go. Let it go. Can you tell I
have a 2-year-old daughter? It's pretty
easy to pick which tone. You just tap it
each time as it cycles through. And then
when you want to stop, you just hold it
down for a few seconds, which is also
how you use the voice changer, which has
all the things you'd expect. a male,
female, robot, monster, baby, elder. And
then underneath these, we have the four
sample pads. Now, to use these, you just
hold down the sample pad.
>> I turned myself into a pickle, Morty.
And then you let it go, and then you're
going to press it back. And
>> I turned myself into a pickle, Morty.
And ta, it plays the voice line that you
had recorded. Again, that giveaway is
coming up very soon. But first, it's
time to plug in the Shure SM7B, one of
the most expensive and gain hungry
dynamic microphones in the space. This
thing requires so much power to sound
good. And professional mixers that cost
hundreds of dollars use the fact that
they can power this Shure SM7B as a
baseline. It's a selling point. If a
mixer can handle the Sure SM7B, they
want to brag about it. So, [music] can a
$40 to $50 mixer handle the SH SM7B?
Okay, this is the Shure SM7B plugged
directly into the SC3.
There's no filters or anything on it,
obviously, because that's not how this
interface works. Uh, yes, it can. And
that is nuts. You know, thinking back to
when I started, it's hard not to be
jealous of you guys. The fact that
companies like Fifine are creating not
just microphones that sound great on a
budget, but also interfaces for [music]
you to start your journey with is
it's it's amazing. You can spend 90
bucks and have everything you need to
begin content creation. The
accessibility of that makes me really
happy [music] because you guys can
follow a dream of yours without
stressing like I did. I've got way too
many microphones lying around. So, if
you want to win one of the four Fifine
mics I have, comment down below the
answer to this question. Is the Fifine
K688 and the Fifine AM8 XLR or is it
USB? And make sure you include the
secret code word accessible. Keep your
DMs open. I'll be reaching out to ship
them over the next few weeks. And if you
want to learn about the K688, click
right here. It's it's on screen. One of
these places. [music] You'll know where
it is. See you next week.