[0:00] Picking the right microphone is a big
[0:01] decision, not just for the quality of
[0:02] your content, but also for your wallet.
[0:04] If you've watched any large creator in
[0:06] the last few days, you've probably seen
[0:08] this, the Shure SM7B, a microphone that
[0:11] by itself costs around $400 USD, and
[0:14] then you add a mixer, XLR cables, a
[0:17] cloud lifter, all of which are needed to
[0:19] make it work, and suddenly it's usually
[0:21] over $1,000. So, the question I want to
[0:23] answer today is, can a microphone such
[0:25] as the Fifine K688 that costs just 10%
[0:28] of that price sound just as good? And
[0:30] that's why the very first thing we're
[0:32] doing is, that's right, blind audio
[0:35] samples. The challenge for you, dear
[0:36] viewer, is to pick out which microphone
[0:38] is which. Can you tell which is the Sure
[0:40] SM7B, the K688? And of course, it
[0:43] wouldn't be a Stream Scheme video if I
[0:45] didn't bust out the Samsung QTU, our
[0:47] current challenger. Let's listen to
[0:49] those clips. This is audio clip A. Hey,
[0:51] hey guys. If you want to support the
[0:52] channel, consider becoming a member for
[0:53] just $1 a month. This is audio clip B.
[0:55] Let me know in the comments what you
[0:57] think of this microphone. How does it
[0:58] sound to you? If you want to buy any of
[1:00] the microphones shown in today's video,
[1:01] then you can check them out at my kitco,
[1:03] which is linked in the description. This
[1:05] is audio clip C. How does it sound to
[1:07] you? Does it sound nice? Does it sound
[1:09] clean? Does it sound like it's 75 USD?
[1:11] Or does it sound like it's 999 USD? With
[1:14] that done, I really recommend commenting
[1:16] your guess because we're giving away a
[1:18] Fifine K688 to you guys in the comments.
[1:21] I bought this one back in August 2023.
[1:24] I've been testing and planning this
[1:25] video for a long time. So long, in fact,
[1:28] that Fifine reached out and offered to
[1:29] send me one. So, instead, I told them to
[1:31] send you guys one. Stick around to the
[1:33] end of the video to learn how to win
[1:34] that. Okay, let's talk about why I
[1:36] picked these three microphones. Well, in
[1:38] order for me to recommend a mic to you
[1:39] guys, it has to meet a lot of criteria.
[1:42] I am an incredibly picky person. Let's
[1:45] walk through what I look for and talk a
[1:46] bit more about the K688 while we're at
[1:48] it. First, it has to be USB plus XLR.
[1:51] While you might think I'm being pedantic
[1:53] about this, if I am going to spend money
[1:55] on a microphone or recommend you guys
[1:57] spend money on a microphone, then we
[1:59] should expect to be able to use it for
[2:01] years. When I bought the AT2020 Plus as
[2:03] a new streamer off a certain tech
[2:05] influencers recommendation, I hadn't
[2:07] thought about the fact when I wanted to
[2:09] move to a real mixer like the Roland
[2:11] Bridgecast that I'd not just be spending
[2:13] money on the mixer, but an entire new
[2:15] microphone as well. It really felt like
[2:17] I wasted money buying a microphone that
[2:20] was only USB. On the topic of money, for
[2:22] me to recommend a microphone, the second
[2:24] criteria is it has to be budget. And
[2:27] when I say budget, I am meaning a h
[2:28] 100red bucks or less. I don't care what
[2:30] anyone else says. If it's over $100, it
[2:33] is not a budget microphone. So, do these
[2:35] microphones fit that criteria? Well,
[2:37] obviously the Sure SM7B doesn't meet
[2:39] that criteria, but it is probably the
[2:41] most used microphone in professional
[2:43] content creation. So, I am including
[2:45] that as the topend professional
[2:47] challenger today. Now, if you've watched
[2:49] this channel before, you know the
[2:50] Samsung Q2U does, and it's been over 3
[2:53] years now without me ever recommending
[2:55] another microphone. Well, in until now.
[2:58] The K688 has honestly surprised me. When
[3:01] I first plugged it in, this is what
[3:03] happened. All right. Oh. Oh. Oh. Coming
[3:07] in at around 75 USD, it is absolutely
[3:10] meeting the budget criteria. And that's
[3:12] not including the bundles that I found
[3:14] on Amazon when I was looking to check
[3:16] the price in USD. Talking about bells
[3:18] and whistles, it has two knobs on the
[3:19] bottom. One for quickly controlling
[3:21] microphone gain and the other for
[3:22] headphone volume. If you want to have
[3:24] real-time monitoring for your voice and
[3:26] your PC, you can plug your headphones
[3:27] into the bottom of the microphone, which
[3:29] is something the Samsung Q2U can do as
[3:31] well. But the problem I've had with the
[3:33] Samson is if I want to adjust the
[3:34] headphone volume, I have to click these
[3:36] little buttons. And because they're
[3:38] clicking, it actually comes up and gets
[3:40] picked up in my recording. Of course, it
[3:42] goes without saying, a microphone needs
[3:44] to sound great. And as you likely have
[3:45] heard in this video, because I've used
[3:47] it for almost the entire thing now, the
[3:49] K688 does sound pretty damn good for its
[3:52] price bracket. As someone with quite a
[3:54] nasely or grally voice, I always expect
[3:57] microphones to sound awful when I first
[3:59] plug them in, and I have to do a lot of
[4:01] work to make my voice sound good. But
[4:03] actually, there is a really warm or
[4:05] full, rich tone to this mic that I kind
[4:08] of love. The only filter I have added to
[4:10] this microphone is a compressor filter.
[4:12] Otherwise, there's no effects or EQ at
[4:14] all during this recording, which has
[4:16] surprised me a lot because I have not
[4:18] just my air conditioning blasting in the
[4:19] background, but I can also hear my
[4:21] daughter playing outside my office door.
[4:23] And I'm willing to bet you guys can't
[4:25] hear that. Now, this is because the K688
[4:27] is a dynamic microphone, which
[4:29] thankfully most companies making mics
[4:30] for streamers are moving this direction.
[4:32] But essentially, microphones can either
[4:34] be dynamic or condenser. The difference
[4:36] between these is a bit complicated for
[4:37] this video. So instead, let's simplify
[4:39] it down by saying dynamic is less
[4:41] sensitive, meaning you tend to place it
[4:43] closer to yourself and adjust the gain
[4:44] or levels to match, which helps
[4:47] naturally reject background noise.
[4:49] Naturally, a microphone like this is
[4:51] going to be a cardioid polar pattern,
[4:52] which is fairly common. It means it
[4:54] picks up sound from the front and
[4:55] rejects off-axis noise. As you can see,
[4:58] when I move like this, I suddenly
[5:00] disappear, which is fantastic, cuz it
[5:02] means that everything else that's going
[5:03] on around will also disappear. But I
[5:05] can't just tell you that. Let's actually
[5:07] show it. Let's give it a test. Coming
[5:08] up, we will reveal the blind sample
[5:10] results and how to enter the giveaway,
[5:11] but of course, let's do the test first.
[5:13] As you can see, I've got my mic very
[5:14] close to my keyboard. Normally, I
[5:16] wouldn't have my microphone this close,
[5:17] but I just want to get an
[5:23] example. That's about what I expected
[5:25] without any effects or anything. Now,
[5:26] let's get further away where I would
[5:28] actually sit when I'm playing with my
[5:29] mic. This is me typing away at my
[5:31] keyboard. As you can hear, it is
[5:32] underneath my voice. Yeah, that's very
[5:34] usable. All right, let's put a default
[5:36] expanding filter on. Now I'm going to
[5:38] talk. Now I'm going to talk. Now I'm
[5:39] going to talk. Now I'm going to talk.
[5:41] This is me talking while I have a
[5:42] default expander on. You can probably
[5:44] hear my chair quite a lot. I got my
[5:45] squeaky one out of the garage today for
[5:47] this one. I'm moving around. It's
[5:48] squeaking. Can you hear it in the
[5:50] background at all? A lot of people don't
[5:52] really do this, but I like to move
[5:53] around a lot while I stream. So I kind
[5:55] of am constantly moving my mic and doing
[5:58] things. So I'm curious how this is going
[5:59] to sound. Lift my mic up. Put my mic
[6:02] down.
[6:11] This is me speaking on the mic at about
[6:13] 3 centimeters away. It's about where you
[6:15] would speak into a microphone, uh,
[6:16] especially a dynamic microphone. This is
[6:18] me about an arm's length away from the
[6:20] microphone. I'm not going to adjust the
[6:21] gain at all. I'm still talking as I
[6:23] normally would. And now I'm going to
[6:24] boost the gain to match the level, so
[6:26] you can hear the background noise if
[6:27] you're not on top of the microphone.
[6:28] This is me about two arms lengths away.
[6:30] Again, I'm not going to project further.
[6:32] I'm not going to boost this audio right
[6:33] away. I'm just going to let you hear how
[6:35] it sounds. And now I'm going to boost
[6:36] the audio so you can hear what the
[6:38] background sound sounds like. Breaking
[6:39] it down, I have to say I am kind of
[6:42] shocked. This microphone is 75 USD. For
[6:46] that price, I didn't expect such a solid
[6:48] build quality. I didn't expect such a
[6:50] clean and warm sound straight out of the
[6:52] box. The test showed exactly what I'd
[6:54] expect from any dynamic microphone. The
[6:55] fall-off is near instant the moment you
[6:57] step away from the mic. But is that a
[7:00] bad thing? It just means that all the
[7:01] background sound is also going to fall
[7:03] away. Remember the keyboard test blew me
[7:05] away. While actually doing it and
[7:07] typing, I was watching the levels in OBS
[7:09] and thought, "Ah, damn. It's screwed.
[7:11] It's not going to work." And then
[7:13] listening back, I was so surprised at
[7:16] the rejection. Now, before I tell you
[7:17] whether or not I would recommend this
[7:18] mic, I would love to hear in the
[7:20] comments, what do you think about the
[7:21] results? What do you think about the
[7:23] microphone? Is this something that you
[7:25] would consider getting for yourself
[7:26] based on what you've seen today? And
[7:28] now, as it stands, can I add this
[7:29] microphone to my very short list of one
[7:32] other microphone that I
[7:34] recommend? Yeah. Yeah. In fact, I might
[7:37] start recommending this instead of the
[7:39] Samson QTU. It's about 15 to 20 bucks
[7:42] cheaper, I can see, across the board.
[7:44] And technically, for the same price as
[7:46] the Samson, you could get the K688 in a
[7:48] bundle. I'll tell you how to enter the
[7:50] giveaway in a second, but for those keen
[7:51] to know the results of the blind
[7:53] samples, well, blind sample A was the
[7:57] K688 with absolutely zero filters,
[8:00] effects, the gain knob was at max, and
[8:02] my Windows sound settings at 36%. I
[8:04] literally plugged it in and took an
[8:06] audio sample, which sounds incredibly
[8:08] unfair, but I think it did really well.
[8:10] In fact, I did the same thing with the
[8:11] Samsung QTU as well, which of course
[8:14] still sounds amazing as audio clip B.
[8:17] And of course, to continue being
[8:18] incredibly unfair, audio clip C, the
[8:21] Shore SM7B is not just plugged into my
[8:23] roll in Bridgecast, but it has a Cloud
[8:26] Lifter, a compressor, a low cut DSer,
[8:28] noise suppression, and I've even got
[8:30] custom EQ. Can you hear it? Does C sound
[8:33] that much better? Let me know in the
[8:35] comments because if you said yes, you're
[8:36] a liar. Sample C is just the K688 again,
[8:39] but this time with a compressor filter
[8:40] and a basic barely touched threeband EQ
[8:43] where I slightly dropped the mids and
[8:44] lows and raise the highs. That's it. But
[8:46] if you actually want to hear the clip of
[8:48] the Sure SM7B with all those things,
[8:49] this is that for comparison. And this is
[8:51] the Shure SM7B. I think you can hear a
[8:53] difference. Obviously, you can hear a
[8:55] difference, but this cost me over
[8:57] $999. And the other stuff cost a
[8:59] fraction of that. If you want to go in
[9:01] the draw to win this microphone, all you
[9:03] have to do is comment #fine what you'd
[9:05] use the microphone for. And very
[9:07] important, please comment your Twitter
[9:09] or Discord username so I can contact you
[9:11] if you win. We'll be picking someone at
[9:13] random from the comments and letting
[9:14] them know very soon. If you guys enjoyed
[9:16] this, then I really would appreciate if
[9:17] you consider becoming a member for just
[9:18] $1.