---
title: 'BEST Budget Microphone YOU NEED To Buy!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=mUCsTS7_WnY'
video_id: 'mUCsTS7_WnY'
date: 2026-06-14
duration_sec: 560
---

# BEST Budget Microphone YOU NEED To Buy!

> Source: [BEST Budget Microphone YOU NEED To Buy!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=mUCsTS7_WnY)

## Summary

The video compares the budget Fifine K688 microphone (around $75) against the professional Shure SM7B ($400+) and the Samson Q2U, testing whether a cheap mic can sound as good. The creator conducts blind audio samples and evaluates build quality, features, and sound rejection.

### Key Points

- **Microphone cost comparison** [0:00] — Shure SM7B costs ~$400 plus mixer, cables, cloud lifter, totaling over $1,000. Fifine K688 costs ~$75, about 10% of that.
- **Blind audio samples introduced** [0:30] — Three audio clips (A, B, C) are played for viewers to guess which mic is which. Clip A is K688 with no filters, B is Samson Q2U, C is K688 with compressor and EQ.
- **Criteria for recommendation** [1:36] — Mic must have USB + XLR (future-proof), be under $100 (budget), and sound great. K688 meets all criteria.
- **K688 features** [3:18] — Two knobs for gain and headphone volume, real-time monitoring via headphone jack. Samson Q2U has clicky buttons that pick up in recordings.
- **Sound quality and background noise rejection** [3:43] — K688 has warm, full tone with only a compressor filter. Dynamic mic rejects background noise like AC and daughter playing outside.
- **Keyboard and movement test** [5:07] — Typing close to mic: keyboard noise minimal. With expander filter, chair squeaks audible. Moving mic around: good rejection.
- **Overall impression** [6:39] — Shocked at build quality and clean sound for $75. Fall-off near instant, background noise rejection excellent.
- **Recommendation and giveaway** [7:28] — K688 recommended over Samson Q2U; cheaper and bundle available. Giveaway: comment #fine and Twitter/Discord username.
- **Blind sample reveal** [8:10] — A: K688 no filters, B: Samson Q2U, C: K688 with compressor and EQ. Shure SM7B with full setup costs $999+ but K688 sounds comparable.

### Conclusion

The Fifine K688 offers exceptional value at $75, rivaling the Shure SM7B in sound quality with proper processing, making it a top budget recommendation for streamers and content creators.

## Transcript

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