BEST Budget Microphone YOU NEED To Buy!

[00:00] Picking the right microphone is a big

[00:01] decision, not just for the quality of

[00:02] your content, but also for your wallet.

[00:04] If you've watched any large creator in

[00:06] the last few days, you've probably seen

[00:08] this, the Shure SM7B, a microphone that

[00:11] by itself costs around $400 USD, and

[00:14] then you add a mixer, XLR cables, a

[00:17] cloud lifter, all of which are needed to

[00:19] make it work, and suddenly it's usually

[00:21] over $1,000. So, the question I want to

[00:23] answer today is, can a microphone such

[00:25] as the Fifine K688 that costs just 10%

[00:28] of that price sound just as good? And

[00:30] that's why the very first thing we're

[00:32] doing is, that's right, blind audio

[00:35] samples. The challenge for you, dear

[00:36] viewer, is to pick out which microphone

[00:38] is which. Can you tell which is the Sure

[00:40] SM7B, the K688? And of course, it

[00:43] wouldn't be a Stream Scheme video if I

[00:45] didn't bust out the Samsung QTU, our

[00:47] current challenger. Let's listen to

[00:49] those clips. This is audio clip A. Hey,

[00:51] hey guys. If you want to support the

[00:52] channel, consider becoming a member for

[00:53] just $1 a month. This is audio clip B.

[00:55] Let me know in the comments what you

[00:57] think of this microphone. How does it

[00:58] sound to you? If you want to buy any of

[01:00] the microphones shown in today's video,

[01:01] then you can check them out at my kitco,

[01:03] which is linked in the description. This

[01:05] is audio clip C. How does it sound to

[01:07] you? Does it sound nice? Does it sound

[01:09] clean? Does it sound like it's 75 USD?

[01:11] Or does it sound like it's 999 USD? With

[01:14] that done, I really recommend commenting

[01:16] your guess because we're giving away a

[01:18] Fifine K688 to you guys in the comments.

[01:21] I bought this one back in August 2023.

[01:24] I've been testing and planning this

[01:25] video for a long time. So long, in fact,

[01:28] that Fifine reached out and offered to

[01:29] send me one. So, instead, I told them to

[01:31] send you guys one. Stick around to the

[01:33] end of the video to learn how to win

[01:34] that. Okay, let's talk about why I

[01:36] picked these three microphones. Well, in

[01:38] order for me to recommend a mic to you

[01:39] guys, it has to meet a lot of criteria.

[01:42] I am an incredibly picky person. Let's

[01:45] walk through what I look for and talk a

[01:46] bit more about the K688 while we're at

[01:48] it. First, it has to be USB plus XLR.

[01:51] While you might think I'm being pedantic

[01:53] about this, if I am going to spend money

[01:55] on a microphone or recommend you guys

[01:57] spend money on a microphone, then we

[01:59] should expect to be able to use it for

[02:01] years. When I bought the AT2020 Plus as

[02:03] a new streamer off a certain tech

[02:05] influencers recommendation, I hadn't

[02:07] thought about the fact when I wanted to

[02:09] move to a real mixer like the Roland

[02:11] Bridgecast that I'd not just be spending

[02:13] money on the mixer, but an entire new

[02:15] microphone as well. It really felt like

[02:17] I wasted money buying a microphone that

[02:20] was only USB. On the topic of money, for

[02:22] me to recommend a microphone, the second

[02:24] criteria is it has to be budget. And

[02:27] when I say budget, I am meaning a h

[02:28] 100red bucks or less. I don't care what

[02:30] anyone else says. If it's over $100, it

[02:33] is not a budget microphone. So, do these

[02:35] microphones fit that criteria? Well,

[02:37] obviously the Sure SM7B doesn't meet

[02:39] that criteria, but it is probably the

[02:41] most used microphone in professional

[02:43] content creation. So, I am including

[02:45] that as the topend professional

[02:47] challenger today. Now, if you've watched

[02:49] this channel before, you know the

[02:50] Samsung Q2U does, and it's been over 3

[02:53] years now without me ever recommending

[02:55] another microphone. Well, in until now.

[02:58] The K688 has honestly surprised me. When

[03:01] I first plugged it in, this is what

[03:03] happened. All right. Oh. Oh. Oh. Coming

[03:07] in at around 75 USD, it is absolutely

[03:10] meeting the budget criteria. And that's

[03:12] not including the bundles that I found

[03:14] on Amazon when I was looking to check

[03:16] the price in USD. Talking about bells

[03:18] and whistles, it has two knobs on the

[03:19] bottom. One for quickly controlling

[03:21] microphone gain and the other for

[03:22] headphone volume. If you want to have

[03:24] real-time monitoring for your voice and

[03:26] your PC, you can plug your headphones

[03:27] into the bottom of the microphone, which

[03:29] is something the Samsung Q2U can do as

[03:31] well. But the problem I've had with the

[03:33] Samson is if I want to adjust the

[03:34] headphone volume, I have to click these

[03:36] little buttons. And because they're

[03:38] clicking, it actually comes up and gets

[03:40] picked up in my recording. Of course, it

[03:42] goes without saying, a microphone needs

[03:44] to sound great. And as you likely have

[03:45] heard in this video, because I've used

[03:47] it for almost the entire thing now, the

[03:49] K688 does sound pretty damn good for its

[03:52] price bracket. As someone with quite a

[03:54] nasely or grally voice, I always expect

[03:57] microphones to sound awful when I first

[03:59] plug them in, and I have to do a lot of

[04:01] work to make my voice sound good. But

[04:03] actually, there is a really warm or

[04:05] full, rich tone to this mic that I kind

[04:08] of love. The only filter I have added to

[04:10] this microphone is a compressor filter.

[04:12] Otherwise, there's no effects or EQ at

[04:14] all during this recording, which has

[04:16] surprised me a lot because I have not

[04:18] just my air conditioning blasting in the

[04:19] background, but I can also hear my

[04:21] daughter playing outside my office door.

[04:23] And I'm willing to bet you guys can't

[04:25] hear that. Now, this is because the K688

[04:27] is a dynamic microphone, which

[04:29] thankfully most companies making mics

[04:30] for streamers are moving this direction.

[04:32] But essentially, microphones can either

[04:34] be dynamic or condenser. The difference

[04:36] between these is a bit complicated for

[04:37] this video. So instead, let's simplify

[04:39] it down by saying dynamic is less

[04:41] sensitive, meaning you tend to place it

[04:43] closer to yourself and adjust the gain

[04:44] or levels to match, which helps

[04:47] naturally reject background noise.

[04:49] Naturally, a microphone like this is

[04:51] going to be a cardioid polar pattern,

[04:52] which is fairly common. It means it

[04:54] picks up sound from the front and

[04:55] rejects off-axis noise. As you can see,

[04:58] when I move like this, I suddenly

[05:00] disappear, which is fantastic, cuz it

[05:02] means that everything else that's going

[05:03] on around will also disappear. But I

[05:05] can't just tell you that. Let's actually

[05:07] show it. Let's give it a test. Coming

[05:08] up, we will reveal the blind sample

[05:10] results and how to enter the giveaway,

[05:11] but of course, let's do the test first.

[05:13] As you can see, I've got my mic very

[05:14] close to my keyboard. Normally, I

[05:16] wouldn't have my microphone this close,

[05:17] but I just want to get an

[05:23] example. That's about what I expected

[05:25] without any effects or anything. Now,

[05:26] let's get further away where I would

[05:28] actually sit when I'm playing with my

[05:29] mic. This is me typing away at my

[05:31] keyboard. As you can hear, it is

[05:32] underneath my voice. Yeah, that's very

[05:34] usable. All right, let's put a default

[05:36] expanding filter on. Now I'm going to

[05:38] talk. Now I'm going to talk. Now I'm

[05:39] going to talk. Now I'm going to talk.

[05:41] This is me talking while I have a

[05:42] default expander on. You can probably

[05:44] hear my chair quite a lot. I got my

[05:45] squeaky one out of the garage today for

[05:47] this one. I'm moving around. It's

[05:48] squeaking. Can you hear it in the

[05:50] background at all? A lot of people don't

[05:52] really do this, but I like to move

[05:53] around a lot while I stream. So I kind

[05:55] of am constantly moving my mic and doing

[05:58] things. So I'm curious how this is going

[05:59] to sound. Lift my mic up. Put my mic

[06:02] down.

[06:11] This is me speaking on the mic at about

[06:13] 3 centimeters away. It's about where you

[06:15] would speak into a microphone, uh,

[06:16] especially a dynamic microphone. This is

[06:18] me about an arm's length away from the

[06:20] microphone. I'm not going to adjust the

[06:21] gain at all. I'm still talking as I

[06:23] normally would. And now I'm going to

[06:24] boost the gain to match the level, so

[06:26] you can hear the background noise if

[06:27] you're not on top of the microphone.

[06:28] This is me about two arms lengths away.

[06:30] Again, I'm not going to project further.

[06:32] I'm not going to boost this audio right

[06:33] away. I'm just going to let you hear how

[06:35] it sounds. And now I'm going to boost

[06:36] the audio so you can hear what the

[06:38] background sound sounds like. Breaking

[06:39] it down, I have to say I am kind of

[06:42] shocked. This microphone is 75 USD. For

[06:46] that price, I didn't expect such a solid

[06:48] build quality. I didn't expect such a

[06:50] clean and warm sound straight out of the

[06:52] box. The test showed exactly what I'd

[06:54] expect from any dynamic microphone. The

[06:55] fall-off is near instant the moment you

[06:57] step away from the mic. But is that a

[07:00] bad thing? It just means that all the

[07:01] background sound is also going to fall

[07:03] away. Remember the keyboard test blew me

[07:05] away. While actually doing it and

[07:07] typing, I was watching the levels in OBS

[07:09] and thought, "Ah, damn. It's screwed.

[07:11] It's not going to work." And then

[07:13] listening back, I was so surprised at

[07:16] the rejection. Now, before I tell you

[07:17] whether or not I would recommend this

[07:18] mic, I would love to hear in the

[07:20] comments, what do you think about the

[07:21] results? What do you think about the

[07:23] microphone? Is this something that you

[07:25] would consider getting for yourself

[07:26] based on what you've seen today? And

[07:28] now, as it stands, can I add this

[07:29] microphone to my very short list of one

[07:32] other microphone that I

[07:34] recommend? Yeah. Yeah. In fact, I might

[07:37] start recommending this instead of the

[07:39] Samson QTU. It's about 15 to 20 bucks

[07:42] cheaper, I can see, across the board.

[07:44] And technically, for the same price as

[07:46] the Samson, you could get the K688 in a

[07:48] bundle. I'll tell you how to enter the

[07:50] giveaway in a second, but for those keen

[07:51] to know the results of the blind

[07:53] samples, well, blind sample A was the

[07:57] K688 with absolutely zero filters,

[08:00] effects, the gain knob was at max, and

[08:02] my Windows sound settings at 36%. I

[08:04] literally plugged it in and took an

[08:06] audio sample, which sounds incredibly

[08:08] unfair, but I think it did really well.

[08:10] In fact, I did the same thing with the

[08:11] Samsung QTU as well, which of course

[08:14] still sounds amazing as audio clip B.

[08:17] And of course, to continue being

[08:18] incredibly unfair, audio clip C, the

[08:21] Shore SM7B is not just plugged into my

[08:23] roll in Bridgecast, but it has a Cloud

[08:26] Lifter, a compressor, a low cut DSer,

[08:28] noise suppression, and I've even got

[08:30] custom EQ. Can you hear it? Does C sound

[08:33] that much better? Let me know in the

[08:35] comments because if you said yes, you're

[08:36] a liar. Sample C is just the K688 again,

[08:39] but this time with a compressor filter

[08:40] and a basic barely touched threeband EQ

[08:43] where I slightly dropped the mids and

[08:44] lows and raise the highs. That's it. But

[08:46] if you actually want to hear the clip of

[08:48] the Sure SM7B with all those things,

[08:49] this is that for comparison. And this is

[08:51] the Shure SM7B. I think you can hear a

[08:53] difference. Obviously, you can hear a

[08:55] difference, but this cost me over

[08:57] $999. And the other stuff cost a

[08:59] fraction of that. If you want to go in

[09:01] the draw to win this microphone, all you

[09:03] have to do is comment #fine what you'd

[09:05] use the microphone for. And very

[09:07] important, please comment your Twitter

[09:09] or Discord username so I can contact you

[09:11] if you win. We'll be picking someone at

[09:13] random from the comments and letting

[09:14] them know very soon. If you guys enjoyed

[09:16] this, then I really would appreciate if

[09:17] you consider becoming a member for just

[09:18] $1.