Fifine K688 Review / Test (vs. TD510, PD100, Q2u, MV7)

Today I review a budget dynamic mic which costs between $70 and $80, the Fifine K688. This is an XLR & USB mic with zero latency monitoring and it offers a pretty decent sound. The main draw back to this is how resonant and hollow sounding it is.

Buy the Fifine K688 (Affiliate Link)

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RECORDING SETTINGS:
Conversion: 16-bit / 48kHz
Mic Gain: ~2:00
Computer Level: 100%
Boosted in Post: +3dB

SPECS:
- Polar Pattern: Cardioid
- Freq Response : 70Hz - 15kHz
- Sensitivity: -58dB
- Max SPL: 130dB
- Bit Depth / Sample Rate: 16-bit/44.1k-48kHz

00:00 - Intro / Price / Disclaimer
00:25 - What’s in the Box
00:46 - Build Quality / Walkthrough
01:24 - Specifications
01:32 - Polar Pattern Test (Tone / Rotation)
01:51 - Plosive Test
02:06 - Distance Test / Proximity Effect Test
02:30 - Background Noise Test
02:47 - Untreated Room Test
03:07 - Shock Rejection Test
03:25 - Mic Resonance Tap Test
03:37 - Windscreen Tone Impact Test
04:05 - Mute Button Noise Test
04:24 - XLR vs. USB Output
04:59 - Intro to Comparison
05:27 - Maono PD100 Comparison
05:55 - Tonor TD510 Comparison
06:23 - Maono HD300t Comparison
06:47 - Samson Q2u Comparison
07:17 - Audio Technica ATR2100x-usb Comparison
07:49 - Samson Q9u Comparison
08:23 - Shure MV7 Comparison
08:53 - Neumann U87 Ai Comparison
09:23 - Music Test
10:15 - Pros & Cons
12:01 - Overall Thoughts
13:43 - Recommendation
15:04 - Outro

#Budget #USB #MicReview

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[joshuamorales]

Gotta give props, man knows how to thoroughly review a microphone

[IamEliRacks]

I just purchased this mic and you made me feel comfortable purchasing this. Thank you.

[tjzuppe]

Of course it has its issues, but darn, this is one of the first “buy a mic to see if you even wanna podcast for more than a month but want your audio to sound perfectly passable” mics I think of currently. Perhaps more importantly, with mics like this existing, it drives home the point that remote meetings and lectures or anything like that should no longer feature a bunch of dangling headphone and AirPod mics. Audio matters and it’s not so hard to attain it.

[BKMorpheus]

A tip for all K688 owners, that are not satisfied with the effectiveness of the shock mount: Put a lot of hot glue into the hollow body of the K688.
When typing on my mechanical Keyboard, my t.bone BC 500 captures only the sound of the key pressing, but not the deep bass from desk vibration. The K688 on the other hand comes with a shock mount, but captures a lot off bass from desk vibrations on my setup, when typing.

The K688 has a thin metal body which is mostly hollow inside (that's why it's very light and the thick rubber bands from the shock mount are not very effective on such low weight). I opened my K688 (remove just two screws) and filled it with a lot of hot glue. While filling it, try to hold the mic-body in a way, that the hot glue does not run into the potentiometers and headphone jack on the back. After doing that, the mic is now much heavier (obviously) and the resonance from the hollow metal frame should have improved.
Who would have guessed: Now my K688 is not capturing those desk virbation anymore (when typing). This simple trick has improved the shockmount/resonance behavior a lot.

[jay]

Excellent review as always. It's amazing just how many mics you have reviewed now. You are certainly worthy of the title Mr Microphone!!!

[jamesorrell]

This mic was genuinely good. Sounded better than every mic that was cheaper than it and I even preferred it to both of the Samson Mics. Handling noise is terrible but for voice calls and such, this would be well worth getting. Probably good enough for more professional utilisations as well. I honestly didn't hate it for electric or acoustic guitars though they aren't my favourite. I didn't like them for singing. Overall a very solid microphone and possibly my new recommendation for people looking for USB mics under £75 (as long as they don't plan on using headphones with it)

[grandaddy]

I don’t know how I found you but hot damn I’m glad this told me everything I wanted and as a postman the way you throw the box every time warms my heart

[audirealan]

Most comprehensive review, thanks for all your work.

[ApexLodestar]

Superb review as always, Podcastage. This Fifine K688 sounds shockingly good for the price. As for the Tonor TD510, it sounds REALLY dark in USB mode but sounds far less dark in XLR mode. Try both modes separately and you might notice it, too.

[yoursjuli]

such a newb when it comes to AV (and pop punk hehe, music section scratches my brain so good i asked my discord friends for recs beyond the basics) aiming to build my first desktop setup... literally hyperfixating SO BAD on these videos, this is probably my 6th or 7th review in a row (but can honestly say i subbed during the first). came for the mic reviews, stayed for the sillies hehe

[portodiego]

I got one a few months ago to replace an ATR2100 that stopped working,
I'm glad it wasn't a terrible buy when it comes to sound.
Prices for tech stuff in brazil are awful so this seemed like a good budget option at the time.
I keep mine on a mic arm that I don't really move and cables tied with velcro straps to avoid noise.
Nice to finally see it reviewed by you!

[kahvikissa_]

thanks for reviewing this. just heard of this brand and wanted to know if its any good. those sponsored reviewers that just say that everything is super amazing and don't do nearly as thorough testing as you aren't the most helpful

[DailyTechNews.mp]

Ahhh the 688; I've been waiting for this 😁👌

[VegasGuy]

After one uneducated buy on a condenser mic that captured every sound not wanted, I just picked up a pair of these K688’s today for $103 bucks off Amazon. These should be great for a budget mic for me and my mid doing a podcast together.

Thanks for the review!

[rchard-]

This is the best review of a mic that I've ever watched, every detail or scenario I wanted to know is in this video. (As a music producer, Thank you man!)

[rudrahalder]

One of the reviews.... Love the level of effort you made

[Mr.Cffee]

Pro tip: Since it has usb C you can connected to an iPad or android device and it gets recognized as a mic. Pretty neat. 👍🏼

[DailyTechNews.mp]

Haven't heard anyone else point out the resonance... which is actually quite a big deal.
Never buy a mic without first seing Bandrew's review 😁

[RikuHino]

Just picked this up for $37 I'm exited to use it

[jurgisgaldikas]

The best review out of all others on YouTube. I need a new usb mic that doesn't pick up a whole lot of background noise and I have a budget of 100$ so I was thinking of buying this or the FiFine AmpliGame Am8. Do you have any other recommendations in this budget? Again, thanks for the awesome review!