greetings earthlings and welcome back to podcastage what you're listening to and
what I'm reviewing today is the five fine k688 which is an XLR and USB dynamic microphone that
costs between 73 and 83 dollars if you are interested in picking it up I'll throw some
affiliate links in the description down below also in the description and the doobly-doo
I will include all of the recording settings and now let's talk about what comes in the Box
what a surprise you are going to get the microphone with the foam windscreen installed a 5
8 to 3 8 inch microphone stand adapter a six foot USBC to usba cable and a tiny bit of documentation
then as far as the build quality it does not feel good at all it has an incredibly Hollow feeling
body and a weak feeling mount it feels cold like metal and I scratched it it is metal but it sounds
like plastic underneath the foam you do have that same metal for the grill on the side you have a
capacitive mute button on the rear of the mic you have an XLR port a USBC port to connect to your
computer a three and a half millimeter headphone jack which does offer zero latency monitoring
a headphone volume control a microphone volume control and if it matters to you this microphone
is made in China up on the screen I will have all of the specs and the graphs that I could find and
I will also list those in the description in case you want to read up on those now I am spinning
around the k688 to 90 degrees to show you the off axis rejection and coloration continuing
around to 180 degrees this is the rear of the mic continuing around to the second 90 degree
angle here we are and then rotating and ending at the front of the microphone next I want to
see how effective the microphone is at rejecting plosives and gusts of air so let's test that out
please provide Pizza Pronto please provide Pizza Pronto please bring Pizza Pronto please now I am
right on top of the microphone to exaggerate the proximity effect and here is how it's sounding
now I'm about three inches off of the mic with it pointed at the corner of my mouth and here's how
it's sounding now I'm about one foot away from the k688 now I'm about two feet away from the
Phi fine microphone and about four feet away from the five fine k688 now I am typing on a keyboard
with gatorron Blue switches to see how much of my voice versus how much of the keyboard it picks up
and for the gaming folk now I am clickety-clacking on the sad W and spacebar keys now here is how the
microphone sounds about three inches away from my mouth in a well-treated room and now here is how
the microphone sounds about three inches away from my mouth in a completely untreated room
now I want to see how effective the microphone and the permanently installed shock mount are
rejecting shocks so I'll start by tapping on my desk to see how much of that noise it can reject
and then I will tap on the boom arm [Music] next because I'm incredibly annoying I am
going to tap on the microphone to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies [Music]
now I want to see if the provided windscreen has a big impact on the tone of the microphone so right
now you are hearing me speak into the microphone with the provided windscreen installed now I have
removed the provided foam windscreen and here is how it's sounding I do hear a bit more top
end and again here is how the microphone sounds with the provided windscreen and to round out
this test here is how the microphone sounds again without the provided foam windscreen now I want to
see if there was any kind of audible noise when we engage or disengage the mute button so I will
keep talking as I mute them I have now unmuted the microphone I will keep then unmuted again
and there you go that's a demo of the mute button next I wanted to see if both the USB and the XLR
Port can work simultaneously So currently I am recording the USB output directly to my Mac I
am also outputting XLR into the focusrite 18i 22nd gen gains set around 445 and both outputs
do appear to be working simultaneously but one note the microphone May mute the USB output but as
you're hearing the XLR out right now it does not mute that so keep that in mind next like I always
do I'm going to do a quick spoken word comparison between the microphone we're reviewing and a
handful of other microphones that are its direct competitor so we can hear how it Stacks up against
the competition and hear it within a bit of context starting on the mic we're reviewing I am
three inches off the microphone's gain is set at around two o'clock computer level at 100 percent
16 bit 48 kilohertz and there you go first up we have the meono pd100 which is an XLR only dynamic
microphone goes for 45 dollars running into the focusrite 18i 22nd gen 24-bit 48 kilohertz gain
set at around 445 and here is how it compares to the five fine let's go back and do some more
comparisons back again again on the Phi fine k688 nothing has changed let's go to another microphone
now I am on the tonor td40 or td510 three inches off level set at 100 percent this costs around
60 dollars it is another USB and XLR dynamic microphone and here's how it compares to the
k688 let's do a bunch more we are back for another palette cleanser on the microphone we're reviewing
k688 check the lower third let's go to another mic next I am on the May Ono HD 300t which is another
XLR and USB Dynamic mic three inches off level set at 100 percent and this costs around 65 dollars
let's go back and do some more comparisons I believe this is the halfway point in the
comparison section so this is the case 688 let's go to another mic next I am on a crowd favorite
these Samsung q2u which is another XLR USB dynamic microphone 16-bit 48 kilohertz 3 inches off with
my level set at 44 and here is how this compares to a microphone that is a few dollars more few
dollars less I don't remember let's do some more comparisons we have a few more to go but this is
your palette cleanser on the five fine microphone get a good feel for it and let's do another one
now I am on the Audio Technica ATR 2100x Dash USB this costs around eighty dollars it is another XLR
and USB Dynamic mic 24 bit 48 kilohertz three inches off with my level set at 61 percent and
here is how it compares to the k688 forgot what we were doing I don't know how many of these I have
done I can never remember but k688 that's what you're listening to let's listen to another one
now I am on the Samsung q9u which is another XLR and USB Dynamic mic this now goes for about 130
dollars I do not have the high pass filter engaged but the mid boost is on three inches off with my
level set at 33 percent and 24 bit 48 kilohertz here is how it compares to the FI fine let's do a
few more I know you'll never believe me but we are back on the FI fine k688 nothing has changed let's
go to another microphone now I am on the Shure mv7 which is another say it with me XLR and USB
dynamic microphone this costs around 270 dollars three inches off level set at 69 percent 24 bit
48 kilohertz there you go that's the comparison to the five fine let's go back and do one final
comparison and I believe this is going to be the final microphone you know what it's going
to be here is your palette cleanser let's go to the last one and finally we are on the Neumann
hello Neumann u87ai this is a 3700 multi-pattern Studio condenser microphone cardioid mode notepad
no filter running into the 18i 20 gain at 11 o'clock and here is how this compares to a
microphone that is a lot cheaper this is a control from video to video so let's go ahead and go to
the music test before you leave an angry comment why are you comparing let's go [Music] [Applause]
[Music]
if you could have only one microphone do you think you could pick I know it seems like an impossible
task and ask but what do you think let me know in the comments down below only one Mike what would
it be I can't decide so I'm relying on you let's go to the conclusion I am actually a bit shocked
to say that I kind of enjoy how this microphone sounds what a surprise and first up as far as Pros
the microphone is relatively affordable I like that they included a mute button I always enjoy
microphones that have XLR and USB outputs that work simultaneously and I know a lot of people
care about the connectivity it has USBC and I know there are going to be Legions of people cheering
that on but then as far as cons number one for me has to be the Resonance of this thing because
holy resonance this may be the most resonant microphone I have ever encountered it it is
so bad that if you tap a cable that's connected to it that will make it into the recording if
you rub a cable that is connected to it that is going to make it into the recording God forbid
you unintentionally tap the microphone that is going to make it into the recording secondly the
build of the microphone doesn't instill any kind of confidence it feels like incredibly cheap metal
I don't think it's going to hold up for the long term and then we have the conversion of this thing
for basic uses like Discord voice calls or live streaming or youtubing 16-bit is likely going to
be more than sufficient but in 2023 I would like to see at least 24 bit and then an FYI for you the
zero latency monitoring can get quite loud but in relationship to the computer playback it is quite
quiet so you can easily use it to set your levels to make sure you're not popping your microphone
to make sure everything's set up properly but if you need to hear yourself loudly and
clearly along with computer playback it's going to be a bit difficult so it may not be the best
fit for you and now what are my overall thoughts and opinions of the k688 as far as the overall
sound and the bass and low mids we have a decent amount of body but it doesn't come across overly
boomy and they didn't overly high pass it I enjoy it down there in the mids it doesn't come
across overly v-shaped it doesn't come across scooped pretty nice in the mids then we get a
pretty drastic boost in the presence and treble region which is a touch artificial a touch grainy
sounding but overall compared to mics of a similar price pretty decent and then when we get up to the
air frequencies we don't have much going on up there seems like they rolled a bit of that off on
the electric guitar I think it works fine but the presence and treble boost may be a bit grainy but
in the grand scheme of things I think it's pretty workable on the acoustic guitar I wasn't a fan I
think the presence and treble boost is a bit much and I like my acoustic guitar mics to have a bit
more air this comes across a bit dead for singing vocals I think this is perfectly workable but it's
not amazing it sounds like a standard Dynamic mic with that presence and treble boost but not much
extension into the air frequencies and finally for spoken word that's my favorite application
for this microphone I enjoy the balance we get between the bass the low mids and the mids we
do still have that typical bump in the presence and treble region but it doesn't come across two
sibilant so all around for spoken word I enjoy it and I rank it up there with something like
the q2u or the mayono 300t but it sounds different from them and to wrap up what I recommend to the
five fine k688 yes kind of I quite enjoy how this microphone sounds and if sound was the
only basis for this wreck recommendation then I would say for the price absolutely I recommend it
but I don't recommend microphones just based on the sound I have to take into account all other
aspects of the microphone and if you want to use headphones with this mic and you move your
headphones at all that is going to make it into the recording if you tap or rub the cables that
are attached to the microphone that is going to make it into the recording if you if you touch
the microphone at all and you don't accidentally hit the mute button which I definitely did not do
that is going to make it into the recording so if you are somebody who is going to be doing any of
those things using a headphone that might dangle off of it touch the cables grab the microphone
I don't think I can recommend it because the handling noise the resonance is so bad but if
that is not you if you don't want to connect your headphones to the microphone if you don't touch
your microphone while recording if you don't even glance at the microphone while recording and you
enjoy the sound of this while wanting an XLR and USB mic then I say go for it because I think the
sound of this is pretty darn decent for the price alright that's all that I've got for you today I
am running an experiment if you did find any value in this video please give it a thumbs up I'll do
the thing if you found it fun interesting or helpful thumbs up hated it thumbs down these
people are amazing they support the channel at five dollars or more thank you so much for
watching thank you so much for listening I will talk to you next week bye-bye whoa whoa