Over the last year, my students have started composing music to summarise their learning. They wrote a banger of a track about cybersafety that has been on a loop in my head for the last 6 months. As a cohort, we also have a pretty good song about nutrition and one about exercise. Next year, I plan to record some of their songs and help them to write a few more to create a full school album.
In service of this dream, I contacted the editors at DRN and asked for a microphone that I could use in a makeshift recording studio at my school. As a former voice actor and musician, I have always wanted my own recording studio and equipment. Until now the price has been so far beyond what any average person could afford. However, in the last few years, the availability and price of good quality recording equipment has changed dramatically.
I was expecting a simple podcasting mic that looked good enough to get my students excited about recording. We are going to be trying a few microphones. The first one is the Fifine K688, a dynamic microphone with dual XLR and USB inputs that comes with an incredibly affordable price tag.
First Impressions
The Fifine K688 comes in a great box. As someone who doesn’t own any storage cases, I was really grateful that the box used for packaging includes built-in compartments and can be re-used when transporting the mic between school and my home. Because of their fantastic box design, Fifine didn’t need to include any single-use plastics. The only soft plastic included was a little ziplock bag carrying the adaptor – A tiny metal nut that enables the microphone to attach to both ⅝” and ⅜” boom arms. 
In terms of overall aesthetics, Fifine’s K688 is a very attractive and sturdy looking microphone. It has a semi-matte finish and despite being made of solid metal, it is not particularly heavy – mine was about 350g. It comes with a fitted shock mount and detachable ‘windscreen’ designed to serve as a pop filter that fully covers the mic. On the side of the mic, it has a haptic touch button with a mute/unmute function. My frustrations with haptic touch buttons are well documented, but this might be the one circumstance where I would consider endorsing its use. The mute button is completely silent and can be used to neatly cut a recording without further editing. Finally, at the bottom of the mic are two handy knobs, one for mic gain and one for volume.
The K688 does not come with its own stand which could be a big drawback for some hobbyists. However, because of that wonderful adapter and its low weight, I was able to make use of a microphone stand that I purchased from a discount store for all of my recordings. The K688 comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable and needs a USB connection to power it as a dynamic microphone. It also features an XLR output which they claim can dramatically reduce circuit noise interference when being used in untreated rooms. I had never seen a purely dynamic microphone with both USB and XLR outputs (usually used by condenser microphones) so I was both excited and confused by this addition.
Ultimately, it is missing some of the optional extras offered by other microphone providers. It’s clear that the team at Fifine have done away with unnecessary extras in order to lower the price of a high quality product.
Set Up
There is not much to say about the setup process for this microphone. One end goes into the mic, the other end into your computer and you are good to go. My computer registered it immediately and automatically as both a microphone and headphones. I plugged a range of different headphones into the mic and they all worked perfectly and instantly to provide me with a beautiful rich sound and no noticeable delay. It’s worth noting here that this microphone comes with a comparatively thick user manual that mostly details how to connect peripheral devices to different types of computers. It feels like a bit of a throwback in an age where most user manuals are a tiny square of paper with a QR code on it.
Despite its XLR output, the Fifine K688 can’t use phantom power to function as a condenser mic. This is fine by me because I don’t have a phantom power box or anything else that might be found in a professional recording studio. I was able to test the XLR output through a speaker but wasn’t able to record that sound. Ultimately, the sound was better when I used the USB output but it definitely wasn’t a fair test of this particular function.
In Use
There is a lot of honesty in the marketing for this microphone. Firstly, the directionality of the microphone is really pronounced. The Fifine K688 has a cardioid polar pattern and if you speak into the microphone at the correct angle and from the correct distance (2 to 6 inches), it captures a rich, full and warm sound. If you are not in that zone, you are almost inaudible. I have seen other reviewers complain about the lack of noise cancelling functions on this mic but I cannot imagine them making any difference. The recordings below were mostly made in my living room, one with a very chatty child and a few others with an action movie being played at the same time (Red One). You can only just hear those sounds and they were very loud. This directionality also ensures that the sound isn’t really affected by knocking the table or even the mic stand.
The drawback of this incredibly pronounced directionality is that the microphone loses some of its versatility. This is not a microphone for recording ambient sounds or live music. This microphone is specifically designed for recording one person – singing, speaking or playing an instrument. It does a pretty good job with low and mid pitched instruments (I tried a trumpet, guitar and bodhran), high pitch instruments aren’t quite as pleasant to listen to but are still ok (I used a tin whistle).
Another great feature of this microphone is how well it responds to both plosives and fricatives. Despite being a dynamic microphone, the frequency profile of the Fifine K688 is not a flat line and bumps up the volume of high frequency sounds, anything above and including 2,000 Hertz. This should make plosives and high pitched fricative sounds burst really loudly but to my ear, they don’t sound too bad. I recorded a few tongue twisters where I aggressively hammered plosives and sibilance and you can see that the ‘detachable windscreen’ and special secret sauce in the microphone make a big difference in negating the harsh sounds.
Gripes
Aside from the extreme level of directionality preventing the recording of ambient and group sounds and the lack of a desk stand, I can’t really find things to complain about with this microphone. I did raise the gain quite a bit in order to get a sound I liked and it made my singing a bit echoey. I would probably like a microphone that naturally records a bit louder but understand that even the best microphones are a delicate balance between gain and distortion.
Conclusion
Ultimately, this is a pretty great mic at a very reasonable price. As I write this, it is being sold on Amazon for $96.04 (AUD) as part of a Boxing Day sale! It is also available directly from their website.
In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined a mic of this quality being available for less than $100. I think back to when I made my living as a voice actor and how much this would have enhanced my career. The Fifine K688 has a beautiful rich sound, powerful directionality and an ability to reduce the effect of plosives and sibilance that I cannot reasonably explain. If you are someone who records yourself from home, either as a hobby or a job, I strongly recommend this microphone. Perhaps you could put the money you save on a mic towards a boom arm and use this beauty in the way it is intended.
DRN would like to thank Fifine for providing the review unit.
