Alright ya’ll, I use my microphones for two things: gaming with my buddies and making photography YouTube videos on the weekend. For years, I used a crappy little on-camera mic for my YouTube channel, and the really bad built-in mic on my headset when gaming.
A little while back, I was in the market for a new mic when Fifine happened to email me literally days before I was going to pull the trigger on a purchase. They offered me the K688 in exchange for an honest review, so I figured why not.
So, while this mic was given to me for free, and I generally like it, there are some downsides that I’ll be covering in this review. Let’s jump in.
Pros:
- Really nice/deep sound quality
- Very simple setup (with USB-C)
- Aesthetically simple (no silly RGB)
- Very affordable
- Solid included boom arm
Cons:
- Screw mount is VERY plastic-y
- Mute button is inconvenient
Verdict: Although the build quality of the microphone itself is rather questionable, the boom arm feels great and the mic has fantastic quality for the price. Check out what other users have to say (affiliate link) or keep reading for my full impressions.
About the Mic
First up, let’s talk about the basics. The K688 can be connected via either USB-C or XLR. For me, I just use USB-C as I don’t care to mess with XLR (at least not yet, that may change in the future).
So the back of the mic has these two ports plus an aux jack to plug in your headphones. There are two knobs, one to control playback volume and one to control microphone gain (I keep mine at about 75%).
The included boom arm (part of the “K688CT” kit) is quite solid and moves smoothly. I haven’t had any issue with the arm itself, but the piece where the mic connects/screws-on is incredibly cheap and flimsy. If there’s any part that won’t last, it’s that piece. That being said, I don’t know about you, but I’m not constantly knocking my mic around, so I don’t think there’s much reason it would even break.
Aesthetically, I dig it. A lot of microphones in this price range are really ugly (ie. bright flashing RGB lights), while the K688 is very plain and minimalistic. No flashy lights, no silly colors, just business.
Usability/Audio Quality
I’ve found I haven’t really messed with it much after I initially set it up. There is a capacitive mute button, which means it’s sort of “touch-screen style” activated. Like you can just brush your finger over it and it’ll trigger. I’ve personally never liked this style of button as there is no tactile feedback.
I tend to fidget with my mic a lot while gaming (aka waiting for my friends to take their turns in Civ 6… yes Chris, I’m talking to you) and I’ve found I’ll accidentally mute myself quite often by brushing over the mute button. To be clear, this is ENTIRELY on me and isn’t technically a fault of the mic’s design.
The audio quality of the K688 is great. I’m sure if you spent three times more that you could get something that sounds better, but I have literally no complaints about this thing.
It’s quite directional, which is handy as I live on a super busy street (read: clapped out Civics revving their engines at two in the morning) so the mic doesn’t pick up anything besides my voice. It’s one of those mics that’s designed to be pointed right at you, and I’ve found a happy medium for me is to sit roughly 12-15 inches away to get optimal sound quality while still keeping it out of frame when I’m shooting videos.
Conclusion
So yeah, this was a short review, but there’s not too much to say. It’s a good mic at a good price. Feel free to check out the embedded video above to actually hear it in in action.
You can buy either just the Fifine K688 alone (a bit cheaper) or you can buy the K688CT kit that comes with the boom as well. I’ll drop an affiliate link below if you want to grab it yourself. Thanks for reading.
Check prices <— affiliate link, which means I get a very small comission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!