{"video_id":"jJlfOhQ_f1M","title":"Why is EVERYONE Buying this Mic??","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2024-05-04T14:53:29Z","duration_s":761,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":6.18,"text":"whether it's to hang out with your paid friends on Discord or to fulfill your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.319,"end_s":9.54,"text":"lifelong dream of becoming a millionaire who works 16 hours a day and lives in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":7.68,"end_s":16.68,"text":"squalor for some reason you have found yourself in need of a microphone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":12.12,"end_s":19.14,"text":"but in a sea of many great options why","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":16.68,"end_s":24.24,"text":"the ever-loving Jack eating are you guys all buying this one it's not the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.32,"end_s":28.519,"text":"cheapest it's not the best quality probably and while I have encountered","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":27.3,"end_s":34.26,"text":"the brand before fifine isn't exactly a household name","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":31.5,"end_s":40.739,"text":"and yet somehow it was the Amazon bestseller way back in January and now","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.2,"end_s":43.079,"text":"over six months later it Remains the top","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":40.739,"end_s":48.0,"text":"dog do you all know something that I don't not for long you won't with the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":45.6,"end_s":54.239,"text":"help of the Labs team I will be finding out if you made a big mistake or if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":51.3,"end_s":58.68,"text":"everyone else is missing out on the best bang for the buck I know one thing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":56.64,"end_s":63.899,"text":"you're all missing out on though our sponsor the ridge life's complicated so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.8,"end_s":66.9,"text":"simplify it with a ridge wallet with a slim design to carry your essential","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":65.28,"end_s":71.64,"text":"cards and cash without the weight or bulk of that thing currently in your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":69.6,"end_s":75.84,"text":"pocket follow the link below and use code Linus to save 10 off your purchase","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.86,"end_s":82.14,"text":"and get free shipping I guess the first question is why not the fifine a6t it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":79.619,"end_s":87.78,"text":"47 at the time of writing has overwhelmingly positive reviews works on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":84.299,"end_s":90.299,"text":"PC Mac and PlayStation and it includes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.78,"end_s":96.06,"text":"absolutely everything you need to get started the mic itself a boom ARM a desk","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":92.88,"end_s":98.88,"text":"clamp a shock mount and even a little","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":96.06,"end_s":104.579,"text":"pop filter with a smiley face on it I mean it's kind of an incredible value a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":102.42,"end_s":109.56,"text":"setup like this purchased all pieces separately could easily run you double","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":106.5,"end_s":112.38,"text":"or more and I'm not even talking about a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.56,"end_s":117.18,"text":"more advanced setup with a separate XLR microphone and audio interface","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":115.38,"end_s":122.82,"text":"are they doing all of this it's kind of a wild right because fundamentally every","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":120.299,"end_s":128.34,"text":"microphone from the very cheapest all the way to the most premium is the same","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":125.64,"end_s":132.9,"text":"in that it captures the sound that's coming to it via vibrations in the air","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":130.44,"end_s":137.58,"text":"and then outputs that as a mic level signal which is basically an audible you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":135.599,"end_s":141.84,"text":"then need a pre-amplifier to convert it to a line level signal that humans can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.68,"end_s":146.099,"text":"actually hear and finally you need an analog to digital converter to convert","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":143.94,"end_s":152.52,"text":"the waves of analog data into digital data that your computer can understand","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":148.86,"end_s":154.2,"text":"and yes all of that is packed into the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":152.52,"end_s":158.7,"text":"devices in your setup whether you can point to the discrete components or not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":156.26,"end_s":164.28,"text":"the difference is that in fully Integrated Solutions they just might be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.92,"end_s":167.099,"text":"really really tiny and or well really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.28,"end_s":172.319,"text":"really cheap which raises a huge question here I mean if you can make all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":169.62,"end_s":178.2,"text":"the necessary pieces so small and so affordable why does anybody spend the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.959,"end_s":178.92,"text":"extra on these Overkill setups like this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.2,"end_s":184.14,"text":"one well the most obvious answer is of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.86,"end_s":189.18,"text":"course quality compared to our studio mic which is the one I'm talking on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":185.879,"end_s":191.819,"text":"right now or the one that we use for the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.18,"end_s":195.36,"text":"land show the a6t um","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":192.72,"end_s":201.06,"text":"it just doesn't sound that great by comparison but we're also being totally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.18,"end_s":206.159,"text":"unfair I mean considering that the mic itself is practically thrown in for free","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":203.7,"end_s":210.78,"text":"alongside its generous accessory package means that I think a more reasonable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":208.68,"end_s":216.36,"text":"comparison would be to a pair of old wired earpods that you had lying around","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":212.76,"end_s":217.98,"text":"which as expected it sounds a lot worse","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":216.36,"end_s":222.0,"text":"we're going to get into some deeper performance comparisons a bit later but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.72,"end_s":228.18,"text":"first I want to talk about the second advantage of a more advanced XLR setup","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":224.94,"end_s":230.4,"text":"and that's upgradability it can be a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":228.18,"end_s":235.14,"text":"bigger upfront investment that is unless you choose a mic that has both USB and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":232.799,"end_s":239.7,"text":"XLR but what's nice about it is that you're able to swap out only your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":237.12,"end_s":244.319,"text":"microphone or only your audio interface if you end up needing something else of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":242.159,"end_s":250.14,"text":"course for some folks the sheer Simplicity of having a single USBC cable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":247.56,"end_s":256.26,"text":"trumps any kind of quality or future proofing Advantage so let's take a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.36,"end_s":258.78,"text":"closer look look at the a16 the mic","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":256.26,"end_s":263.34,"text":"feels quite a bit cheaper than it looks in the pictures actually it's shockingly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":260.88,"end_s":268.8,"text":"light it's side address which means you talk into it like this not like this and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":267.12,"end_s":273.66,"text":"to help you with that the pop filter only attaches to it one way so you're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":271.44,"end_s":278.16,"text":"very unlikely to mess it up and the boom ARM does actually a pretty darn","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":276.06,"end_s":283.62,"text":"excellent job of keeping the mic exactly where you put it but is so light that it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":281.4,"end_s":288.18,"text":"seems like it could break it pretty much any time and one more thing while it is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":286.5,"end_s":293.46,"text":"nice that these cable ties are included I feel like an upgrade to some better","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":289.86,"end_s":295.139,"text":"ones from lttstore.com is in order with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":293.46,"end_s":299.52,"text":"that said there's no other way around it I Gotta Give Them full marks for ease of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":297.12,"end_s":303.3,"text":"setup I mean you don't even need an app you just plug it in and the RGB lights","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":301.8,"end_s":308.28,"text":"up to let you know that you are officially a Pro Gamer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.5,"end_s":313.8,"text":"forever that's right you cannot customize the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.44,"end_s":316.62,"text":"RGB or even turn it off unless","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":313.8,"end_s":321.36,"text":"you mute the microphone all together gain is adjusted with this big old knob","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":318.9,"end_s":325.8,"text":"on the bottom but the indicator is inconveniently positioned on the bottom","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":323.699,"end_s":330.18,"text":"and it doesn't actually correspond to the position of the dial so maybe it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":328.44,"end_s":335.759,"text":"would be better to just use software to tell you nothing no the volume slider on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":333.72,"end_s":340.02,"text":"Windows does nothing with the default drivers for the five fine and the lack","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":338.1,"end_s":344.88,"text":"of an app means that there are no other drivers nor is there an official way to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":342.3,"end_s":349.5,"text":"add VST plugins Like A Noise Gate or a compressor and also no audio mixing like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":347.82,"end_s":353.52,"text":"some other microphones allow you to do however you'll know that this isn't a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":351.9,"end_s":357.12,"text":"huge Mark against it if you watched our recent video highlighting some handy","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":355.199,"end_s":362.46,"text":"audio tools that can take care of that for you none of which matters at all if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":360.3,"end_s":366.72,"text":"the mic's performance is unacceptably bad so we're going to start by letting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":364.44,"end_s":370.8,"text":"you guys judge some fairly challenging scenarios I'm just gonna you know what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":369.24,"end_s":374.4,"text":"I'm just going to put it right here and we're going to let the five finds","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":372.479,"end_s":379.62,"text":"included shock mount see if it can handle some desk vibrations and stuff","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":377.22,"end_s":387.3,"text":"like that or oh how about the pop filter um pop pop popsicle plosive uh or ice","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":383.759,"end_s":391.259,"text":"ice icicle baby oh oh how does it handle","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":387.3,"end_s":393.3,"text":"gamer excitement uh POG POG POG uh gamer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":391.259,"end_s":396.84,"text":"say POG right I'm gonna which way is down oh bloody oh I don't know which way","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":395.34,"end_s":403.74,"text":"is down it doesn't matter for comparison the Blue Yeti costs about twice as much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":401.16,"end_s":408.479,"text":"with no accessories other than a desk stand and sounds about like this and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":406.8,"end_s":412.8,"text":"just so you don't have to rewind to find it um","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":410.24,"end_s":417.0,"text":"and just so you don't have to rewind to find it here's what you'd usually hear","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":414.479,"end_s":422.1,"text":"on the WAN Show and now we're back on the fifine a6t one last time for your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":419.28,"end_s":427.5,"text":"enjoyment or lack thereof but for my part I actually think it sounds pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":424.44,"end_s":429.199,"text":"darn okay but then again we didn't hire","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":427.5,"end_s":434.819,"text":"a Labs team so I could give you my YouTuber thoughts TM time for some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.479,"end_s":439.8,"text":"science we haven't actually finalized our test Suite or begun testing Mike's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":437.34,"end_s":443.94,"text":"insignificant volumes yet so what we did was choose a handful of models that we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":441.72,"end_s":448.68,"text":"felt were either comparable due to their price and popularity or because they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":446.699,"end_s":453.78,"text":"might help provide a reference point for how our a6t performs compared to a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":451.02,"end_s":458.58,"text":"bottom or a top tier solution our reference mic is a Dayton audio emm6","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":456.419,"end_s":463.979,"text":"which is a calibrated omnidirectional microphone compared to other USB mics","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":461.039,"end_s":468.36,"text":"the a6t performs actually surprisingly similarly in frequency response but the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":466.62,"end_s":472.8,"text":"drop in this range suggests that it will have a slightly darker sound the Elgato","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":471.06,"end_s":476.639,"text":"wave ended up being the outlier the other way sounding brighter though that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":474.96,"end_s":481.919,"text":"did come at the cost of picking up a little bit more sibilance which is your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":478.5,"end_s":483.24,"text":"harsh s and sounds overall though the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":481.919,"end_s":488.16,"text":"field was close enough that if you're considering a USB microphone we just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":486.0,"end_s":493.44,"text":"didn't really find there to be a huge difference in performance from the worst","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":490.319,"end_s":495.06,"text":"to the best and believe it or not we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":493.44,"end_s":499.699,"text":"kind of see the same thing when we compare it even to higher end XLR","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":497.28,"end_s":506.78,"text":"microphones compared to an Electro Voice re20 a mic that costs literally 10 times","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":503.759,"end_s":510.3,"text":"as much as this entire complete solution","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":506.78,"end_s":514.44,"text":"the on paper results are shockingly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":510.3,"end_s":517.5,"text":"close and in the real world the re20 is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.44,"end_s":520.56,"text":"better but it's certainly not 10 times","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":517.5,"end_s":523.32,"text":"better however that is under somewhat","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":520.56,"end_s":528.24,"text":"ideal conditions better microphones can have advantages that go beyond frequency","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":525.66,"end_s":531.839,"text":"response like for example background noise rejection if you're alone in a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":530.58,"end_s":538.74,"text":"room hanging out with your friends on Discord you do not need a 450 mic this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":536.04,"end_s":544.14,"text":"is great with that said there are cases where frequency response does tell a big","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.08,"end_s":546.24,"text":"part of the story our third gen airpods","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":544.14,"end_s":550.62,"text":"for example really struggled at the high end possibly because of their Bluetooth","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":548.1,"end_s":556.62,"text":"connectivity or noise cancellation but in practice they sound overall not bad","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":552.48,"end_s":558.779,"text":"but then our wired earpods have a hole","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":556.62,"end_s":563.82,"text":"right in the vocal range that really does make them sound kinda muffled and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":561.839,"end_s":567.959,"text":"you can improve this situation by clipping the mic a little closer to your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":565.74,"end_s":572.16,"text":"mouth but at the the end of the day the mic is still omnidirectional so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":570.06,"end_s":575.76,"text":"regardless of its frequency response or its proximity to the source it's going","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":574.14,"end_s":579.18,"text":"to pick up any noise around you including your keyboard your mouse or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":577.86,"end_s":584.279,"text":"your mom yelling at you to get off the darn computer now unfortunately we're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":581.76,"end_s":587.64,"text":"not set up yet to test every aspect of a microphone's performance once the lab's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":586.38,"end_s":593.16,"text":"website is fully up and running and we've got our Sound Chamber you're going to see all kinds of really great stuff","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":591.72,"end_s":598.019,"text":"but not yet but we're also not done yet for today","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":595.2,"end_s":602.94,"text":"let's talk about polar patterns have you ever noticed these small symbols on some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":600.18,"end_s":606.899,"text":"microphones that is how well the microphone captures or reject sounds","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":605.88,"end_s":612.66,"text":"that are coming from different directions the Amazon page for the fifine a6t","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":610.56,"end_s":617.1,"text":"claims that it is a cardioid pickup pattern microphone is that true well","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":615.6,"end_s":622.56,"text":"let's check shall we this green line is sounds coming","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":619.62,"end_s":626.58,"text":"directly to the front of the a6t and this drop shows that it's rejecting some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":625.08,"end_s":632.94,"text":"sounds that are coming in at 90 degrees and a little bit more at 180 degrees so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":629.82,"end_s":635.88,"text":"it is in fact a cardioid microphone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":632.94,"end_s":640.8,"text":"however for reference this is the polar pattern graph of the electrovoice re20","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":637.86,"end_s":647.1,"text":"which has better rejection particularly at higher frequencies","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":643.08,"end_s":649.32,"text":"so from our evaluation the fifine isn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":647.1,"end_s":655.56,"text":"the best thing around but especially for the price it's a a pretty fine","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":653.1,"end_s":661.32,"text":"or at least our unit is out of the box while Amazon reviews tend","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":658.86,"end_s":666.12,"text":"to get gunked up with Spam they can also be a way to glean useful longer term","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":663.6,"end_s":671.04,"text":"information about a product so let's see what you guys liked and what you didn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":668.76,"end_s":675.24,"text":"like about the a6t 5 Star reviews for the most part Rave","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":673.74,"end_s":679.14,"text":"about the sound quality with some claiming that this mic has exceeded","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":677.04,"end_s":684.48,"text":"their expectations and others calling it the best budget mic they've ever used","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":681.779,"end_s":688.74,"text":"for the price I actually think this is reasonably Fair praise the four star","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":686.76,"end_s":692.64,"text":"reviews mostly complain about things that are not related to the sound","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":690.24,"end_s":699.18,"text":"quality directly the plant feeling cheap the gain knob being finicky or worst of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":695.7,"end_s":701.339,"text":"all the lack of RGB customization again","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":699.18,"end_s":705.959,"text":"though no complaints about audio quality so it seems like it's not just ours this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":703.74,"end_s":709.98,"text":"thing sounds pretty darn good of course things take a turn for the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":708.0,"end_s":714.06,"text":"worse when we look at the three two and one star reviews with many people","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":712.019,"end_s":719.399,"text":"reporting the better than expected quality turned into zero quality due to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":717.24,"end_s":724.86,"text":"their unit lasting a few weeks or a few months at best there aren't too many of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":722.399,"end_s":730.14,"text":"them but this is a significant red flag and so is the almost complete lack of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":727.8,"end_s":733.74,"text":"discussion about customer service the reviews said it was great and one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":732.3,"end_s":738.12,"text":"claims that they did not receive a response after a week","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":735.779,"end_s":743.22,"text":"it's not a lot of money considering the package but it is your money so the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":741.06,"end_s":747.36,"text":"choice is yours do you go with a reputable brand for a significant up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":745.14,"end_s":751.74,"text":"charge or do you buy something that costs half as much knowing that well you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":750.24,"end_s":755.279,"text":"might need to get another one shipped to you check out one of the other ones from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":753.24,"end_s":759.42,"text":"the series like why is everybody buying this monitor spoiler alert because it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":758.04,"end_s":762.62,"text":"a great value but there's more to it than that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"whether it's to hang out with your paid friends on Discord or to fulfill your lifelong dream of becoming a millionaire who works 16 hours a day and lives in squalor for some reason you have found yourself in need of a microphone but in a sea of many great options why the ever-loving Jack eating are you guys all buying this one it's not the cheapest it's not the best quality probably and while I have encountered the brand before fifine isn't exactly a household name and yet somehow it was the Amazon bestseller way back in January and now over six months later it Remains the top dog do you all know something that I don't not for long you won't with the help of the Labs team I will be finding out if you made a big mistake or if everyone else is missing out on the best bang for the buck I know one thing you're all missing out on though our sponsor the ridge life's complicated so simplify it with a ridge wallet with a slim design to carry your essential cards and cash without the weight or bulk of that thing currently in your pocket follow the link below and use code Linus to save 10 off your purchase and get free shipping I guess the first question is why not the fifine a6t it's 47 at the time of writing has overwhelmingly positive reviews works on PC Mac and PlayStation and it includes absolutely everything you need to get started the mic itself a boom ARM a desk clamp a shock mount and even a little pop filter with a smiley face on it I mean it's kind of an incredible value a setup like this purchased all pieces separately could easily run you double or more and I'm not even talking about a more advanced setup with a separate XLR microphone and audio interface are they doing all of this it's kind of a wild right because fundamentally every microphone from the very cheapest all the way to the most premium is the same in that it captures the sound that's coming to it via vibrations in the air and then outputs that as a mic level signal which is basically an audible you then need a pre-amplifier to convert it to a line level signal that humans can actually hear and finally you need an analog to digital converter to convert the waves of analog data into digital data that your computer can understand and yes all of that is packed into the devices in your setup whether you can point to the discrete components or not the difference is that in fully Integrated Solutions they just might be really really tiny and or well really really cheap which raises a huge question here I mean if you can make all the necessary pieces so small and so affordable why does anybody spend the extra on these Overkill setups like this one well the most obvious answer is of course quality compared to our studio mic which is the one I'm talking on right now or the one that we use for the land show the a6t um it just doesn't sound that great by comparison but we're also being totally unfair I mean considering that the mic itself is practically thrown in for free alongside its generous accessory package means that I think a more reasonable comparison would be to a pair of old wired earpods that you had lying around which as expected it sounds a lot worse we're going to get into some deeper performance comparisons a bit later but first I want to talk about the second advantage of a more advanced XLR setup and that's upgradability it can be a bigger upfront investment that is unless you choose a mic that has both USB and XLR but what's nice about it is that you're able to swap out only your microphone or only your audio interface if you end up needing something else of course for some folks the sheer Simplicity of having a single USBC cable trumps any kind of quality or future proofing Advantage so let's take a closer look look at the a16 the mic feels quite a bit cheaper than it looks in the pictures actually it's shockingly light it's side address which means you talk into it like this not like this and to help you with that the pop filter only attaches to it one way so you're very unlikely to mess it up and the boom ARM does actually a pretty darn excellent job of keeping the mic exactly where you put it but is so light that it seems like it could break it pretty much any time and one more thing while it is nice that these cable ties are included I feel like an upgrade to some better ones from lttstore.com is in order with that said there's no other way around it I Gotta Give Them full marks for ease of setup I mean you don't even need an app you just plug it in and the RGB lights up to let you know that you are officially a Pro Gamer forever that's right you cannot customize the RGB or even turn it off unless you mute the microphone all together gain is adjusted with this big old knob on the bottom but the indicator is inconveniently positioned on the bottom and it doesn't actually correspond to the position of the dial so maybe it would be better to just use software to tell you nothing no the volume slider on Windows does nothing with the default drivers for the five fine and the lack of an app means that there are no other drivers nor is there an official way to add VST plugins Like A Noise Gate or a compressor and also no audio mixing like some other microphones allow you to do however you'll know that this isn't a huge Mark against it if you watched our recent video highlighting some handy audio tools that can take care of that for you none of which matters at all if the mic's performance is unacceptably bad so we're going to start by letting you guys judge some fairly challenging scenarios I'm just gonna you know what I'm just going to put it right here and we're going to let the five finds included shock mount see if it can handle some desk vibrations and stuff like that or oh how about the pop filter um pop pop popsicle plosive uh or ice ice icicle baby oh oh how does it handle gamer excitement uh POG POG POG uh gamer say POG right I'm gonna which way is down oh bloody oh I don't know which way is down it doesn't matter for comparison the Blue Yeti costs about twice as much with no accessories other than a desk stand and sounds about like this and just so you don't have to rewind to find it um and just so you don't have to rewind to find it here's what you'd usually hear on the WAN Show and now we're back on the fifine a6t one last time for your enjoyment or lack thereof but for my part I actually think it sounds pretty darn okay but then again we didn't hire a Labs team so I could give you my YouTuber thoughts TM time for some science we haven't actually finalized our test Suite or begun testing Mike's insignificant volumes yet so what we did was choose a handful of models that we felt were either comparable due to their price and popularity or because they might help provide a reference point for how our a6t performs compared to a bottom or a top tier solution our reference mic is a Dayton audio emm6 which is a calibrated omnidirectional microphone compared to other USB mics the a6t performs actually surprisingly similarly in frequency response but the drop in this range suggests that it will have a slightly darker sound the Elgato wave ended up being the outlier the other way sounding brighter though that did come at the cost of picking up a little bit more sibilance which is your harsh s and sounds overall though the field was close enough that if you're considering a USB microphone we just didn't really find there to be a huge difference in performance from the worst to the best and believe it or not we kind of see the same thing when we compare it even to higher end XLR microphones compared to an Electro Voice re20 a mic that costs literally 10 times as much as this entire complete solution the on paper results are shockingly close and in the real world the re20 is better but it's certainly not 10 times better however that is under somewhat ideal conditions better microphones can have advantages that go beyond frequency response like for example background noise rejection if you're alone in a room hanging out with your friends on Discord you do not need a 450 mic this is great with that said there are cases where frequency response does tell a big part of the story our third gen airpods for example really struggled at the high end possibly because of their Bluetooth connectivity or noise cancellation but in practice they sound overall not bad but then our wired earpods have a hole right in the vocal range that really does make them sound kinda muffled and you can improve this situation by clipping the mic a little closer to your mouth but at the the end of the day the mic is still omnidirectional so regardless of its frequency response or its proximity to the source it's going to pick up any noise around you including your keyboard your mouse or your mom yelling at you to get off the darn computer now unfortunately we're not set up yet to test every aspect of a microphone's performance once the lab's website is fully up and running and we've got our Sound Chamber you're going to see all kinds of really great stuff but not yet but we're also not done yet for today let's talk about polar patterns have you ever noticed these small symbols on some microphones that is how well the microphone captures or reject sounds that are coming from different directions the Amazon page for the fifine a6t claims that it is a cardioid pickup pattern microphone is that true well let's check shall we this green line is sounds coming directly to the front of the a6t and this drop shows that it's rejecting some sounds that are coming in at 90 degrees and a little bit more at 180 degrees so it is in fact a cardioid microphone however for reference this is the polar pattern graph of the electrovoice re20 which has better rejection particularly at higher frequencies so from our evaluation the fifine isn't the best thing around but especially for the price it's a a pretty fine or at least our unit is out of the box while Amazon reviews tend to get gunked up with Spam they can also be a way to glean useful longer term information about a product so let's see what you guys liked and what you didn't like about the a6t 5 Star reviews for the most part Rave about the sound quality with some claiming that this mic has exceeded their expectations and others calling it the best budget mic they've ever used for the price I actually think this is reasonably Fair praise the four star reviews mostly complain about things that are not related to the sound quality directly the plant feeling cheap the gain knob being finicky or worst of all the lack of RGB customization again though no complaints about audio quality so it seems like it's not just ours this thing sounds pretty darn good of course things take a turn for the worse when we look at the three two and one star reviews with many people reporting the better than expected quality turned into zero quality due to their unit lasting a few weeks or a few months at best there aren't too many of them but this is a significant red flag and so is the almost complete lack of discussion about customer service the reviews said it was great and one claims that they did not receive a response after a week it's not a lot of money considering the package but it is your money so the choice is yours do you go with a reputable brand for a significant up charge or do you buy something that costs half as much knowing that well you might need to get another one shipped to you check out one of the other ones from the series like why is everybody buying this monitor spoiler alert because it's a great value but there's more to it than that"}