WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.180 whether it's to hang out with your paid friends on Discord or to fulfill your 00:00:04.319 --> 00:00:09.540 lifelong dream of becoming a millionaire who works 16 hours a day and lives in 00:00:07.680 --> 00:00:16.680 squalor for some reason you have found yourself in need of a microphone 00:00:12.120 --> 00:00:19.140 but in a sea of many great options why 00:00:16.680 --> 00:00:24.240 the ever-loving Jack eating are you guys all buying this one it's not the 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:28.519 cheapest it's not the best quality probably and while I have encountered 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:34.260 the brand before fifine isn't exactly a household name 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:40.739 and yet somehow it was the Amazon bestseller way back in January and now 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:43.079 over six months later it Remains the top 00:00:40.739 --> 00:00:48.000 dog do you all know something that I don't not for long you won't with the 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:54.239 help of the Labs team I will be finding out if you made a big mistake or if 00:00:51.300 --> 00:00:58.680 everyone else is missing out on the best bang for the buck I know one thing 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:03.899 you're all missing out on though our sponsor the ridge life's complicated so 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:06.900 simplify it with a ridge wallet with a slim design to carry your essential 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:11.640 cards and cash without the weight or bulk of that thing currently in your 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:15.840 pocket follow the link below and use code Linus to save 10 off your purchase 00:01:13.860 --> 00:01:22.140 and get free shipping I guess the first question is why not the fifine a6t it's 00:01:19.619 --> 00:01:27.780 47 at the time of writing has overwhelmingly positive reviews works on 00:01:24.299 --> 00:01:30.299 PC Mac and PlayStation and it includes 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:36.060 absolutely everything you need to get started the mic itself a boom ARM a desk 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:38.880 clamp a shock mount and even a little 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:44.579 pop filter with a smiley face on it I mean it's kind of an incredible value a 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:49.560 setup like this purchased all pieces separately could easily run you double 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:52.380 or more and I'm not even talking about a 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:57.180 more advanced setup with a separate XLR microphone and audio interface 00:01:55.380 --> 00:02:02.820 are they doing all of this it's kind of a wild right because fundamentally every 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:08.340 microphone from the very cheapest all the way to the most premium is the same 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:12.900 in that it captures the sound that's coming to it via vibrations in the air 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:17.580 and then outputs that as a mic level signal which is basically an audible you 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:21.840 then need a pre-amplifier to convert it to a line level signal that humans can 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:26.099 actually hear and finally you need an analog to digital converter to convert 00:02:23.940 --> 00:02:32.520 the waves of analog data into digital data that your computer can understand 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:34.200 and yes all of that is packed into the 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:38.700 devices in your setup whether you can point to the discrete components or not 00:02:36.260 --> 00:02:44.280 the difference is that in fully Integrated Solutions they just might be 00:02:40.920 --> 00:02:47.099 really really tiny and or well really 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:52.319 really cheap which raises a huge question here I mean if you can make all 00:02:49.620 --> 00:02:58.200 the necessary pieces so small and so affordable why does anybody spend the 00:02:54.959 --> 00:02:58.920 extra on these Overkill setups like this 00:02:58.200 --> 00:03:04.140 one well the most obvious answer is of 00:03:01.860 --> 00:03:09.180 course quality compared to our studio mic which is the one I'm talking on 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:11.819 right now or the one that we use for the 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:15.360 land show the a6t um 00:03:12.720 --> 00:03:21.060 it just doesn't sound that great by comparison but we're also being totally 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:26.159 unfair I mean considering that the mic itself is practically thrown in for free 00:03:23.700 --> 00:03:30.780 alongside its generous accessory package means that I think a more reasonable 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:36.360 comparison would be to a pair of old wired earpods that you had lying around 00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:37.980 which as expected it sounds a lot worse 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:42.000 we're going to get into some deeper performance comparisons a bit later but 00:03:39.720 --> 00:03:48.180 first I want to talk about the second advantage of a more advanced XLR setup 00:03:44.940 --> 00:03:50.400 and that's upgradability it can be a 00:03:48.180 --> 00:03:55.140 bigger upfront investment that is unless you choose a mic that has both USB and 00:03:52.799 --> 00:03:59.700 XLR but what's nice about it is that you're able to swap out only your 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:04.319 microphone or only your audio interface if you end up needing something else of 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:10.140 course for some folks the sheer Simplicity of having a single USBC cable 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:16.260 trumps any kind of quality or future proofing Advantage so let's take a 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:18.780 closer look look at the a16 the mic 00:04:16.260 --> 00:04:23.340 feels quite a bit cheaper than it looks in the pictures actually it's shockingly 00:04:20.880 --> 00:04:28.800 light it's side address which means you talk into it like this not like this and 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:33.660 to help you with that the pop filter only attaches to it one way so you're 00:04:31.440 --> 00:04:38.160 very unlikely to mess it up and the boom ARM does actually a pretty darn 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:43.620 excellent job of keeping the mic exactly where you put it but is so light that it 00:04:41.400 --> 00:04:48.180 seems like it could break it pretty much any time and one more thing while it is 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:53.460 nice that these cable ties are included I feel like an upgrade to some better 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:55.139 ones from lttstore.com is in order with 00:04:53.460 --> 00:04:59.520 that said there's no other way around it I Gotta Give Them full marks for ease of 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:03.300 setup I mean you don't even need an app you just plug it in and the RGB lights 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:08.280 up to let you know that you are officially a Pro Gamer 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:13.800 forever that's right you cannot customize the 00:05:10.440 --> 00:05:16.620 RGB or even turn it off unless 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:21.360 you mute the microphone all together gain is adjusted with this big old knob 00:05:18.900 --> 00:05:25.800 on the bottom but the indicator is inconveniently positioned on the bottom 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:30.180 and it doesn't actually correspond to the position of the dial so maybe it 00:05:28.440 --> 00:05:35.759 would be better to just use software to tell you nothing no the volume slider on 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:40.020 Windows does nothing with the default drivers for the five fine and the lack 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:44.880 of an app means that there are no other drivers nor is there an official way to 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:49.500 add VST plugins Like A Noise Gate or a compressor and also no audio mixing like 00:05:47.820 --> 00:05:53.520 some other microphones allow you to do however you'll know that this isn't a 00:05:51.900 --> 00:05:57.120 huge Mark against it if you watched our recent video highlighting some handy 00:05:55.199 --> 00:06:02.460 audio tools that can take care of that for you none of which matters at all if 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:06.720 the mic's performance is unacceptably bad so we're going to start by letting 00:06:04.440 --> 00:06:10.800 you guys judge some fairly challenging scenarios I'm just gonna you know what 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:14.400 I'm just going to put it right here and we're going to let the five finds 00:06:12.479 --> 00:06:19.620 included shock mount see if it can handle some desk vibrations and stuff 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:27.300 like that or oh how about the pop filter um pop pop popsicle plosive uh or ice 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:31.259 ice icicle baby oh oh how does it handle 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:33.300 gamer excitement uh POG POG POG uh gamer 00:06:31.259 --> 00:06:36.840 say POG right I'm gonna which way is down oh bloody oh I don't know which way 00:06:35.340 --> 00:06:43.740 is down it doesn't matter for comparison the Blue Yeti costs about twice as much 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:48.479 with no accessories other than a desk stand and sounds about like this and 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:52.800 just so you don't have to rewind to find it um 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:57.000 and just so you don't have to rewind to find it here's what you'd usually hear 00:06:54.479 --> 00:07:02.100 on the WAN Show and now we're back on the fifine a6t one last time for your 00:06:59.280 --> 00:07:07.500 enjoyment or lack thereof but for my part I actually think it sounds pretty 00:07:04.440 --> 00:07:09.199 darn okay but then again we didn't hire 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:14.819 a Labs team so I could give you my YouTuber thoughts TM time for some 00:07:12.479 --> 00:07:19.800 science we haven't actually finalized our test Suite or begun testing Mike's 00:07:17.340 --> 00:07:23.940 insignificant volumes yet so what we did was choose a handful of models that we 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:28.680 felt were either comparable due to their price and popularity or because they 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:33.780 might help provide a reference point for how our a6t performs compared to a 00:07:31.020 --> 00:07:38.580 bottom or a top tier solution our reference mic is a Dayton audio emm6 00:07:36.419 --> 00:07:43.979 which is a calibrated omnidirectional microphone compared to other USB mics 00:07:41.039 --> 00:07:48.360 the a6t performs actually surprisingly similarly in frequency response but the 00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:52.800 drop in this range suggests that it will have a slightly darker sound the Elgato 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:56.639 wave ended up being the outlier the other way sounding brighter though that 00:07:54.960 --> 00:08:01.919 did come at the cost of picking up a little bit more sibilance which is your 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:03.240 harsh s and sounds overall though the 00:08:01.919 --> 00:08:08.160 field was close enough that if you're considering a USB microphone we just 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:13.440 didn't really find there to be a huge difference in performance from the worst 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:15.060 to the best and believe it or not we 00:08:13.440 --> 00:08:19.699 kind of see the same thing when we compare it even to higher end XLR 00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:26.780 microphones compared to an Electro Voice re20 a mic that costs literally 10 times 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:30.300 as much as this entire complete solution 00:08:26.780 --> 00:08:34.440 the on paper results are shockingly 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:37.500 close and in the real world the re20 is 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:40.560 better but it's certainly not 10 times 00:08:37.500 --> 00:08:43.320 better however that is under somewhat 00:08:40.560 --> 00:08:48.240 ideal conditions better microphones can have advantages that go beyond frequency 00:08:45.660 --> 00:08:51.839 response like for example background noise rejection if you're alone in a 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:58.740 room hanging out with your friends on Discord you do not need a 450 mic this 00:08:56.040 --> 00:09:04.140 is great with that said there are cases where frequency response does tell a big 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:06.240 part of the story our third gen airpods 00:09:04.140 --> 00:09:10.620 for example really struggled at the high end possibly because of their Bluetooth 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:16.620 connectivity or noise cancellation but in practice they sound overall not bad 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:18.779 but then our wired earpods have a hole 00:09:16.620 --> 00:09:23.820 right in the vocal range that really does make them sound kinda muffled and 00:09:21.839 --> 00:09:27.959 you can improve this situation by clipping the mic a little closer to your 00:09:25.740 --> 00:09:32.160 mouth but at the the end of the day the mic is still omnidirectional so 00:09:30.060 --> 00:09:35.760 regardless of its frequency response or its proximity to the source it's going 00:09:34.140 --> 00:09:39.180 to pick up any noise around you including your keyboard your mouse or 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:44.279 your mom yelling at you to get off the darn computer now unfortunately we're 00:09:41.760 --> 00:09:47.640 not set up yet to test every aspect of a microphone's performance once the lab's 00:09:46.380 --> 00:09:53.160 website is fully up and running and we've got our Sound Chamber you're going to see all kinds of really great stuff 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:58.019 but not yet but we're also not done yet for today 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:02.940 let's talk about polar patterns have you ever noticed these small symbols on some 00:10:00.180 --> 00:10:06.899 microphones that is how well the microphone captures or reject sounds 00:10:05.880 --> 00:10:12.660 that are coming from different directions the Amazon page for the fifine a6t 00:10:10.560 --> 00:10:17.100 claims that it is a cardioid pickup pattern microphone is that true well 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:22.560 let's check shall we this green line is sounds coming 00:10:19.620 --> 00:10:26.580 directly to the front of the a6t and this drop shows that it's rejecting some 00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:32.940 sounds that are coming in at 90 degrees and a little bit more at 180 degrees so 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:35.880 it is in fact a cardioid microphone 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:40.800 however for reference this is the polar pattern graph of the electrovoice re20 00:10:37.860 --> 00:10:47.100 which has better rejection particularly at higher frequencies 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:49.320 so from our evaluation the fifine isn't 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:55.560 the best thing around but especially for the price it's a a pretty fine 00:10:53.100 --> 00:11:01.320 or at least our unit is out of the box while Amazon reviews tend 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:06.120 to get gunked up with Spam they can also be a way to glean useful longer term 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:11.040 information about a product so let's see what you guys liked and what you didn't 00:11:08.760 --> 00:11:15.240 like about the a6t 5 Star reviews for the most part Rave 00:11:13.740 --> 00:11:19.140 about the sound quality with some claiming that this mic has exceeded 00:11:17.040 --> 00:11:24.480 their expectations and others calling it the best budget mic they've ever used 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:28.740 for the price I actually think this is reasonably Fair praise the four star 00:11:26.760 --> 00:11:32.640 reviews mostly complain about things that are not related to the sound 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:39.180 quality directly the plant feeling cheap the gain knob being finicky or worst of 00:11:35.700 --> 00:11:41.339 all the lack of RGB customization again 00:11:39.180 --> 00:11:45.959 though no complaints about audio quality so it seems like it's not just ours this 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:49.980 thing sounds pretty darn good of course things take a turn for the 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:54.060 worse when we look at the three two and one star reviews with many people 00:11:52.019 --> 00:11:59.399 reporting the better than expected quality turned into zero quality due to 00:11:57.240 --> 00:12:04.860 their unit lasting a few weeks or a few months at best there aren't too many of 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:10.140 them but this is a significant red flag and so is the almost complete lack of 00:12:07.800 --> 00:12:13.740 discussion about customer service the reviews said it was great and one 00:12:12.300 --> 00:12:18.120 claims that they did not receive a response after a week 00:12:15.779 --> 00:12:23.220 it's not a lot of money considering the package but it is your money so the 00:12:21.060 --> 00:12:27.360 choice is yours do you go with a reputable brand for a significant up 00:12:25.140 --> 00:12:31.740 charge or do you buy something that costs half as much knowing that well you 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:35.279 might need to get another one shipped to you check out one of the other ones from 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:39.420 the series like why is everybody buying this monitor spoiler alert because it's 00:12:38.040 --> 00:12:42.620 a great value but there's more to it than that