Top 5 Mics Under $50
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,270 words · ~6 min read
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we've all been there
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you're settled into your groove you got your doritos and
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mountain dew akimbo
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you're finally ready to break out of silver and overwatch comp and then you
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jump on comms and you're greeted by
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keyboard clattering staticky garbage from that one teammate
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with a questionable username and if that's you
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don't fret because now is your time to
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ascend to the crisp clean land
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of good audio and for just about 50 bucks
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by the way if you value good audio as much as you value privacy you should
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check out pia private internet access is the vpn that encrypts all of your
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internet traffic and uses a safe protected ip it's got a ton of other
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useful features as well check it out now at the link below
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okay so we were playing it up a little bit most people don't have potato
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headsets these days but that's not to say that there aren't tons of options
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that straight up slap around even a decent all-in-one
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gaming headset even if it does boast high quality
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communication and built-in premium noise
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canceling features because as appealing as all of that
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sounds in writing in the real world appealing is probably the last word you
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would use to describe the sounds coming from something like this one
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but before we get into the microphones it's
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important to note that unless it's a potato audio is
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highly subjective so while i might
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choose one microphone over another one my voice isn't yours my ears aren't
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yours and it's ultimately up to you to decide what sounds best so i would
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highly recommend taking advantage of return policies where necessary to try
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out a couple of different mics to find the best fit our first microphone is the
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samson meteorite coming in at 40 bucks a
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purchase that i actually hesitated on since it completely lacks
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any mounting options which means it'll likely sit right beside your keyboard
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other best cheap mic roundups featured it though so we decided to give it a go
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and my suspicions were immediately confirmed it is literally just a ball
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with a usb cable so unless you plan on getting creative
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with your hot glue gun it'll pick up every keyboard clack
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desk bump and a ton of other background noise but wait it gets worse because of
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how far the mic sits from your face you'll have to pretty much crank the mic
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gain amplifying the issue
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so i'm not sure why other people are recommending this thing
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we don't let's move on to something a little more enticing
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this is the fifeine k669 usb microphone
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aside from its excellent name it sports a nice brushed pink exterior with
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physical gain control on the front unlike our previous mistake and it comes
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with a stand to keep the mic in a prime position to capture noises from your
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mouth hole rather than from your keyboard platform but the most amazing
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thing about this thing is the price it's the least expensive microphone we tested
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coming in at just 28 less than you might spend on loot boxes
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in a month if you're one of those people overall sound
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really good but it's a bit lacking in the noise isolation department so you
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might want to invest some of the money you saved on a different mount to keep
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it further away from your keyboard next up we've got a mic from blue yes
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that blue the one of yeti fame but this one is significantly less expensive the
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snowball ice comes in at 50 bucks or as low as about 40 dollars on sale and it
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includes a little plastic tripod with standard threading so that you can use
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the snowball with a third-party stand its odd shape though can make it tricky
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to shock mount without buying their expensive first party solution
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as for quality though the snowball is very clear with solid noise isolation
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thanks to its almost entirely foam padded internals
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however if you have a soft voice you might have some trouble with it as the
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padding also seems to absorb some of the incoming vocals
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it does work to the advantage of us squeakers though so uh
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i'm pretty much liking this one pretty well
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it's pretty too
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but Linus what about xlr
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i'm glad you asked so we tried a few different xlr setups based around
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behringer's you euphoria um2 xlr
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interface at just 30 bucks it might not be glamorous but it's an awesome gateway
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drug into the xl audio game on the cheap
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and we're able to do it without using one of
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these please don't use these
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now sadly since it's basically impossible to
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stay under 50 without buying some stuff
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used or already having a little bit on hand this is a more premium option
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but if you already have an xlr cable and a
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microphone stand you can pick up the xm
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8500 also from behringer for just 20
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bucks which would have you sitting right at 50
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this setup is basically a usb mic killer
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in any environment thanks to the excellent background noise suppression
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that dynamic microphones have not to mention that you can easily
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upgrade this setup in the future with a mic like the sure pga 48 or sm48 for 34
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dollars and 43 dollars respectively
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so then what should you buy
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well if you're looking for the best bang for your buck it's hard to beat the fi
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fine k669s sleek design and excellent
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sound quality at just 28
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but if you're rocking cherry mx blues in your keyboard or if you're a buckling
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spring aficionado i'd go with the blue snowball or the behringer xlr setup as
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they both give you exceptional noise isolation
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just don't buy the meteorite that thing
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is terrible i'd pick it up and you know what i'm gonna pick it up
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taking it out of the crater could get it because it's a meteorite
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speaking of meteorites ting does
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phone plans not meteor anything you pay
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just six dollars per phone line plus the minutes messages and data that you
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actually use every month with usage shared across all of your devices so the
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more phones on one ting account the less you can end up paying per phone with an
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average bill of just 23 dollars a month per phone ting is the smarter choice for
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mobile and they offer service on two nationwide lte networks so the phone you
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already own will likely work with ting there are no contracts and no overage
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fees so you can try ting for a month with no commitments whatsoever so check
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out Linus.ting.com to get 25 bucks off your
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bill or towards a new phone
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so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that
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like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff that we featured in the video description also link down
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there is our merch store which has cool shirts it has cool shirts not like this
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one but cool shirts and our community forum which you should totally join i
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have been wanting to eat these so bad
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so gold okay bye