Price: $61.99 AUD
Estimated Time With Gear: 4 weeks
Where To Purchase: Amazon
What Is It?: USB Condenser Microphone
Compatible With: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Product Manufacturer: Fifine
When I was in high school and first getting into any content creation, the number of microphone options was abysmal. A $20 cheap desk office mic would sound better than the webcams at the time, but the next jump-up would cost you hundreds. So when something like the FIFINE A6V rolls into my mailbox for review, I’m eager simply because of the price point, which is just over $60 before postage. Just as exciting is the sound quality and visual style of the microphone, making it something I would have loved to have when I was younger and now an easy recommendation for newer content creators and gamers.
Out of the box, this microphone is best described as cute. It’s small. The box is tiny, and the mic is not leaning much foot traffic on your desk. It has a tripod and pop filter and a USB-C to USB-A cord for plug-and-play. This is a very simple microphone; there’s no software to mess around with and no over-bloated or additional manuals to read.
There are only a couple of points of interest on the mic itself. The UBC-C-in port has a gain nob on the bottom of the microphone and a soft touch mute button on the top. Unfortunately, this means there is no way to plug a set of headphones into this microtone for pass-through.
I’ve spent the past few weeks recording tests every few days, leaving this thing on to capture random recordings and using it for at least one elongated gaming session. The random testing and prolonged pushing of this review were based on a fear it would prove worse over time, which it has not. The sound quality for those listening to be in a gaming session got a solid “it’s fine,” which is about as good a rating as I could have expected. And then the sessions and tests proved this is a <$100 microphone in testing, but one I wished I could have bought fifteen years ago.
Voices are clear without a dullness, although a mid-range gain test was still very quiet. Recording in a room with multiple people or noisy backgrounds won’t work too well, though, as the FIFINE A6V with a condenser microphone pattern is only good at picking up what’s directly in front of it, which can also include loud clicking of a keyboard and background music. That said, this microphone will still work great for entry-level podcasts with some self-control over fiddling around your desk and be a wonder for someone looking to set up a microphone for gaming with friends, especially if they have a high-quality headset with terrible sound — which until recently, was nearly all of them.
Visually the microphone is as cute as its size. It lights up with RGB and features a smiling face cut into the shape of the pop-filter screen, adding character to your desk. The build quality itself feels a lot cheaper than the overall performance. In my hand, I felt like I could crush the microphone at any point, and even with how lightweight it was, the tripod was still prone to falling over if not positioned correctly. It’s hard to be too critical, considering it sounds better, which is more important, and there’s the low price point. However, I wouldn’t want to be transporting this a lot as it’s probably prone to easy damage being banged up in a bag.
I’m not going to replace my podcasting microphone with the FIFINE A6V, but this microphone isn’t for me. It’s for the entry-level creator and the gamer needing a better mic, even if a headphone pass-through would have been much appreciated. But at <$70 for both markets, it’s an excellent recommendation.
