Fifine Ampligame AM8 Microphone & S3 Mixer Review
Is this the perfect starter set for streaming?
Fifine sent us a unit of the AM8 and SC3 bundle free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
Retail Price: $99.99
Transitioning over from a plug and play microphone to a dynamic XLR microphone setup may seem like a daunting task on the surface, but once everything is set up, it’s actually pretty self-explanatory. Fifine makes it even easier by bundling an S3 XLR interface together with their AmpliGame AM8 microphone for a combined price tag of only $100. XLR interfaces give you more control over your audio in order to manipulate your recordings to be closer to what you originally wanted. It can also be a fun tool that adds additional utility to a stream. I think Fifine does a fine job of doing just that with this bundle.
SC3 Gaming Mixer
Retail Price: $49.99
XLR interfaces don’t need to be expensive. In fact, this one is rather basic. Made out of plastic, the interface relies on its RGB lighting to add aesthetic points to its look. You can toggle between 5 different RGB colors through a dedicated button on the panel. This bundle of the microphone and its interface are marketed towards gaming streamers, so RGB is a valued feature for many in that field.
One awesome thing about this mixer is that it does have flexibility with how it can be used. Whether it be gaming streams or commentary over videos, the setup can be modified to benefit the host. A dedicated gaming PC can be plugged to the interface as the output, while the computer that will be streaming can be pushed as the input source. Allocating resources can be beneficial to those who can afford it.
There are 6 effect buttons and 4 volume faders that can be used to adjust and monitor different things. There’s one volume slider for the microphone, the line in jack, the headphone jack, and the line out jack. If you’re streaming live, this gives you the quick control to mute your microphone and control the variables going into your ear. It's quite basic, but a great starting point for anyone getting into the interface game. The sliders are smooth and offer just enough length from its maxium to minimum to feel like you’re making a difference when adjusting. By not stretching out the slider length, Fifine is able to keep the desk from cluttering up as this interface system is rather compact.
Under the Fifine logo are monitoring lights for both the microphone and headphone volumes. It’s a standard ordeal here with green being a safe range that you want to keep your sliders hitting to avoid yellow and red. I don’t really have any complaints as it all just works properly without setup.
The box starts to deviate from the norm when it comes to the effect buttons spread around the sliders. There is a dedicated “Change Voice” toggle that digitally alters the output of your voice into one of six different filters. I personally find this to be strictly for entertainment uses and for gag purposes if you’re doing a live stream. I don’t find the voice alteration effects to be of the quality that a dedicated software system like Clownfish or MorphVOX can provide. Those aren’t perfect outputting a modified voice either, but they give you the bones to work with to mix into a decent clip. The six filter voice changes include a male and female voice, a robot tone, a monster voice, a baby pitch, and an elder one.
Fifine also included an electric auto tune button as well. There are 12 ranges of electric tones that can be toggled to assist pitches while talking through the microphone. I personally don’t use these functions for my microphone and audio mixing needs, but maybe you will. Like the Change Voice feature, this isn’t going to automatically turn you into Britney Spears, but in some ways I do think it's beneficial to have these little tools incorporated onto the interface for beginners. It then turns into a gateway towards audio mixing once you dip your toes into the water.
You can also toggle the 48V phantom power on to power a condenser microphone. The AM8 that comes bundled with the mixer is a dynamic microphone and does not need phantom power to work. I’ve had mine set to off as I’ve been primarly using the AM8 with the mixer for a majority of my review period.
To round out the buttons on the mixer, Fifine provides users with 4 customizable buttons to record and program sound recordings or sound effects. Once again, this is most beneficial during a live stream to quickly access a pre-recorded bit or to play a transition bumper.
The interface has a toggle to switch between condenser and dynamic depending on which microphone recording type you choose to use. You also don’t have to keep the AmpliGame AM8 microphone paired with the mixer if you want to use it with a different XLR microphone.
AmpliGame AM8 Microphone
Retail Price: $54.99
Speaking of the microphone, the AmpliGame AM8 packaged in this bundle retails for about half the MSRP of this set. With that price range in mind, you get an XLR as well as a USB-C plug and play microphone that operates at a frequency response of 50Hz-16KHz. For the retail price, I can’t really complain much about the audio quality that it picks up. As a top-facing cardioid microphone, users speak into the top of the microphone. I was relatively impressed with the clarity and range the AM8 captures without certain compromises you would expect from a budget microphone. I didn’t seem to have any issues with plosives even though I didn’t use a pop filter when recording. The mid-range played back very controlled, while the highs were balanced and somewhat natural to how my voice sounds off mic. The bass picked up some of the warmth from my gravelly voice and didn’t feel too heavy. I also found the AM8 to be rather directional in its approach. Yes it is a cardioid pickup pattern, but it does a really good job of not picking up residue noises from my desk or computer behind it. It isn’t that sensitive to its direct surroundings which is a good thing for voice recordings.
In terms of editing, I found the recordings to be quite flexible to mix in post-production. However, for most buyers, they’re likely to be using this microphone for live streaming purposes in combination with Fifine’s SC3 XLR interface. That makes my next point a little bit head scratching. The AM8 is both a USB plug and play microphone as well as an XLR dynamic mic. There’s a USB-C port on the bottom of the mic that you can plug directly into a computing device to be recognized to work right away. Next to that port is an XLR input that goes into a mixer. There’s also a headphone jack for monitoring audio if you aren’t plugged into the mixer.
While the microphone does have RGB along the bottom base of the microphone, it took me a while to figure out why it wasn’t lighting up. I learned that the AM8 only lights up when plugged into a power source through USB-C. If the microphone is only plugged into the mixer using XLR, both the RGB strip and the microphone light on the back will remain unpowered. You can still plug in the microphone to an outlet or PC using that USB-C slot even when feeding to the mixer through XLR as your primary source. It’s a little messy and confusing, but once you understand what and why this is happening, you’ll get used to it. Still, it would have been nice to have the microphone light up with only a single cable feeding out of the microphone. Also, the RGB on the microphone does not sync up to the XLR interface. They’re completely separate from one another. If you’re meticulous about your RGB syncing throughout your desktop, you’re going to need to tinker a little bit with these two.
The AM8 picks up audio from the top of the microphone
On the front of the microphone are two standard knobs to adjust the gain and the headphone levels. The gain setting thresholds aren’t too sensitive when rotating through from 0 to 100. They’re moderate steps up, unlike some other microphones where a slight twist would rip up the gain tremendously.
Fifine does give buyers a metal stand that holds the AM8 from its side body. Due to the trajectory of the XLR cable on the bottom of the microphone, I wasn’t able to tilt the microphone freely as far back as I wanted to. I also couldn’t lock the angle down as the screws don’t keep the microphone locked into place after a certain position. This would be less of an issue if the microphone didn’t record audio from the top, but that’s where we were left at.
Pardon the pun, but I think Fifine has done a fine job of packaging a perfect starter set for beginner streamers. The AM8 microphone provides surprising value that outperformed my expectations. It delivers good quality voice work with very little work required that can be immensely beneficial to beginners who need to develop a routine schedule for their content. Time is money and having a great sounding microphone that doesn’t need tending to is valuable. The mixer is rudimentary, but can become an inexpensive gateway into the world of live audio mixing. Oftentimes the leap into something new is the hardest barrier to enter. By bundling these two products together, I think Fifine has an exceedingly competitive offering.
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