This capsule type is a true dipole (bidirectional) transducer, operating with a single diaphragm. Its main axis is at a right angle to the capsule, and is marked at 0° and 180° with a red and a black dot respectively.

The inherent qualities of a pure pressure-gradient transducer are readily observed in this capsule type:

Its sensitivity decreases at low frequencies.

The directional characteristic is extraordinarily independent of frequency.

Proximity effect is present.

The directivity index of a figure-8 pattern is the same as that of a cardioid; if microphones with these two patterns are placed at the same distance from a sound source, a quantitatively similar balance of direct and reverberant sound would be picked up. In practice such a comparison would be deceptive, however, since a figure-8 does not respond to sound coming from the sides, from above or from beneath its main axis as does a cardioid. The figure-8 has a rear lobe equal in sensitivity to its front lobe, and this exactly makes up the quantitative difference – but in normally reverberant settings, the sound reaching a figure-8's rear lobe will be delayed and dispersed to a considerably greater extent than the reverberant sound energy which a cardioid picks up from its front and sides; the reflected sound will typically be subject to far more high frequency absorption as well. Thus the reverberant sound energy picked up by a figure-8, though theoretically equal in amount, is quite different in character from that which would be picked up by a cardioid in the same position.

The sound quality of the MK 8 is clear and neutral. The frequency response rolls off above 16 kHz.