I am a big sound guy, and as such I've currently got an xlr microphone.
(Sorry about the xlr portion there is more to it then USB)
As you may already know, there are 2 types of microphones, USB and XLR. USB are all in one devices with everything built in, including an interface. XLR microphones on the other hand are just that, a microphone, and any other parts you'd need to purchase. Both can have varying features like how wide of an angle they will pick up noise with optimal sound and what not.
USB as stated are very easy to use and for the most part are a good bang for the buck. Think Blue, microphones like that are exactly what USBs are. Here is a reputable microphone in this category under 100.00 bucks
Blue Snowball - very clean microphone and very reputable in the $50 range. I've gotten to use it at a friend's of mine and was very surprised by the quality in sound
XLR microphones are fun to get set up but can be confusing. The setup is made of 3 parts, the microphone, an xlr cable, and an audio interface / mixer. I say it can be confusing because you're plugging everything into one another, but it's pretty easy to setup. The most complex thing is the interface, which can have gain, equalizers, all that mumbo jumbo. Despite that, XLR is generally considered to be better because the parts used are much better in quality and thus create nicer sounds.
If you're curious, I use a NEAT king bee and Yamaha XG10XU, but for starting here is an easy setup (both dynamic and condenser)
Shure PGA58-XLR (dynamic - close to face) - my first dynamic, Shure is a reputable brand with microphones such as SM7b, and these smaller mics are no different. This is a great mic for the price
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TTQM94Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_QJB99KQBPBQXG9SYQF8Z
Marantz Pro MPM1000 (Condenser - far from face) this was my first condenser microphone, and it is very nice in it's sound quality.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C05AL4C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_XMS711VSFVV1D9NC597V
BEHRINGER UM2 Interface - my first interface. It only has a gain knob so it's stress free and simple, so you won't need to worry about equilization and compression and all this other stuff with it
Xlr cable - these are required, I use the Amazon brand because it's cheap and works great
As an example as to why I prefer XLR and why it can produce nicer sounds, here is a video from Linustechtips who showcases mics for under $50 and highlights an xlr for the final microphone. Listen to how it sounds! Crazy just how much cleaner it is, and that is exactly what sold me on xlr, it can be better bang for the buck
Let me know if anything needs more explaining of course
Gave it a quick edit to just include the blue snowball since it is a great mic and added descriptions as they are required
It has nothing to do with being an unbalanced/balanced connection. Balanced cables just send an inverted signal that gets flipped to reject noise. It has nothing to do with the gain and impedance issue at hand.
The issue is that the Line input is designed for line-level signals while OP is sending a Mic-level signal which is considerably weaker. Additionally, the impedance mismatching is further lowering the input gain.
An adapter can help, but only because it will send the signal to the Mic input, which is designed to receive a mic-level signal.
However, it would be best to buy decent microphone. Even a PG58 would be a step up, and would impedance match the correct input, as well.