Well,
As my first experience with the sound of high fidelity, I was 15, and never had any nice stereo at home. I was working as a dish washer/busboy. Making $2.10 per hour. I was in Center City Philadelphia, PA...there was a store, several of them, that sold lighters, cameras, boomboxes, and the new thing at the time, walkmans. The guy called me over to the counter, and said listen to this. He had a Sanyo M4440 version of walkman. I put on headphones, and was blown away. The demo tape, had a song called "Cool Night" and 80's hit. But the sound was awsome to me. I saved up, and bought it. It had a feature, that I found by accident. I used to take a train, called the El...elevated train. Real Noisy, and I looked kinda strange with a Walkman on, headphones, etc... Not many people ever had one then, 1981. Anyway, I hit a button, that I wasn't aware of, called "TALK-LINE"....
The unit had a Talk-Line Feature....there was a small built in Microphone, like you see on any taperecorder, the flat small Mic. with slots at the top, but it didn't Record. What happened was, the Microphone would record and amplify the ambient sounds around me, and play them through the headphones. The feature was intended so that, if someone wanted to speak to you, while you were listening to music, you could press the Talk-Line Button, and the sound of the person speaking to you, would come through the headphones, loud and clear. This was so that you didn't have to take off the Headphones, to be interrupted. The sound was amplified from a very good distance away. I found it really neat. I was able to hear people on the train talking, and they were far away. Some of them would actually be talking about me and my walkman.LOL....But after 1982, this feature was dropped off of all walkmans. But, when I put a Microphone in the Mic. Input on my WM-D6C....the same thing kind of happens. I can hear sounds very far away. But I must be in the Record Mode, and either recording, or have the tape paused, with the Record Button pressed in, and the Record Level adjusted to a proper level. So, this is why, I was hoping to be able to monitor sound via headphones, when I want to Record the Nature Sounds, that Id like to do. Rather than just have to look at the LED Meters....because then I dont know what Im recording, just that something is being recorded, due to Meter Movement. So, for the Nature Outdoor Sounds that I want to Record, Id like to hear via headphones, and know what Im recording. I have done this with an old Microphone that I have, and the WM-D6C...so I know it can work, and understand, that Loud Music probably would be difficult to hear via headphones. Am I correct about this?? And does anyone remember the Talk-Line or HotLine Feature that was on the very early Walkmans, both Sony, Sanyo, Craig, Grundig...etc...?? This was my very beginnings to getting into HiFi. Thanks, Ray
You'll be hearing the processors, and not what is going onto tape. You're correct, its not a three head deck. You'll be able to get some headphone monitoring via both mic-in and line-in, regardless.
Depending on what you're recording, loud music for instance, you might not be able to hear anything anyway. Again, its a convenience feature built into the deck, and not intended for an audiophile level of satisfaction in playback or monitoring - its just enough to get the job done.
Its a bit finicky, this portable analog thing. Once you get a bit of experience with the deck, it becomes second nature.