Can you tell the difference between a mono and stereo recording simply by listening to it? Assume it was from a SBD and not mic'd. And if you can tell, what things allow you to tell?
i've heard plenty-o-mono-sbds and the easiest way to describe the sound is like so....
a pure mono recording sounds like it's coming from a single speaker exactly in the middle of your stereo speakers or from DEAD center between your headphones. the phantom image is extremely centered and has no separation.
to view a mono recording, open the .wav in any waveform editor like SF, CEP, ProTools, etc. and look at the wave. L and R are identical.
marc