What’s Live Listening?
When using a digital recorder, have you ever wondered how the audio that is being recorded sounds like? Well, some digital voice recorders allow you to listen to the recordings while in recording mode. With that being said, you can monitor the recording quality without stopping the recording process.
Why Is Live Listening Userful for a Digital Voice Recorder?
Live listening or live monitoring can be particularly useful for interviewing and dictation, users can change the dictaphone’s volume, microphones’ direction, voice levels based on the recording content. So you won’t find your recording is affected by technical issues or the exterior environment when the whole recording is over.
And live listening can effectively help people who need to record their instruments to adjust the sound effect, texture, and tone to achieve a better result. Other than that, a recorder with live listening feature is a must for those ghost hunters who love to find and record electronic voice phenomena (EVP).
Top Digital Voice Recorder with Live Listening
Zoom H1n Portable Recorder with Live Listening Monitor
If you are a music lover, you won’t be unfamiliar with Zoom’s audio devices. The Zoom H1n is a compact digital voice recorder with a slim body and powerful performance. It comes with built-in stereo condenser microphones and it also has a protective enclosure for protecting the mics.
With a graphic LCD display and one-touch button controls, the Zoom H1n portable voice recorder is very easy to use. But it does not mean it’s just a simple recorder with basic functions.
The product is a nice little recorder for interviews and music recording with enhanced playback and control, and you can live listen to the recording through headphones.
When you are recording, you can also use the onboard limiter to capture the distortion-free signals and get perfect audio quality. Also, the A-B repeat feature is pretty useful for learning and rehearsing when you need to loop a certain part of your recordings.
OM Digital Solutions Voice Recorder WS-852 with Live Listening
If you don’t want to spend much money on a small recorder, this OLYMPUS WS-852 digital voice recorder is cost-effective and worth every penny.
As a portable voice recorder for beginners, the recorder supports intelligent recording mode that adjusts microphone sensitivity automatically and VCVA recording mode that allows the recorder to be voice-activated. And it is a convenient device to connect to your PC with a direct USB design.
Apart from that, this OLYMPUS WS-852 recorder allows you to plug in earphones to achieve live listening. “I use this it works EXCELLENT for EVP LIVE BURST”, says a purchased customer.
As for the battery and storage, OLYMPUS claims that the recorder’s battery can work for over 100 hours and it contains 1,000 hours of storage space. Moreover, the product provides a micro SD card slot, offering you more options when expanding the built-in storage.
EVISTR L157 16GB Voice Activated Live Listening Recorder
The EVISTR voice recorder is a popular choice on Amazon for its affordable price, decent features and large capacity. Besides, it offers great audio recording with dynamic noise cancellation microphones and flexible format options.
The recorder has a large built-in storage space, which is 16GB and it can be voice-operated to reduce blank and whispering snippets. According to EVISTR, the 16GB storage can have up to 1160 hours of recordings. However, there is no extra SD slot in this digital recorder model. For people who’d like to get a voice recorder with larger memory, the V508 Voice Recorder will fulfill your needs.
Live listening with this device is pretty easy as well, you just need to go to record setting and turn on the monitor record function. With a headphone connected, you can listen to your voice while it is recording.
Sony ICD-PX470 Stereo Digital Voice Recorder
This classic Sony ICD-PX470 will let you own a Sony recorder without emptying your pocket. Although you may think it is an old-school recording when looking at it, it still gets the job done nicely in 2021.
You will get a direct USB, noise filter, and auto voice recording feature to provide satisfying recording experiences, clear recording quality, and better convenience. The Sony ICD-PX470 recorder features 4GB built-in memory and it allows users to expand this capacity by up to 32 GB with an SD card slot.
Users can live listen through headphones or earphones. And it is also pretty convenient to connect the ICD-PX470 to laptops or computers thanks to its USB direct connection for simple file transfer.
