MIC input and LINE-IN input -- how does the recorder tell the difference?

[wylbur7]

When portable cassette tape recorders were still commonly used,
some of them had a separate LINE-IN jack in addition to the MIC jack,
but most of them had only a MIC jack.

If you tried to record from another audio source by connecting a patchcord
from the LINE-OUT (or "earphone") jack of the source device
to the MIC jack of the tape recorder, you would just get overloaded noise.

That's because the signal level from a LINE-OUT source
is so much higher than the signal level from a microphone.

But on the TASCAM DR-05x (as well as many other models),
there's only one jack for both MIC and LINE-IN.
So, when you have something plugged into the MIC/LINE-IN jack,
how does the recorder know what type of signal is being piped-in?

...

 

[Art Anderson]

Reference manual, not the Owner Manual, mentions to be cautious with the input level and lower it with an external control if necessary to avoid saturation. i.e. it's up to you. It makes no mention of being able to distinguish what's being plugged into the 1/8" jack.

 

[BazzBass]

really? that's pretty shitty to not have a selector switch.......like the DR40 has