A standard metal cassette focused on sound quality, with ES made more economical.
Metal Position. Since 1984.
First Generation, 1984
46 minutes - ¥750 / 60 minutes - ¥950 / 90 minutes - ¥1300.
Prices were changed later.
Brown was used alongside gold on the package, giving it a restrained, premium appearance. The cassette had a shell with an extra-large window, and its newly designed hubs rotating inside stood out with orange clamps. The 46-minute version used large hubs.
Second Generation, 1988
46 minutes - ¥700 / 54 minutes - ¥750 / 60 minutes - ¥800 / 90 minutes - ¥1000.
Prices were changed later.
The second generation was developed with the concept of creating a new standard for a standard model. Its appearance changed substantially with the adoption of an IS (Infinity Shape) shell with a slit window. Performance improved over the first generation, while the price was reduced.
Explanatory Note
This model appeared as the successor to METALLIC, Sony’s first metal tape. Metal-ES, released the previous year, was a high-specification metal tape aiming for the pinnacle of Sony cassettes. This model inherited the ES emphasis on sound quality while combining it with economy, making it a capable standard model.
The first-generation tape used ultrafine metal magnetic particles. Unlike ES it was not dual-coated, but a highly dispersive binder system and special dispersion-control technology raised residual magnetic flux density by 100 gauss over METALLIC, while sensitivity and MOL improved across the entire frequency range.
The second generation used Dynametal, an ultrafine, high-output magnetic material. High-density packing with a new technology extended MOL across the frequency range and reduced noise. Dynamic range expanded by 1.5 dB.
Later, the product range was reorganized as metal tape prices fell and for other reasons, and the model was limited to two generations.