1992sony

Aunt Sony fired the final shot at the competition - TDK MA-XG, Maxell Vertex Pro, Denon MG-X were already out there - and to top them all, the company threw everything it had into this one: ceramic shell, premium tape, and an aluminium case on top of it all.

From the Japanese catalogue
From the Japanese catalogue

Dating is tricky here as usual - the catalogue says 1993, but there are plenty of references to 1992 as the actual production start.

Views from different angles and internal layout
Views from different angles and internal layout
Cassette and case
Cassette and case

They went so deep into it that they even made reusable record-protection tabs. Though given the ceramic shell, they had no choice - imagine how many bodies would have been cracked trying to snap off a ceramic tab the old way :)

The removable record-protection tab
The removable record-protection tab
Front view
Front view
Rear view
Rear view
Assembly view
Assembly view
Tab in place
Tab in place
Tape-type detection slots
Tape-type detection slots

Online debates about the tape itself go on and on - some say there’s no real difference from the Sony Metal Master that had been sold in Japan since 1988, others claim the old one had two-layer tape while this one has three. Hard to say where the truth is at this point. Either way, clearly the previous generation’s tape and ceramic shell were both carried over.

One thing is clear - Sony went all out, and so did the price tag. As the Japanese put it, the price bit hard and nothing on the market cost more:

“The price of 1,600 yen for 46 minutes beat out the MA-R (already replaced by the MA-XG), and it rotted away to hell as the most expensive cassette.”

That’s the author talking about TDK - their most expensive was no longer the top dog :)

For context - 1,600 yen in 1993 was about $14, or roughly $27 in today’s money, and that was for the short 46-minute version. The 90-minute version was 2,600 yen - around $44 now. Naturally, surviving examples haven’t gotten any cheaper: buying a clean used one for a hundred bucks is market rate.

As for sound quality - mine turned out to have Roger Waters on it, selected tracks from his first two solo albums with a David Gilmour “Smile” to top it off - no idea when it was recorded, but it still sounds very good. Complex music like that really shows what metal tape can do.

My copy came without inserts. Found online that the set originally included a heat-transfer stencil for labelling the cassette - no stickers (except for the case).

You'd have to stick your tongue out to transfer that heat stencil onto the cassette
You'd have to stick your tongue out to transfer that heat stencil onto the cassette
Janet Jackson - not the worst choice for a cassette like this
Janet Jackson - not the worst choice for a cassette like this

The outer packaging was as minimal as it gets - just shrink wrap, because the cassette and case really needed no further decoration.

Back of the international version
Back of the international version
Back of the Japanese 46 and 60-minute versions
Back of the Japanese 46 and 60-minute versions
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