SONY CASSETTES

If there is one brand that offered high quality, great design and superb sound it was Sony.

I always loved Sony cassettes. In fact I also loved TDK and Maxell, which were the big three in my mind. All Japanese made with very high standards but today my number one is Sony. And after all these years they are now more sought after and more praised than all the others. I did buy Sony UX and UX-S cassettes back in the 80s and 90s but I was a very solid TDK SA user and they were my main preference. Today my taste has changed and while I like Type II for clarity, I can say I prefer Type I high end cassettes like the HF-S and HF-ES, along with the TDK AD and AR. Now I'm not totally blinded by nostalgia for Sony for I'm well aware that there was a golden period for their cassettes and for me it was from 1985 to 1990. In 1985 they totally revamped their ageing range and made it look supercool, with big windows and great looking hubs. Then in 1986 they did it again with slight changes making the ultimate line up.

So let's start at 1985 shall we.

Type I

HF

This was the basic ferric with clear sound and high quality.

It was a lot better than a lot of basic cassettes back then and still is!

HF-S

A notch up the ladder and you get a sweeter treble with a nice bottom end.

These are great sounding cassettes and one of my all time favourites.

 

HF-ES

This was the pinnacle of Type I and a superb cassette with great treble often

matching Type II. These are getting harder to find and do not come cheap. 

 

HF-PRO

Loaded with HF-ES tape but with the added ceramic guide and striking white

shell this one turned heads and opened ears. An outstanding cassette indeed.


Type II

UXC

This was the entry level Type II in the Sony line up and a pretty good one it was too, quieter and more dynamic than most this was the right place to start.

UCX-S

This was a notch above and a fine sounding and well balanced tape it was too. It gave a fine sparkle to recordings and boasted a SP Mechanism II.

Type IV

METAL ES

Metal was the top tier high quality tape that hi-fi buffs with high end gear favoured. Sony metal cassettes were very good too, so this was the icing on the cake.