WM-EX14

The WM-EX14 is a low-end EX-series cassette player that built directly on the EX10 platform by adding Dolby B noise reduction while keeping the same basic upright body and anti-rolling transport. It remained a very simple two-AA machine with automatic shutoff, manual tape selection, and a lightweight mostly plastic construction built to keep cost and weight down. The layout stayed clean and uncomplicated, with little beyond the essentials.

Instead of trying to sit out, the EX14 is one of those quiet improvement models Sony was very good at making. It took an everyday cassette player and corrected one of the most obvious everyday annoyances-tape hiss-without turning the machine into something more expensive or more fragile than it needed to be.