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Saturday, August 08, 2026

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Opinion

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 August 2026

You’ve likely noticed that the SoundStage! Network websites adhere to a semi-monthly publishing schedule. SoundStage! Hi‑Fi, Ultra, Access, Simplifi, Xperience, and Solo are all refreshed on the first of the month and again on the 15th. Behind the scenes, there’s a flurry of activity that begins about five days before each update. Founder and publisher Doug Schneider kicks it off by sending links to each of the upcoming reviews and editorials to the authors, copy editors, senior editors, and our proofreading crew.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 July 2026

“Are you not entertained?” It’s a meme wrapped in a movie—Russell Crowe in Gladiator, feeding the red meat of a fight to the death to a hungry crowd, and then calling them out for it. Somehow, that scene rattled around in my head for the entire time I attended High End 2026 in Vienna, Austria.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 June 2026

I’m likely late to this type of complaint. Up to last year, I’d never really used a streaming service. Oh, sure, I’ve subscribed to Tidal since 2018, but it’s always been integrated into my Logitech Media Server software. I rarely listen to online music while I’m outside the house—I rely on local FM stations in the car and a bunch of downloaded favorites when I’m riding my motorcycle.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 May 2026

Some changes to my audiophile mindset have long been brewing. Since I started headlining SoundStage! Ultra, I’ve been slowly, slowly learning that (a) expensive doesn’t necessarily translate to better, and (b) much, if not most, accepted audiophile lore is categorically bullshit.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 April 2026

I’ve had a short but intense love affair with Engström amplifiers. I’d been unaware of this Swedish brand prior to the High End 2023 show in Munich, Germany, but my first experience in their room, featuring Marten speakers and Jorma cables, turned me right around. The same thing happened two years later, at High End 2025, where Engström teamed up with Kroma Atelier to produce the best sound I encountered at that massive event.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 March 2026

I have a problem with dimensions, with how the actual size of an object never matches up to its image in my mind’s eye. My most recent example of this kind of failure is the safe that’s taking up far too much room in my garage.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 February 2026

It is with humility that I tell you I have become enamored with a budget component. I know, that sounds rather pretentious, like I’m some kind of lord going on about associating with the plebs. But consider this: I’ve spent the last five years writing for SoundStage! Ultra, and other than a few outliers, I’ve only reviewed extremely expensive components during that time.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 January 2026

This story has its origins at High End 2023 in Munich, Germany. That was my introduction to the galactic scale of the world’s largest audio show. For the first day, I was completely combat-ineffective, a country mouse experiencing the big city for the first time, so it was fortuitous that I stumbled into the room shared by Engström, Marten, and Jorma. As you can tell by my review of that room, I was captivated by these elegant tube amps and stunning speakers, and by the cables that tied everything together.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 December 2025

As I write this editorial, I’m just back from Warsaw, where the SoundStage! team covered Audio Video Show 2025. And as I often do when I’m finished running the halls, I ask myself what we could have done better. When I’m wandering through an audio show, looking for interesting gear to write about, I find it hard to disentangle my roles. The enthusiastic audiophile in me leads me along with a finger up each nostril, looking for what I think is cool. But wait! I’m here as a journalist, looking for an angle, something to set our coverage on SoundStage! Global apart from what all the other punters are doing.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 November 2025

It’s been just over two years that I’ve been headlining this publication. It feels longer, but I suppose two years is enough time to build routines and create patterns.