For the Record

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Monday, February 16, 2026

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: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 February 2026

As I stated in my recent editorial, I’ve been on a bit of a tangent toward the value side of the audio world over the past few months. It wasn’t a conscious decision on my part to start looking for more reasonably priced components. That wouldn’t be fair to the good folks over at SoundStage! Access and SoundStage! Hi‑Fi. And besides, it’s not my beat. Here at Ultra, people want to read about huge, dripping, wretched excess, right? That said, I don’t think it’s a good look to only have experience with expensive gear. It’s a requirement, in my mind, to have a grounding in what’s possible with a limited budget, so that you can recognize when you’re getting flimflammed by hucksters selling screamingly pricey gear that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 December 2025

I don’t think there’s much need for a preamble. This is the second half of my ten-best LPs, the completion of a list I started in my For the Record column in October. As you may have surmised, there’s no ranking here. I’ve refrained from numbering my choices. Rush’s A Farewell to Kings went last simply because I know Rush is polarizing, not because it’s the best or the worst record in this list.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 October 2025

For his September Pulse! column on SoundStage! Xperience, music editor Joseph Taylor recommended ten iconic albums for new collectors of vinyl. I read that article with great interest, as Joe’s a walking musical encyclopedia who has likely forgotten more about music than I’ll ever know. Joe took an interesting approach in this piece, which was aimed at the 20-something crowd. “I’m going to lean towards records that are musically significant,” Joe wrote. “Some may be beautifully recorded, but my primary criterion for inclusion here is musical worth.”

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 August 2025

It’s a polarizing band. People either like or absolutely hate Van Halen. Note that I said “like,” and not “love.” It’s hard to love Van Halen, as—to me anyway—the band’s music lives in the moment you’re listening to it. Van Halen’s music is a roller-coaster ride that’s all about the immediate experience. It’s bolt-of-lightning, shot-out-of-a-cannon music. There’s no subtlety here. Add in a whole bunch of misogynistic banter that’s straight out of a high-school boys’ locker room, and it’s no wonder the band is polarizing.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 June 2025

Unless you’ve experienced it, the actual scale of Munich’s High End audio show is nearly impossible to imagine. I recently received a that’s-all-she-wrote summary from the organizers, wherein they reported that the 2025 show encompassed 501 exhibitors representing nearly 1000 brands. Attendance topped 20,000. While those numbers are impressive, they don’t tell the whole story.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 April 2025

In my December 2024 review of the Mitmat Foundation Premium turntable mat, I mentioned that I’d received a test pressing of Harkness’s new album, Ciao to the Beauty. As I’ve said before, I’ve known the musician Harkness since public school—age 14, I’d guess—and I’ve watched him in many practices and concerts through the years as he played in various bands. Despite a lifetime of performing, he hadn’t released a record of his own until The Occasion, which I wrote about back in 2022.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 February 2025

It was somewhere around the fall of 1980. I was 17 years old, and I’d begun to hang around with the Harknesses. We lived in the same neighborhood, attended the same middle school, and shared the same tastes in comic books and music. The Harkness house was a hotbed of culture—the kind of house I’d want my own kid to gravitate toward. Music playing in the living room, a band rehearsing in the basement, art always in progress; I recall concert banners drawn on bedsheets being a hot commodity. It was over-the-top wholesome.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 December 2024

Streaming is insidious

For years I kept my digital and analog systems completely separate. My big rig in the basement was analog and the smaller system on the main floor was digital only, running off a Squeezebox Touch. The main-floor system saw the most use in our house—it provided the music to our life for Marcia and me. For years she would get up earlier in the morning than I would, and she’d play John Zorn’s Alhambra Love Songs, Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, or The Plateaux of Mirror by Brian Eno and Harold Budd. I’d walk downstairs a half hour later and encounter an accidental renaissance scene. The lights dimmed way down, the gas fireplace casting a warm glow, and Marcia on the couch with the dog, writing in her journal.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 October 2024

In the world of analog accessories, there are entire catalogs of stuff you didn’t know you needed. Of course, I know there’s a distinction between want and need. We humans really only need food, water, shelter, and companionship. A turntable is a want. Heck, any form of hi-fi is a want.

: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: For the Record; Created: 15 August 2024

In my August 1 editorial, I talked about the recent arrivals and departures in my review system. It’s been uncharacteristically variable lately, which has made reviewing a challenge. To make this variability work, I’ve been listening pretty much non-stop, and it’s been hard work. Oh boo-hoo, you might be thinking. Poor Jason—he’s got to listen to music all day. World’s smallest violin, etc.