How to have back the sound strips on top of video strips in the VSE Sound strips would always appear on top of video strips in the VSE by default in previous versions of Blender. That is not the behavior of commercial software, but for me it was OK, not only because it was useful and I like Blender to have its own personality, but also because I do not wish Blender to become kind of a free emulation of some commercial software.

Well, is there any option buried inside the Preferences menu or some other way to restore the good old behavior of having the sound strips appear above the video strips in the VSE?

BTW, GIMP should be a very good example that not emulating commercial software not only works well but also avoids potential copyright claims and all sort of future trouble. The user interface look and the way of working with Blender is gradually becoming more and more similar to commercial software. That convergence is IMHO not only disgusting but also dangerous.
No, there is not way to change it, however there is a bug in Blender which only places the first a+v clip with video on top, the next and the following, you add, will be with audio on top.