Can anyone tell me where the progress in audio went?

+1 @jjss49 

People in business must make profit to be in business.

Marketing, advertising, and hype are part of the deal.

There is engineering and design progress, also.

Sorting out hype from genuine progress is the job of critics, both amateur and professional, and of the consumer, who must use her own ears to make the final determination as to whether things sound better. 

That's kinda all there is to it.

Ever tried AirPod Pros?

There is a lot of truth in what others have already published, but the biggest setback  in high quality audio over the last twenty+ years has been extreme price increases and unsustainable rent cost for audio stores.  More than 90% of all audio shops are closed, so  most of us can not hear what we buy before we buy it.  Even if a reputable mail order house has good return policies, you can only audition what you order.

This makes review magazines more important than ever and they concentrate on components that few can afford. The industry has to somehow, give more people the opportunity to hear good sound before they understand what they are missing.

@assetmgrsc 

I read a review today about a solid state DAC, professional reviewer, where the reviewer went on about bass performance, sound-stage, etc.   If you know anything about SS DACs designed to be accurate, then you will know that all this eloquent waxing about these magical properties is akin to the latest book from J.K. Rowling. I.e. high quality fiction. While perhaps, perhaps, they could tell this DAC apart from a similar design goal product, it would be very difficult for them, and these qualities they colorfully described would never come into it. Much of audio reviews is fiction. In another thread here, someone is claiming to be able to extract what would have to be a super subtle difference, from 192kpbs AAC Youtube videos with volume levelling, clipping and what appears to be some automatic gain.  Personally, most reviews are worth less than the bits used to communicate them.

Has there been extreme price increases?  I don't think so. There are extremely more expensive pieces, but for the most part, the same real quality level is close to the same price it has always been. When you look at DACs, Amplifiers, what is required to stream, and the music itself, access to music and pristine electronics has never been cheaper. Some amazing speakers under $2K with clarity and accuracy we could only hope of it the past, and active crossovers are setting a new level too..... But ..... and to your point, w.r.t. HiFi as a hobby, has it has changed. A new "hobby" exists that has little to do with sound quality and is all about feeding the machine and feeding egos.

My suggestion?  Music is mainly art. Music reproduction is mainly science with some art thrown in. Learn about the science, and then learn about how to apply your own artistic touches. Let others stroke their egos in vain and feed the machine.

You want progress? I look at the Yamaha R-N803… to me that’s progress. For under a Grand it has a very good medium powered amplifier, a full streaming device, even a broadcast receiver.  Furthermore it has a room correction system and volume adaptive EQ to compensate for lower listening levels. Ivan Berger reviewed it when it came out and compared it to a stack of separates costing far far more and came away raving about its SQ as a pure amplifier, not just for the price.
Unfortunately, it has been discontinued, putatively because the chip supply is in more demand to make higher volume items like AVRs and keyboards. A successor will eventually be introduced. This kind of product flies way below the radar of this forum’s readership, but is a good example of audioamp’s point.

BTW, I don’t own one of these…my latest acquisition is a custom made new Dyna ST35 (EL84 based amp with 17.5 watts/ channel).