Can anyone tell me where the progress in audio went?

@theaudioamp sorry I guess I misunderstood the thrust of your post. IME there has never been a better time to be into hifi whether you want to spend $1K or $1M.

Vu has very specific ideas. His equipment is lovingly built and modified and has superb dynamics. I have had him get mad at me, perhaps not undeservedly, for pointing out shortcomings that my ears told me. They sound like horns, with a reduced but still there horn edge. To say things haven’t advanced is silly. I think simply of how capacitor technology has advanced. 

+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.