@hilde45 Indeed, as you know better than most due to your profession of interpreting data accurately and objectively for a living, the data can convince either side of a topic that they reading the tea leaves appropriately.
I posit that there has never been a time in our hobby where competent music systems and specifically, access to music, has been more readily available. Now, that access is different and the definition of "what is hifi" is different to different groups. When many on Audiogon were getting interested, there was a local hifi ship and it served equals parts retail/service shop and audio hangout. We ALL remember those days and there were more than a few who hung out and never bought.
The pandemic shined a bright light on every segment of the industry. You discovered quickly which companies had an accidental business model and supply chain relationship, different abilities to act/react to the changing landscape and wildly different demand curves depending on the product and the manufacturer's ability to deliver. We experienced 20 years of change in three years.
Everything is going to be ok...hifi will live on and shift just fine with or without us. If objectively analyzing generations of data tells us anything, it is dominated by the fact that (A) the law of large numbers is actually a reasonable predictor and (B) every generation believes they are exceptional and most generations are incorrect. LOL.