While it’s easy to be a misanthrope about where the world of audio (or the wider world in general) is headed, most technological progress does tend towards giving the consumer more, rather than less, of what they had before. Sound quality is perhaps progressing incrementally at the moment, with much of the real progress found in areas extrinsic to pure audio fidelity. Head tracking, spatial audio, Google Cast, AirPlay 2, Auracast. The list goes on...
It's a trend that you will see a lot of in the modern world. Most consumer cars aren’t actually getting much better to drive, but your new Audi or Mercedes has made it noticeably easier to hook up your iPhone via Bluetooth, navigate via an onboard sat nav and operate the sunroof with the touch of an electrical button. Some of them even park themselves. Similarly, most audio brands are fitting their products with the sort of sought-after features that, ten or so years ago, were barely breaking through to the mainstream market.
