When you have audiophiles convincing themselves that turntables have magic properties, that tube amplifiers have magic properties, that cables can have magic properties, that digital has bad properties that don't actually exist and a whole host of other things that are never going to result in progress, then you will have an industry that is focused on feeding that neurosis, not progress.
Fortunately, as a portion of audio, "hifi" is small and even less when you consider the audio portion of movies and video. Hence while this industries plods along deifying 100 year old technology, the rest of the world developed dirt cheap high quality DACs, multi-channel object oriented surround sound, relatively dirt cheap and near straight-wire with gain class-D amps (with switching power supplies), DSP based crossovers, accurate room measurement systems that only require a $100 microphone, a whole host of room correction systems and bass management (that came out of home theater), DIY base management and low cost multi-channel DACs, relatively good sized acoustic panels companies (HiFi is just a portion of their business), DSP subwoofers (another offshoot of home theater), a host of pro/prosumer ADCs that give performance light years beyond tape for < $1000 (and up of course). Well designed high end speakers today, for the most part, can achieve lower distortion at higher volumes (but perhaps not as high of volume), have much better dispersion, and flatter frequency response. They can do it at relatively lower cost too and if desired, in a smaller package (with trade offs).
The biggest hurdle to advancement in hifi is audiophiles.
