First of all I don't see how you read his post this way. I read it as "this market is so far overcharging and underdelivering", but slowly trying new directions so there is a little bit of hope (I might be wrong).
I honestly remain unimpressed by 80% of what is coming out and quite jaded by the hype around any new product.
Since I first had my SE5, nothing really floored me apart from the KSE1500, and to a lesser extent some Tralucent stuff. I am honestly more impressed by how big the 200$ AAW Q sounds at this size and price than by the AAW900, or many other TOTL I have heard.
I haven't been been impressed by any source since my Dx100, apart from LPG and to a lesser extent the WM1Z and AK380. I owned the overhyped Hugo and found it lacking dynamics, prefer the Mojo.
I am super annoyed and shocked when people say a 800$ iem is entry and performs well for the price.
I think that apart from a few brands, maybe less than ten, most brands are mostly innovative in finding news ways to take our money, and the religious zeal with which their fans will defend these brands at all costs is like finding yourself in a bad remake of The Handmaiden.
I honestly still love the game for the 20% that is worth it, but the amount of BS, fake hype and self congratulations is sometimes vomit inducing, which might be one of the reasons most of the people I used to see around these parts 5 or 6 years ago are nowhere to be seen.