Amplification: what are the biggest advances of the last 40 years?


As an audiophile most of my adult life but without any engineering expertise, I wonder how amplification has advanced since I started in this hobby as a high school student in the eighties?

Specifically, what has advanced the state of the art and what, specifically, make newer products sound "better" than older ones?

Is it that circuit design has advanced so much?  Or is the bigger difference parts quality and the technology leading to these better parts?

And please, none of the banal "it all matters" comments.  What I'm asking: which of the above matters the most?


bobbydd
For me , class D :is very detailfull, open, but ,it’s emotionless.  With class A amplifiers (tubes) ,you empathize with the music !! Very good placement, 3D. You become much more involved in the music and make it much more pleasant to listen to! Give me : VAC, DartZeel, Ear Yoshino, Nagra……that makes me happy !!!
Better parts lead to better circuit designs.
For example, output relay replaced by mosfet in Accuphase power amp to improve DF and protection.

https://www.accuphase.com/technical_information/e-650_technical_information.pdf

Also, you can’t build a benchmark AHB2 power amplifier with parts that available 40 years ago.

https://benchmarkmedia.com/collections/all-products/products/benchmark-ahb2-power-amplifier







Also a lot of the better solid state amps are designed with no inverse feedback that makes a big difference as well that's why I love Sim audio so much very analog sounding amp.
It would be helpful if people could list examples of the amplifiers with the features they think are such good improvements