Talking about high prices is one thing. I am confident that 20 years ago there also were people complaining about high prices. But saying that "Honestly feels like the high end is trying to price gouge the rest of us true hobbyists." is something else.
I don't believe there is a "high end" entity trying to gouge "the rest of us true hobbyists", with the latter presumably being those who cannot afford the most expensive. This seems to imply there is a conspiracy by "the high end" to do what ... discourage, cheat, deny ... pick what verb you want ... to the "true hobbyist". I don't believe that -- it makes no sense. Nor do I believe in using language that cordons off a segment of people who are "true hobbyists" from others.
If a manufacturer wants to put a product on the market he can charge whatever he wants. The market will determine if his effort succeeds or fails.
With regard to "younger aspiring audiophiles are calling it quits because they don’t’ see any possibility of ever owning any of the equipment they really want." I have not heard or read anyone saying "I can't have what I really want so I'm not going to participate in that hobby." Maybe it happens but I doubt it happens often. And, for what its worth, I don't believe many young audiophiles know what they really want. Maybe some do. It took me a while to figure it out, and based on the number of times people change their systems I suspect it is taking others a while to know what they want -- that is part of the "audiophile journey".