Are the highest-possible technical specs necessarily the best choice for every aesthetic purpose? I think this is less a trend of "hipster nonsense" and more of a sign of maturity from electronic music evolution as a whole - showing awareness of the symbiotic relationship between hardware and software, the medium and the message, a "back to its roots" part of the cycle that's definitely necessary given the current state of the art of recording sound IMO.

They might be considered awful now, but back in the day they were better than any alternatives. You couldn't play records in your car or while jogging, and cassettes were more convenient than the bulky 8-track which was the other common format.