You wrote:
Take much of the early electronic music work of the late 70s and early 80s. Much of it far surpasses what is put out with today's modern synthesizers.
Kraftwerk, one of the pioneers of the electronic music, now just uses Windows machine to produce and play their music and the visual effects.
I think some psychology is involved here: people find certain music better because they know it is made with this old equipment, not that they actually can hear the difference.
greets,
Staf.