Are fewer, relevant links working better now?

I have been focusing more on getting a small number of relevant links instead of building them in bulk. The progress feels slower, but rankings seem more stable.

Is anyone else taking a similar approach, or still mixing in volume for balance?

Indeed I also feel the same way. The applicable links that are smaller in quantity have slower movement but at least they get the sticking point.

I continue to mix a little volume in on the second/third line just to create movement. Only pure quality is the safe zone but the real growth occurs in the area of balance.

Yes, a small number of authoritative, editorially-placed links from truly relevant sites now outperform large volumes of low-quality links, as Google's "link spam" updates increasingly devalue scaled, irrelevant backlinks, making relevance and authority the critical ranking factors.

Fewer but relevant links give slower progress, but keep rankings stable; many SEOs start this way now and scale the volume later.