The ascii is for presenting to the user not for hardware processing. It is not a wire format. Onlh when logging or parsing a config (human interfacing) is an as

The ascii is for presenting to the user not for hardware processing. It is not a wire format. Onlh when logging or parsing a config (human interfacing) is an ascii conversion required and a modern protocol that wants adoption should prioritize human friendliess at the human interface of the protocol. Right now the hex lets you mental model the wire bytes nicely but it is unpleasant to use. V4 used decimal which is pleasant to use. UX trumps all.