For learners who have reached upper-intermediate or higher: when was the point you could begin understanding native speakers?

I've been studying Mandarin for 9 months and have reached a (old) HSK4 level in listening and reading. I can listen to audio tracks in the HSK4 textbook with no issues, and I can listen to intermediate-level YouTube videos comfortably. I've also done a couple of vocabulary tests, and my vocabulary is estimated to be around 1500 words.

However, even though my vocabulary covers the vast majority of commonly used words already, I still struggle immensely to understand native speakers.

I've downloaded Bilibili and duoyin. If I pause the clips to read the subtitles I can follow them, but without subs I'm completely lost. It's like my brain doesn't even register the sounds that are coming out of their mouth, even though I know all the words they're using.

Other than graded audio, I have also been diligently watching pre-school children's shows like Peppa Pig, Big Ear Tutu, Tayo the Little Bus to accustom my ears to native speech.

However I'm still unsure as to at which point I can truly begin to comfortably and independently understand adult native speech. So for people who have done it, how did that happen to you?

(Yes I know I've only been learning for 9 months which is nothing in the grand scheme of things, and I still need much more exposure. I just want to hear about the experience of people who have reached that point).