Is this the END of DAYS for the high end CD player

There are more high end CD players on the market now than in any other time in history. The sweet spot for ultra high-end seems to be $15-25k, but there are well over a dozen state-of-the-art systems in the $50-100k realm. Right now, Vekian is getting much attention from end users.

How does a state-of-the-art system sound? Simply sublime.

I am reminded of a quote "audiophiles perfect what the mass market selects". Clearly the market is choosing downloads over discs. Like vinyl I'm sure it will have a dedicated following, but the average age of an audiophile seems to be increasing and eventually will fizzle out. I cannot see upcoming generations paying the prices it takes to keep vinyl alive. CDs are already seen as unnecessary. I hope I'm wrong on at least the vinyl part.

Perhaps a rebirth of the high end transport will come to pass?

My new Sony ES 5400 has meant there is no need for a hi end transport

A couple observations on the comments above:
1. I don't understand why anyone would buy a music server when you can buy a mac mini and external hard drive with virtually unlimited storage capability for a fraction of the costs.
2, Computer based source doesn't mean that you have to buy your music online. It just means that you rip your cd's to the computer. The only music I buy online are the few songs here and there that my wife ask for. I haven't "bought" into the high rez downloads yet so i just stick with red book... at least for now.
3. The high end CD player won't go away, but, they will have a digital input.
4. I love my computer based source and the capability of controlling it with my Iphone is shear joy.

Having said all this, it's been my experience that computer based sources are a long way off from outperforming transport/cd players. If you can only listen to the highest quality in digital playback, then you need a transport whether separate or a one box solution.