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

Better if it has a digital input to act like a DAC.

Even then, it is a luxury as you imply with your question, we will all be using some sort of computer menu to select our music soon if not already.

But then strictly speaking, anything beyond a kazoo is a luxury, no?

Art

I would say yes, the days of the hi end cd player are numbered. A DAC that supports hi- rez music server/computer files would be the best investment at this time. Use a current cd player as a transport for your discs.

I'm pretty much done investing in cd's as a medium and have been purchasing only vinyl (10 new LP's for Christmas).

I'm probably around 3 years away from the music server purchase.

Most audiophiles I know say their next purchase will be a dac which supports hirez playback.

Hardly. Isn't it fun to get your CDs out and play them in the player? Like Art has mentioned above, my next buy would be a SACD player that has USB, Optical and Coaxial inputs, cause digital files are fun too. BTW, last month I got myself a Sony Cassette Walkman to play my old tapes on the go.
So you may look at a Accuphase/Luxman or wait for Marantz/Sony Reference/ES players to come out with new models with digital inputs.

I suppose since a CD player relys on a digital format. The question will be more about how religious one is about the file type and it being identical regardless of where it is stored. Then as pointed out the analog output section becomes paramount. Thus if you purchase an expensive one do not pay a lot for the transport do it as a DAC with the ability to play a historical media type.
My only question is why are so many of us including myself slow to adopt the music server as a source?
Another point is that Turntables and LPs are a poor comparison as vinyl and it's playbackhave continued to evolve amongst the cognescenti. Mass market for vinyl and TTs may be virtually non existent, but Luxury turntables are the norm for people who play records.
Cassettes BTW are a different story. The CD killed the cassette but Lps survived as a highly desirable analog media and yet the cassette is still dead despite being another analog media- Why? I don't know, except for me, the lack of discrete track selection was more of an inconvenience than I could stand and despite the fairly high level of sophistication with better tapes and a very good deck they never sounded quite as good as my records or even dare I say my better CDPs.