CD players = dead?

Agreed CD spinners of all types seem in steady decline production-wise. As far as sound quality vs streams as with most things it depends. You can put together an amazing great sounding CD based system or a great streaming system these days. Just go with whatever sounds best to you and offers the ergonomics and convenience that you desire.

I own two dedicated CD players and use them often.  I also own an Oppo 105 and Chromecast Audio that I use for network streaming(Spotify, Pandora, network music files, etc.).  All methods can sound incredible as well as pretty dull.  IMO, the most important element to great sound quality is the recording.

Bill

They are not dead because people have large CD collections from the last 30 years. And some prefer to play single CD/SACDs.

It takes time to copy a large number of CDs to a server, but is more convenient playback.

Buying online digital music is more expensive than buying CD/SACDs today.

Internet streaming is listening to someone else's choice of music, not personal classics from your own collection.

One reason is the way to go is with a transport and a DAC .
Cambridge led the way on this route.

No they are not dead. They will not get back to the level of popularity they had in the 80s, 90s and 00s, but they will continue to be sold and improved for the foreseeable future.

As with all things audio, they can be better than servers/streamers and vice versa.