Is computer audio pushing up the price of CDPs?

Small world, Jim.
World Wide Audio in Bryn Mawr is kickin ass and has expanded into higher-end. They also have impressive showrooms for HT and cater to all those wealthy Bryn Mawr suckers..."of course you need 4K right now and better upgrade your HiFi with it." Not a real quote, just my sense of humor. Actually I like that place and have bought from them...no pressure salesmen.

There's HiFi House with 2 locations selling Wilson and the like. And of course David Lewis.
In Chestnut Hill there's Community Audio who admittedly is not selling the big ticket items they used to. It's a small shop strategically located and I hope they do well. I think I've listened to every system in the shop and they don't mind.

In the retail audio biz it's all about location, location, location.

The value of the US $ is steadily declining.
USA is pretty much toast, everyone knows it but us.

"USA is pretty much toast, everyone knows it but us."

Well, we ain't what we used to be post WWII, that's for sure.

Then again, neither is anyone else likely to be in the foreseeable future. Military might ain't what it used to be.

Its a different world. Better in many ways, worse in many others. BEats a lot of alternate scenarios I can think of. :-)

Python musical interlude called for... to lighten things up a bit.

Good reading and many intuitive conclusions. It seems to me the price of gear has remained constant as have the price/savings ratio of used equipment inclusive of CDP's. Much study would be required to test jim's hypothesis. The only constant here is that the industry does have real concerns over the aging population of $$ bearing enthusiasts.

One cannot argue over the convenience and security (redundancy) of having built a computer audio system. I agree that both CDP's (Reference Quality & otherwise) will still co-exist for some time to come - 'lowrider".

That said, it is perplexing when one begins the process of evaluating the choices available (Music Server, MS/DAC, USB Convertor/PC or Mac based, etc... I am laughing at this point.

I think it was all just a matter of advances in digital that both formats benefited from and the new kid on the block (PC audio) simply stole the limelight from the oldboy, CDPs, until some folk took notice of just how good they can still sound. - Spot on Nonoise!

Personally, having owned Esoteric gear in the past, I was thrilled they were bold enough to offer, I believe the first, swiss army knife of sorts solution; offering reference quality in one unit for both CDP playback and CA capability. I would venture to say this is the direction the market is likely headed moving forward.

It will certainly be interesting to see if the "x"/"y" and Millennial's adopt a taste for quality over content in the next few years.