Today at Bristol Quad were demonstrating the Vena by using the hotel's wi fi to stream 16/44.1 (CD Quality) files from the Qobuz streaming service (a CD quality Spotify premium type service with 17 million tracks available for £20 per month) via a 7 inch Samsung Galaxy Android tablet using Bluetooth with AptX (AptX means that Bluetooth transfers in near CD quality rather than the usual mp3 quality) wirelessly to the Vena.
It sounded very good for a £600 amp.
With such a steaming service now available I think that even for many audiophiles the CD will now become almost obsolete. There is no longer even the need for a NAS drive or any CD collection at all. Its all there for £20 per month and wirelessly.
Obviously the very high end may not be happy with wireless streaming but for most, even that part of the market that cares about sound quality, buying music or downloads for the home is no longer necessary.
So all you need now is the Quad £600 amp, a pair of speakers and a £20 per month subscription (plus Broadband and a laptop, tablet or smart phone with aptx - the high end Samsung and HTC phones include aptX as do the cheaper Samsung tablets) and you have all the music you want whenever you want it in audiophile CD quality.
If you don't want wireless you can wire the Vena up (and it has to be wired for Apple equipment). It will also do hires when wired (Bluetooth AptX is limited to CD quality).
Quad wasn't playing any tracks I knew well but it sounded good. I missed a trick. With 17 million tracks instantly available to them I should have asked them to play something I knew well and then I could pass more detailed comment on the sound quality of the set up.