Is the Mark Levinson 390S still a reference player

Hi. I don't have first hand experience so I was refraining from answering, but since you are getting no answers, here are my 2 cents: I don't think the 390S was ever considered a true "reference" player. It was considered a very good player a while back. I did consider it. But then I learned it was prone to malfunction, which was a deal breaker for me. Later on I heard comments that the new company owning the brand wasn't being very good about servicing older Levinson units. Search around here to learn more.

I hope this helps.

Why the fixation with Levinson? The other units in your original post are well thought of. If I were tu buy a CD player, I would probably go to an Esoteric X03, but that's me. Anyway, I have since decided to sell my CD player and focus on computer based system. It's amazing what a Squeezebox Touch + external DAC can do.

I quit using a CD player altogether. I have (but don't use) a Rotel RCD-1082. I was thinking of upgrading, at that time I considered the 390S, but instead decided to jump into computer audio. To me it was a matter of whether computer audio had advanced enough already. I took one of the easiest/safest routes: bought a Squeezebox Touch a year ago and have not used the CD player since. Don't be deceived by the small price, it's a good unit.

My take: computer audio is evolving very fast and doesn't make sense yet to stretch much economically. Whatever you buy will be obsolete in 5 years, so don't go overboard spending there. CD, on the other hand, is becoming mature and if you want to stick with it you are probably safe buying an excellent and reliable CD player now.

Of course, that's MY take on things. I hope it helps.