My friend and I both own one. It beat out the SONY SCD-1, Accuphase 77, Mac201, Esoteric XO-3, Cary 306, Krell SACD, Ayre, and Levinson seperates that we compared it to. It has great tonal balance, a wide and deep soundstage; an extended yet sweet top end and the best vocal reproduction that I have heard. Make sure you hear one that is well broken in as it changes quite a bit in the first few weeks.
Marantz SA7S1
I just read the review in absolute sound and must say it is totally uninformative as to how the player sounds. I did see the full page ad Marantz took out a few pages earlier, so I am guessing the vague "this is a great player" review is why we saw that. With that said, does anyone have real world experience and comparisons of this player or is it just a 50 pound expensive enigma?