Musical Fidelity A5 CDP

I've heard nothing but good things about the Ayre CX7e. I just wish we had a dealer here in sheepland (NZ)! the price of an A5 is still dead cheap so I might still give it a listen and see how old school it sounds. It might be a nice surprise. Are there any owners out there who consider them still a worthy choice when buying a new CD player? I read somewhere that the A5.5 sounds the same and it has only just been released, so the A5 still would be great value/performance. Also how does the A1008 compare because there are some very good promotions here also?

A Cambridge Audio C840 can be had here for the same price as the MFA5. Would this be a better option as well? I heard this is one of the best NZ$2500 players on the market. How would they compare side by side?

Hi Countingbackwards, I prefer the thick solid sound with full body of the value CD players (not that i'm saying valves over colour music). I had a Shanling CD3000 and loved the sound but missed the PRaT so was hoping for something that did both. The MF A5 having a valve buffer stage had me thinking it might do both better? Are there any MFA5 owners who could verify this?