musical fidelity a5 or simaudio i5.3

The A5 is made in Taiwan.

I have listened to them both, but the Simaudio I heard was the I-5 LE.
That said, to me, the Simaudio sounded better overall - the A5 seemed detailed, but a bit light in presentation without much depth on the bass side - a slightly flat sound. The Simaudio has better flavor/bass depth and yet still highly detailed. It was my close second choice in a recent integrated search.
However, after listening to all available options, I ended up with a Cayin A-88T with 6550s. Never thought I'd end up with a tube amp - the thing sounds amazing. I thought it was a far sight better than most everything I heard...

Both amps are good...the Musical Fidelity is made in China, so it is not really British (although British designed), and the Simaudio is made in Canada. The Sim has more speed and a much more tight and powerful bottom end despite its lower power. It is also more neutral and revealing. The MF is a bit warmer and "syrupy", in my opinion. It depends on the sound you are looking for and your speakers too. Plus you get a 10 year warranty with the Sim which is really neat.