I've just obtained a 2005 Musical Fidelity A5 cd player ... why i chose old was based on finding that older gear can have a better tone to my ears YMMV of course ...a great price only £200 (house clearance seller didn't really know the value) for a back in the day £2500 player that generally goes for around £500 plus over here and by all accounts was always a solid build too, indeed at over 10KG (22lbs) and looks basically like a cd player in a power amp box ..all nice and silver front plus black handles with a minimal display & buttons (the looks i like) it so far seems to of survived well after i gave it a good clean up as it was covered in dust & muck from being stored in an attic ..with its coax & opt outs i can run it as a transport through a Benchmark Dac that i have but comparing that with its RCA outs into a Cyrus Pre into Mono Xs i am for now prefering the sound of the MF DAC built into the player ..admitedly by a small but noticeable margin it has a warmer feel ... my next comparision test is to pitch it directly against my Cyrus Discmaster 8.0 which serves duty for me as DVD & CD player, after 7 years i started to hanker for a dedicated cd player or transport to explore what differences could be there...movies are still sounding great though.
Having said all that i was very close to going the transport route with the Audiolab 6000CDT that "everyone" seems to be raving about as my budget was up £400
So to help the OP i'd say that i realise MF has it's fair share of critics but don't rule out what others aren't fans of regardless of brand and certainly don't rule out older kit ... audition what you can and sell on what you don't like i'm sure you will arrive at a great destination for your ears in your room and have some fun along the way, for myself there is a great guy by reputation called John Sampson of JS Audio Repairs who has decades of MF experience so I'm sure in due course i'll be letting him tidy her up ..plus before buying i checked and found belts & lasers are still available so with a spare belt & laser soon she will at least have her own spare parts ready for if the day comes they are needed ..and all for less than £300
Having said all that i was very close to going the transport route with the Audiolab 6000CDT that "everyone" seems to be raving about as my budget was up £400
So to help the OP i'd say that i realise MF has it's fair share of critics but don't rule out what others aren't fans of regardless of brand and certainly don't rule out older kit ... audition what you can and sell on what you don't like i'm sure you will arrive at a great destination for your ears in your room and have some fun along the way, for myself there is a great guy by reputation called John Sampson of JS Audio Repairs who has decades of MF experience so I'm sure in due course i'll be letting him tidy her up ..plus before buying i checked and found belts & lasers are still available so with a spare belt & laser soon she will at least have her own spare parts ready for if the day comes they are needed ..and all for less than £300