MF claim that this is the best CD player they have made and is only £1500.
Has anyone auditioned it or own it and is their claim justified?

Suppose it depends if all their previous CD players were rubbish, then they could be right!! :)
Seriously though, I've only always heard good things about Music Fidelity - my friend has got the A3.2 and it is top notch. Haven't heard anything about the A5. Is it out yet?

Yes the A5 has been out for about 5 months now.
I have the A3.2 also, which I run with the TriVista DAC which is excellent.But would I get a noticable improvement with the A5?

Steve, currently, and in order of buying, i have an MF X ray v3, and the A3.2,and there seem to be dividing opinions on which is (supposedly) superior.
Most of the bods on hifi choice, and hifi wigwam are of the opinion that the newer x ray is the better machine,this is, according to the tech geezer at MF strange, as the x ray v3 is basically the A3.2 in a smaller box, albeit with a different transport mechanism.
Having read the different reviews on the A3.5 ,the succesor to the 3.2, and the A5, they claim the lesser priced one achieves a fairly high percentage in terms of performance,compared to the higher priced A5, but, can you actually hear the difference, cos im damned if i can detect one between my 2 units!Theoretically, the A5 should be better than the 3.2, but only your ears will assure you of that.

I have been testing the A5 now for about 10 days. It's truly an excellent player which I would characterise as neutral, detailed, extracts bags of info from the disc. It's sublime on voices, acoustic guitars, stringed instruments etc. It's also perhaps just a little laid back and although absolutely competent, I personally would not choose it for Rock Music.

I'm also testing the Marantz SA11-S1 (cd/sacd player) if anyone's interested.

Paul, what do you think of the Marantz SA-11-S1? I just got it myself (the matching amp to follow when I can afford to blow more cash) as a first upgrade to my trusty NAD 542 / 352 CT combo.
Oh and I'm thinking of changing my Chord interconnect from the Cobra 3 to the Chorus. Any experiences with this? Thanks guys.