Biggest soundstage in a CD Player ?

That's "..indicate your partnering equip...". Sorry! As further indication, I like the sound of the ML 39 --- but, I confess to hoping for a trade-in deal... the 39 is way too expensive for me.

Wow. I'm a bit intimidated by the quality of the opinions and experience of those expressing them. Nevertheless, I recently reviewed a couple of CDplayers and thought you might be interested.
I was listening to Magneplanar 3.6s through VTL 750 monoblocks, then a single stereo BEL 1001 amp (I hate to admit it, but on that day with those speakers the BEL came out on top). The CD player was an Ayre (forgot the model number but the dealer claimed it was their "top of the line" model), which was fantastic. However, the dealer insisted on making a substitution. In went the Linn Sondek CD player (I don't recall the exact model name) at US$20,000. Obvious improvement from an already impressive sound. There were 3 of us in the room and immediately all 3 agreed. So what did I end up with? The Cary CD 303 of course! Best of luck, and enjoy the search.

Given the alternatives discussed above you should listen to the dCS equipment. I haven't heard the Boulder but to my ears I prefer it over the ML, Accuphase and Burmeister. The new universal transport should be available in July.

if you bought a Marantz SACD player it sounds good as long as you feed it sacd when you listen to a regular cd you have a regular marantz cd player. Thats a no brainer. Good Luck

I have also compared the Levinson 39 to a sony sacd player that was 5k and even when they used a sacd disk the 39 still sounded better.