Mark Levinson No.512 CD Player---Opinions

I finally heard this player at a store just to see what some of the hype was & having owned some levinson players in the past.
Now I would have loved to have done a a/b with some players I have & others in our small group. Sorry to say the store would never allow that. I heard enough to render a opinion. This player although good, does not rate up there with some of the better players in the price ranges below, equal & more expensive. Styling has taken a step back also. Sound wise, yes improved over the 390s, but no where near the performance of some of the newer players. Still more of a darker colder sound than I prefer.
With the levinson recent track record of service I could not justify the 15k price tag.

i have to save the 15 k so i can get a couple dig.amps for 50 k.

For $15K it should weigh 60lbs, be machined from a solid biilet of aluminum and be hand crafted with custom designed and tested parts. Oh, the remote should be made of solid gold as well:O)

Has anyone compared this player to the top offerings from Meridian, Ayre, ARC, DCS ?? It seems to me that at this price range, the players from those companies are the ones to beat, especially the one from Meridian since ST declared the SOTA for digital playback.

I have this player running through a pair of Mark LEvinson No.53's. A lot of the reviews listed above are spot on and I am absolutely in love with this CDP. Conversely, and for a bit more money ($8k) I do prefer the other setup I have which is the Burmester 001 in its latest form running through the Burmester 911's. I have not been able to find anything to de-throne the Burmester setup but I keep trying. I believe the No.512 to be the best out there at the $15k price point. I have also recently A/B'ed this with the Meridian 808.2 and can see why there is so much credit being given to that player but it is simply not quite for me.