After talking to Dan at ModWright, about the performance of the 2900 versus the NS999ES, after similar mods performed to each, I was sold on the 2900. Then, after looking into the additional offerings of the 5900 over the 2900 (HDCD, DVI, iLINK, better chassis, etc.), I decided to get a 5900 and have Dan mod it for me. Sure, there may be better players available in the near future, but because of a prior product (JVC) failure and exchange credit, the time to strike for me is now.
Tom.