I initially contacted Dan about modding a Sony NS999ES, but after talking for him a while, I mentioned that I had also considered the 2900, but was a bit put off by the negative reviews (including several of which that reached the conclusion that the 2200 sounded better). He said that he agreed that the Sony unit was superior in stock form, but then added that after similar modifications, the 2900 was superior to the 999ES. That got me thinking about Denon (again). As I read up on the features offered by both the 2900 and the 5900, I found that the 2900 did not offer some of the things that I wanted (HDCD, for example), and the 5900 added some features (DVI, digital audio outs, etc.). Dan admitted that the 2900 and 5900 are much closer sounding after equal mods than before, but still, I liked what the 5900 offers (somewhat superior chassis, too), and I got a very good price on it.
As soon as I got it, I hooked it up and started burning it in here at the office. Before taking it home, I did compare it briefly to my Arcam FMJ CD23T (on CD's only, of course). All in all, the 5900 and the CD23T were pretty close (which is impressive, IMHO, as the CD23T is a respectable CD player, and the Denon was not remotely broken in). Using three different CD's (Rusted Root, Diana Krall, and Cry of Love), I had remarkably different results from disk to disk. On Rusted Root, the 5900 had more separation of instruments, but the Arcam had more natural and present vocals, and more thump to the kick. On Diana Krall's voice, the Denon was more natural sounding, there was more detail to the brush work on the snare, and the overall sound was deeper and thicker. The Arcam, though, presented more detailed and articulate upright bass. On Cry of Love, the Denon had brighter snare & cymbals, and was not as full as the Arcam, which on this disk sounded more full, musical, and balanced than the modded Denon. Keep in mind, that this is right out of the box, with no break-in at all.
After inserting it into my system last night, I was absolutely floored at how much better CD's sounded using the multi-channel bypass inputs from the 5900, as compared to using the digital output and letting my pre/pro do the D/A work. Keep in mind, my pre/pro (Rotel RSP-1066) is currently my weak link at home (soon to be replaced by either Theatermaster 8800 Pro or HTS 7.1), but still, in the past I have found the Rotel's handling of digital outputs to be fairly good for its price range. I had fully expected the 5900's DAC to be superior to the Rotel's, but the sound that I had coming out of Dan's tubed outputs was vastly superior (not even remotely close) to the sound that I got when using the Rotel's DSP. As I have mentioned in other threads, I did not try out the 5900 before I had Dan mod it, so I am not in a position to say what it sounded like before and after mods. Sorry. I'm sure that is what many of you would have liked to have heard about. But, for a variety of reasons, it worked out best for me to have it sent directly to Dan.
I do believe that the 2900 with the Universal Truth Modifications also uses the PS 9.0 external power supply (which is very handsomely finished, and resembles the front plate of the 5900).
FWIW, I had Dan do the Universal Truth Tube Mod (2 ch.), the MCH Signature Mod, put Slipstream Bybees on 5 channels (all but sub), and I upgraded the "umbilical" for the PS 9.0 to cryo'd Reference Silver (which Dan highly recommended).
I will report back as the unit breaks in and I play with it more.
Tom.
