I shoot for Federal Law Enforcement and the Air National Guard; I have managed a large format service bureau in my civilian job. I have printed on many, many different output devices to include Durst Lambda, Encad IJ, Roland HiFi Jet, Laser printers, Fuji Pictrography, Dye-sublimation devices, plus many more. I say all of this to validate my comments that follow...

The bottom line is the i9900 blows all of them away! This includes an Epson 9600, 7600 and 4000 all of which I use for the Feds and military. The only downfall is the lack of "Archival" inks. I lamented between the Epson 2200, and the i9900. I DO NOT regret one minute the i9900 decision! It is absolutely gorgeous! I shoot a Canon 20D for my personal work, that coupled with the i9900 makes unreal images/prints, these prints blow the minds of all of my peers! They cannot believe the quality. It works with Epson, Konica/Minolta, and Red River papers perfectly. The Canon i9900 on Red River Paper is a perfect match, with no "bronzing", like the Epson pigmented inks.

As far as the noise aspect I cannot tell that the printer is actually working until I see the paper moving, it is that quiet!

Downfalls would be the paper path not being a straight feed path, and the inks not being archival. The paper path has not presented a problem as of yet,  I have put very heavy card stock & art paper through it with ZERO hang-ups!

Although with the archival aspect I think that in 8-10 years when these prints are expected to fade, I will have been through several printers and the technology will be untouchable and I will just reprint them as needed. As far as selling the prints, well it will give me an opportunity to resell prints in the future...maybe. I will see down the road if they actually fade.

I hope that this has helped you make the right decision...the i9900!