Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for the confirmation Mark.
By the way a friend recently purchased a 9600.  he used it for a couple of weeks , and was pretty pleased with the results in color and the neutral ness of the b&w.  About one week ago, he picked up the IP5 to try out with it.  I can state that there is a day and night difference in the color printing, from the exact same file.  Richer color, better detail, more saturation.  Looking very much like dyes.
In printing b&w, there is an improvement too.  The "neutralness" looks better and is definitely a more pleasing color.  The prints tend to be a bit less contrasty, but that could easily corrected in PS.  Also, the prints look smoother, not as coarse as the epson driver.  The black density still doesn't match the MIS dyes that I've been using, but pretty close.
So I've decided to bite the bullet and purchase the 7600, and the IP5.  After seeing the before and after prints with and without the IP5, I couldn't stand knowing what could be possible, and not being able to achieve that great look.
Thanks
David Aschkenas