Digital BW, The Print

The review section on the Z3100's image quality, however accurate, was
not very descriptive:  

"After both testing and printing extensively with Epson's, Canon's and
now HP's latest pigment ink printers it is my belief that there they
all produce excellent image quality."

And 

"But, to the naked eye at normal viewing distances, neither I not any
of the other photographers to whom I showed comparative prints were
reliably able to differentiate one brand printer from the other based
on image "sharpness"."

How does the sharpness of the best small format printers, such as the
Epson R260 compare to the Z3100, Epson 9800 or Canon IPF5000 large
format printers?  It seems the small format printers debut the latest
greatest sharpness and resolution technology that the printer
companies can muster.  Also, I wish a comparison could have been made
with traditional wet darkroom prints, e.g., C-print, Cibachrome,
dye-transfer.

Does he mean this comparison between printers is valid for color as
well as B&W prints?

I'm a bit of an elitist curmudgeon and get closer than normal to view
my images.