the epson is a good printer, good in everything, but it's just a too slow compare to the rest of the 2.
I would be curious if you have done actual same quality settings to determine this. I tested speed extensively with a canon 6100 against an Epson 11880. the problem with the Canon is to get to equivalent settings is a little challenging, but when you do so the Epson is actually faster. The ipf6400 is actually rated slightly slower then the 6100, I don’t see the 9400 being any faster.
Here’s some results based on 24” paper (the largest the canon could use).
Epson 11880 2880 dpi uni-D, 12.33 sq. ft/hour
Epson 11880 2880 dpi bi-D, 21.42 sq. ft/hour (increases to 25.5 sq. ft/hr on 60” wide paper)
Epson 11880 1440dpi (uni-D), Microweave on, 23.43 sq. ft/hour
Epson 11880 720dpi (uni-D), Microweave on, 31.47 sq. ft/hour
Epson 11880 1440 dpi bi-D, Microweave on, 33.08 sq. ft/hour
Epson 11880 1440 dpi bi-D, Microweave off, 40.9 sq. ft/hour
Epson 11880 720dpi (bi-D), Microweave on, 43.9 sq. ft/hour
Epson 11880 720dpi (bi-D), Microweave off, 50.56 sq. ft/hour
*Epson 11880 360dpi (bi-D), Microweave on, 116 sq. ft/hour
(all tests are Finest Detail off. This setting is not designed for photographic images and is not recommended for large files)
Canon ipf6100, 32 pass, 600dpi Highest (uni-D), Precision on, 8.55 sq.ft/hour
Canon ipf6100, 16 pass, 600dpi Highest (uni-D), Precision off, 17.14 sq. ft/hour
Canon ipf6100, 32 pass, 600dpi Highest (biD), Precision on, 17.45 sq.ft hour
Canon ipf6100, 12 pass, 600dpi High (uni-D), 22.22 sq.ft/hour
Canon ipf6100, 16 pass, 600dpi Highest (biD), 34.75 sq/ft hour
Canon ipf6100, 12 pass, 600dpi High (biD), 44.11 sq/ft hour
Canon ipf6100, 8 pass, 600dpi Standard (biD), 66.6 sq ft/hour
*Canon ipf6100, 300dpi Standard (biD), 133.3 sq ft/hour
(Precision is only available at the Highest setting on certain paper types, unless noted precision was off)
*Please note that on both printers the fastest setting is listed as a reference, is a setting I would never use, and is not even available on any high quality paper types.
I believe the Canon driver settings use different nomenclature now. The challenge with the Canon at the time was the idea of setting the number of passes, which set the vertical resolution. Only if you used 32 pass did you get 2400 dots in the vertical.
I really don’t care what anyone buys, I have a lot of experience with both. Canon has marketed it’s “speed” advantage for quite some time, and it just doesn’t hold up. Against the 7800/9800 yes, but not with current Epson printers.