I switched from an Epson 9890 to a Canon ipf8400. Colour is marginally better as can be expected going from an 8 colour to a 12 colour machine. I think it would be pretty much on par with the 9900 or 11880.
Paper handling is a bit better with the Epsons especially with sheets. Loading rolls is no big deal with the Canons but sheets can be a PITA until you get the hang of it. I've printed more this year with the Canon than I did last year with the Epson but my overall ink costs are MUCH lower even though my square inch ink costs average around $.65 with the Canon vs. $.50 with the Epson. Much fewer cleanings. I still have a few of the original ink carts that came with the machine.
I have replaced one head. I ran a nozzle check and had a very slightly deflected nozzle in the Blue channel, called Canon support and they couriered me a replacement. Swapped it out and sent back the old one with zero downtime. The replacement heads come with a 1 year warranty so if anything happens I'm covered. I'm pretty sure that I could replace both heads every 366 days and still be ahead with the money saved by not doing all the head cleans that the Epson does.
Also when the head clogged on the Epson, I was down for over a week while I tried to sort out service options. Mainly because none of the service guys up here wanted to call me back. Canon diagnosed the issue over the phone, asked me to email a photo of my receipt and then shipped me a new head. The entire process was less than an hour, including the 10 minutes I waited on hold for a tech.
Also, the Canon software is much better, I can set up custom papers in the printer and get very accurate reporting (on a PC) which I couldn't really do on the Epson.
Overall, I think Canon is making the better machines right now. With this printer there's a lot less messing around. I just load paper and print.