I've been using both his pigment and dye ink in my 3880. I have had the matte black plug the head once (Yes, even the 3880 can plug up!), but it sat a long time without any use over the photo black. Helps to run it every once in a while (nozzle check). I'm in a dry hot area so I need to run them at least once every week else one of them will plug up. I left one for a month once and it was an ink wasting nightmare to get it flowing again, plus it filled the waste tank in the process so it timed out and needed a new one.
Personally, I like Cone's dye ink better as it looks richer on papers like metallics where the paper's sheen shines through the color rather than being blocked by the pigment ink, and some glossies too. I don't care about longevity of dye ink since I toss the prints out of their frames after a few years and replace them with something else - or find something about the original that bothers me enough to redo it and re-print it.
For your first run through the process, I'd get his ink carts as sometimes they have chip issues or one might leak. If you buy them out of Hong Kong (eBay, and about 1/3 the price) and have an issue, good luck as shipping and exchanging them will break you and you may need to buy more of them (damhik either!
).
I'd look into investing in some paper calibration unit too, maybe either a ColorMunki Photo ($450) or a i1 PhotoPro 2 ($1,500). Profiles that you make with your selected paper and ink seem to work better, imho. I made a switch to OCP ink in my Canon printer and for what I saved in a year on OEM ink carts, the ColorMunki Photo paid for itself. I can refill the Canon for about 35 cents a cart (vs. $17 for the OEM) so I use it for my proof-printer and then move to the Epson where the ink (OEM or not) costs much more. As to the two devices, the i1 works better with papers with a lot of optical brighteners in it. However, the ColorMunki Photo is faster and I can use only one sheet of paper for a profile if I half-sheet the charts with the printer's driver; the i1 PhotoPro 2 normally takes four full sheets and is a lot slower to read them all. How much better one is over the other I don't know other than the optical brightener argument in favor of the i1.
Have fun!
SG
