...I use high quality 3rd party dye inks and get fantastic results -- better than pigment to my eye.
Just about any dye set, in terms of initial image appearance, will rival and often times exceed pigment inks. If dye-based ink sets had the same lightfastness, humidity resistance, water resistance, gas fade resistance, as pigmented ink sets, pigmented ink sets wouldn't have any reason to exist in the inkjet market. Period.
On the other hand, dyes remain in the market precisely due to their initial image quality, and for the fact that in consumer inkjet printers, they have better shelf life and less tendency to clog. Epson, HP, and Canon have worked hard to improve upon the weaknesses of natural dye stuffs by offering synthetic dyes sets that have good colorfulness and much improved light and gas fade resistance. Nevertheless, although much improved, even the best dye sets on the market today they still fall short of OEM pigmented ink sets in terms of light and gas fade resistance. Otherwise, this discussion wouldn't be taking place
I know of no "high quality" third party dye set that even comes close to Canon's Chromalife 100+ or Epson's Claria dye sets in terms of light fade resistance, and yet even these very fine OEM dye sets are still more fragile than the respective OEM pigmented ink sets. Just sayin... some folks do want long term durability in their finished prints over and above their desire for great initial image appearance.
cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com