Epson Expression Photo XP-960: the benchmark A3 multifunction

Ergonomics

Unsurprisingly, Epson's Expression Photo XP-960 only modernizes the model it replaces with touches. The template therefore remains identical and rather compact for a printer capable of printing up to A3. The finishes are of a very good level, both in terms of the quality of the plastics used and the finesse of assembly. In terms of ergonomics, the color touch screen expands to 10.9 cm diagonally while the buttons disappear. This screen is both readable and responsive to the touch, which makes the XP-960 very pleasant to handle. Note that the front panel on which the screen is installed is motorized, and therefore opens by itself when the printer is switched on.

At the time, we had some difficulties in configuring the Wi-Fi functions, this was not at all the case here with an installation on the local network which is done in no time. Compatible with Wi-Fi Direct and with the main Cloud services, the Epson XP-960 lives with the times. Note that this 3-in-1 can also use USB 2.0 and Ethernet connections, and that it offers a front USB port and a card reader that accepts CompactFlash, MemoryStick and SD cards.

The Epson XP-960 has three separate paper entries. At the front, behind a small hatch, there are two superimposed trays which, for example, allow you to always have 10 x 15 photo paper and standard A4 paper (up to 100 sheets of 80 g / m²) ready to use. 'impression. Just below is the guide for printing on optical discs, which will always be close at hand. The insertion of A3 paper requires the use of a hatch at the rear which measures almost the entire width of the printer, from which unfold two plastic guides to help the correct positioning of the paper. It is advisable to use one sheet at a time here.

The paper receptacle is motorized and opens when printing is started. This logically penalizes the output time of the first page. For fairness, we therefore carried out our chronometer in hand measurements, this mechanism already unfolded. Note that it is preferable to be present at the end of A3 printing to finish guiding the printed sheet and make sure that it does not get damaged.

Like all 3-in-1 flatbed printers, the Epson XP-960 opens in two parts, the upper flap giving access to the scanner glass and the second to the cartridges. At the rear of the printer, a block can be easily removed to access the paper feed rollers, which makes it easy to deal with paper jams. The system also supports A4 duplex printing automatically.

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Consumption

We continue on the good points, since the Epson XP-960 is a rather sober printer, as regards its electrical consumption as its noise pollution. It is also progressing to good notch in these two registers. In standby, it consumes only 1.1W while the Wattmeter displays 19W during A4 photo printing. We have seen better in the latter area with printers consuming only 7 to 10W, but these were more basic A4 models.

In terms of noise pollution, progress has been more marked. In a fairly quiet room (33.8 dB), the Epson XP-960 only raises the sound level meter to 36.3 dB in photos and 39.6 dB in standard printing. Confirmation by ear, these nuisances are well controlled, knowing that a silent mode can also be activated to further reduce the noise generated at the expense of printing speed.

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Cost per page

It may be the only area in which the Epson XP-960 does worse than the XP-950. Indeed, based on the price of the six XL cartridges (more economical to use), we come across an average cost per page of 16.6 euro cents, where the XP-950 was 13 cents about. It is the reduced autonomy of the black cartridge (500 pages) which is partly responsible for this finding, with a cost per page in black and white calculated at 3.8 euro cents.

However, even if we are well above the 10 euro cents that serve as a benchmark for the cost per page of A4 inkjet printers, we must remember that we are facing a photo-oriented A3 model and that in this very specific segment, the Expression Photo XP-960 is more like a good student.

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Scanner and copies

The scanner of the Epson XP-960 is a very precise flat model, in A4 format, which scans up to 4800 x 4800 dpi. Note that provided software allows scanning of A3 documents, by assembling several areas, which does not fully forget the absence of an A3 scanner. A fast scanner that takes only 12 seconds to scan a 10 x 15 photo at 300 dpi, and 15 seconds to archive an A4 document at 100 dpi.

The copy function is also rather swift, requiring only 12 seconds to copy an A4 page in black and white and 21 seconds to perform the same operation in color. The rendering of the copies is, as often, slightly degraded compared to the source with graphics and a bit more blurred fonts, but we remain at a widely acceptable level.

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Photo

To print up to 5760 x 1440 dpi, the Epson XP-960 uses MicroPiezo technology using drops of a minimum size of 1.5 picoliter. Photo prints are fast, knowing that a 10 x 15 borderless photo comes out in just 39 seconds, and it only takes 1 minute and 15 seconds to “shoot” an A4 photo. Very good scores that will delight those in a hurry. Even in A3, the photo printing time remains good since the photos come out in about 4 minutes and 50 seconds.

Addressed to photographers, we necessarily expect a lot from the XP-960 in this area. On the printing precision side, we are clearly on high standards. A very high definition scan of a photo taken from this printer easily demonstrates its excellent skills in this area. The “noise” is under control, the sharpness is essential and the overall rendering is excellent. The only small disappointment comes from the slight colorimetric drift measured with the probe, with a delta E which reaches 6.8. This remains a good figure for a photo-oriented printer, but it does not progress compared to the survey carried out on the XP-950, knowing that above 3 the human eye is able to note a difference in tone. The best consumer printers in this area therefore remain Canon's photo-oriented Pixma, some of which reach a delta E of between 4 and 4.5. Still, the photo rendering quality of this printer up to A3 is quite unique, which is why we give it 5 stars in this category.

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Office

In office automation, the flow rates measured on the Epson XP-960 are not exceptional, but far from being catastrophic. We still reach almost 13 pages / minute in black and white, and 7 pages / minute in color. It is a bit worse than what a versatile A4 multifunction like the HP Envy 4520 offers, but it is still pretty good. Automatic duplexing is also fairly well managed, with a speed of around 5.7 pages / minute.

On the other hand, the standard printing quality in office automation remains largely perfectible. If the text and graphics remain legible even on colored backgrounds, and the gradients come out rather well, we notice via a high definition scan that the result is still far from that offered by the best inkjet in office automation. Certain texts undergo a slight shift effect and on colored backgrounds, the colors tend to drool and the drops are visible. Nothing to say on the other hand on the side of the texts on white background, which are of a good level.

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Conclusion

There are few areas in which Expression Photo XP-960 disappoints us, even if it still costs it the maximum score in our eyes. Technically, the quality in office automation is a notch below what we could expect, while from an economic point of view, it imposes a fairly high cost per page. But for everything else, it's a great product. Easy to use, complete, very worked in terms of ergonomics, it excels in photo rendering and will prove to be a precious companion for photographers wishing to equip themselves with a good A3 compatible printer in order to quickly take out their shots on paper.

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