I guess it's really just a matter of opinion. I personally love arranger keyboards, but I've owned both arrangers and professional synths at the same time. At one time I had a Roland XP-60, Yamaha EX-7, PSR-550, and Yamaha DJX(original) It just falls down to personal taste and needs... I on one hand like to have a keyboard that sequences and so forth, and if I buy one that is strictly for performance, I can't see spending over $1,700 on one (unless it had 88 weighted keys) I'm sure there will be many users who'll buy the XD-9 and will love it. I have no doubt that Solton keyboards sound great if not better than most. Personally I think there is no other keyboard out there with better and more realistic styles than Solton. I talk to pro synth owners all the time about why they don't buy arrangers, and most will be surprised to find out that it's not the fact that it has speakers, and auto accomp..., it's the price that scares them away. In the pro synth world the Yamaha Motif really made an impact on the market. This keyboard is amazing and can be bought for less than $1,700, and it has an integrated sampling sequencer, sampler, preset drum patterns, huge memory for the sounds. Killer synth engine, ect. Owning both arrangers and synths, I've often felt that some arrangers are a bit over priced as well when compared to what a synth can do. Again it's all personal taste.

Squeak