Both the Level 99 horn and the Lu Shang's rod are the "ultimates" of their gear classes, though. Level 95 horn already puts me in the top 1% of bards - Level 99 horn will put me in the top dozen or so across all servers, especially once it's matched with Dharp (which I'm also picking away at.... slowly. I'm on 75 Souls right now and it sucks.)
I'm hoping that by the time I have 70 million gil saved up, the price of Umbral Marrows will have dropped down considerably. I might get lucky!