I recently purchased the EJ 89 and am very happy with the shaves I have been getting from it I have never owned a Merkur so I can not really make a comparison (although I did have a tough time deciding between the EJ 89 and the Merkur 34HD) I use the Astra blades in my EJ 89.
Caution: the chrome finish on the Edwin Jagger DE89 can blind you. Lol