Oh boy. A few things about Xara applications to AI concerning color.

While AI can design in RGB or CMYK, or gladly switch between the two, it is a one or the other color managed document. (Unlike InDesign which has no document color profile).

AI is a fully color managed application. So while one could think of the colors shown in AI as "simulated," if one has a profiled monitor, they show up accurately. Xara applications? Not so much even using the simulate thing.

A CMYK color in say XDP will be the same in AI as long as you are using the CMYK Color Model in the Color Editor to actually color the elements. It's just the on-screen part in XDP/X P&GD where they fail. In any case, the CMYK colorant(s) in an X product are correct values.

However. Using the AI export filter from X will introduce those colors as spot color swatches defined in the CMYK color space. After I open an AI export from X, and assuming I want only CMYK in the AI file, I always select everything then use the Edit | Edit Colors | Convert to CMYK command. Then I head over to the swatches panel, click on the little drop down in the upper right of the Swatches panel, Select All Unused and then repeat the drop down and delete the swatches. If the color swatches are/will be important to me, I'll then select all and add the color(s) back as swatches.

If working directly in an X product and printing, I would still go through the PDF export process as (1) Adobe Reader and Acrobat are color managed applications and (2) one can use a proper output profile.

What I do not know is what color model is being used for directly printing no matter the print device. For color managed applications printing to a true PostScript printer, the exact color values are sent to the driver and passed unchanged to the print device. For most all con/prosumer Windows inkjet and non-true Adobe PostScript print devices there are two color conversions involved in printing. Even with color managed applications. So for instance, CMYK colorants are converted to RGB inside the Windows print driver, then back to CMYK (and/or also split into the extra inks if the printer is one of the 6/8/10/12 ink models) inside the printer's RIP software.

I think I've blabbered on enough...Mike