Digital BW, The Print

Hello all,

I'm still a relative beginner at this but after 2 months I am 
getting some very satisfactory results.  Some background: I use an 
Epson 1160 with an MIS CFS loaded with MIS FS-N inks.  I have the 
Piezo driver and usually print with that as I have found in 
comparisons with the Epson driver (with Randall curve applied) the 
Piezo gives more dotless mid-tones and highlights.  Sometimes 
however some prints look better with the Randall curve (the Piezo 
tends to print darker).  So, with the less dots I have mostly used 
the Piezo driver and have been in awe of the smooth mid-tones in 
particular.  

But now I have printed an image that is showing me an amazing 
difference from the Piezo driver results to the Epson drive/randall 
curve results, and the Piezo is falling very flat in this instance.  
The image can be found here:

<http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=956273&size=lg>

as you can see we have some fairly fast and radical transition from 
severe highlights to almost pure black.  I printed the Piezo one 
first and as you can see there are obvious and very poor transition 
points to be seen around the highlights.  The result is awful and 
unacceptable output.  The Epson driver/Randall curve seems to have 
handled the transition in a much smoother and acceptable manner.

I have printed out two 21stepNew.jpg wedges using each driver since 
then and I cannot really see any fault with either of them (again 
though the Piezo prints darker shadows). They both look very good to 
my untrained and less-experienced eye.  So I am puzzled.

I am not showing this to try and put down the Piezo driver.  I am 
more asking if what I am finding here is typical or perhaps points 
to a problem with my method or process.  If I only printed with the 
Piezo I would think it has something to do with my printer, but from 
the Randall results we can see the printer has the ability to print 
just fine.  I have followed the set-up and workflow of both 
drivers/curves precisely.

Any suggestions on why I'm getting these results?

Thank you for any input and comment.

Regards,

Richard