Digital BW, The Print

I agree that the IP prints have a certain smoothness about them. 
However with that said, why is their dither so course?  I am making
prints anywhere from 5X7 to 13X19 with my 2200 and believe me, on the
smaller sized prints the courseness is evident.  I can make a small
print using the epson driver at 2880 and in my experience, the IP
2880 still doesn't match the creamy smoothness of the dither of the
epson.  Since we are paying so much for a driver only (no extras)
from IP, why shouldn't we expect a dither as smooth as that of the
epson driver to compliment those IP smooth tonal transitions?  Are
these two qualities incompatible? (I am printing from OS 10.2)
eleanor brown