Digital BW, The Print

Hi all.
I bought a set of MIS VM quadtones before checking in detail which workflow 
to use. Appears that there is no workflow for the Epson 980 for these inks on 
the MIS site. I am using the latest 980 Epson driver on PC. Doesn't seem to 
have the halftone option.

I started with the Roark 1160 workflow using EAM paper. A  5% increment 
step wedge looks reasonable although perhaps the 95% and 100% are a bit 
close. However, I can see darkish dots in the 5% easily without a loupe. 
Interestingly, all but the 90-100% look grainy. Almost like each density is 
marbled.  The nozzle check looks fine. This is at 1440 and set for the Matte 
paper per the workflow. Going to 2880 helps a bit but not much in the overall 
look. The resulting prints have an obvious inkjet print look to them because of 
the coarseness.

Finally, the question. Is this coarseness what I should expect from this printer/
ink combination?  I recently saw some prints in a show that were labeled 
carbon pigment digital that looked like platinum prints. They were very warm, 
but subtle and had a delicate glow. Far from the inkjet look I am getting now.

Costa Colbert