Digital BW, The Print

For those who've seen my other posts, you'll know I'm pretty new to this stuff.  I'm still 
working through my 1st Eboni ink cart doing BO printing on my 1280.

Anyway, to my question..In order to get a decent "glow" to my highlights I've found myself 
clipping more levels that I was initially thought would be necessary - this basically gives 
enough blank paper area to let that area be nicely visible.  I like the Dmax of pure black on 
test strips but when I clip the lower levels I lose a lot of detail and feel like my shadows get 
real muddy.

Technically I'm still having WSYWIG issues, so I usually print with printer gamma 2.2 and use 
a levels layer to match prints to monitor, typical levels parameters:  0, 0.80, 255

I'm not sure if this requires a technical solution (refined workflow parameters) or an aesthetic 
one (better PS skills).  Any thougts?

-b