Digital BW, The Print

I just received a few sample sheets of this paper and their test image.
Annoyingly the sheets were bent in the post and I am going to have to
flatten them out somehow before printing on it.  The test image included a
step wedge and 100% K measures Lab 4.9, -0.2, -0.2.  So not quite the 2.7D
they themselves claim but a nice result nonetheless.  Actually I just took a
soft cloth and buffed the step wedge.  100% K now measures L* 4.0.  Paper
white measures 96.9, 0.8, -4.7.  Is it very much whiter than Crane's Silver
Rag.  The test image is simply said to be an RGB file and was apparently
printed on a 4800 with K3 ink via the Epson colour driver (not Epson Adv
B&W).  To my eye, there is considerable bronzing in the test image in the
lighter areas.  

While the surface is definitely a gloss rather than semi-matte, I think they
have definitely got it a lot better than Crane.  It's hard to describe and
communicate these things but the Da Vinci surface looks a lot more natural
and doesn't have the "sparkle" that Silver Rag has.  The texture is more
pronounced than the Crane surface but more natural.  The Da Vinci paper is
not a cotton rag base but rather a 300gsm "acid free alpha cellulose".  It
does not have the pronounced curl of Silver Rag.