Fuji Provia 400X, increase DMAX?

I just got back my first test roll of Fuji Provia 400X today from the lab. I shot it on two cameras, a Nikon F100 with an 85mm 1.8G for the 1st half and then re-loaded it into a Leica M6TTL with a 35mm 1.4 Aspheric/FLE for the 2nd half. I always compare any slide film to Kodachrome since I shot a lot of it and love the dense blacks even with the faster KL-200 version.

So after I looked through the whole roll, I was quite pleased with sharpness vs grain and certainly the color which was a nice mix of saturated when shot that way and good all round in mixed light.

But the very first thing I noticed in the first slide is how hollow the DMAX is, meaning it almost looks fogged compared to the deep rich black you find in Fuji's 50 & 100 speeds chromes and any version of Kodachrome.

Is a lighter DMAX a characteristic of this particular film and if not, could this be due to age ( still within date ) or processing?

I love everything I see so far, but for the project I have coming up that I want to use the film on ( Cuba ), I was hoping for better DMAX than I got this time around.

I don't have an issue with 400x. Although they do become greyish when the film is pushed and I often shoot it at EI1600

I think overall the film looks good, but the DMAX is kind of weak sauce, it looks pushed so I am wondering about sending it off to another lab or just doing it my self on my CPP3.

I'd like to hear more input on it in terms of DMAX compared to other slide films, anyone run into weak DMAX with it, etc....