This was the issue! Clearly it's something to do with the HDRI. Maybe it's refracting darker values from the IBL or something, but I changed the image to a brighter one and got very different results. It also really shows off the details much better. Thank you both for the replies!
Think this usually is the HDRI, people search for "free" HDRI's and use one that works for their needs, i found this to fix a few things i dislike with certain "appearances". Just tossing out another possible solution to try.The curve & settings section might help also, lot of settings to play with (under camera), I'd…