New Epson ET-8550 worse than cheap HP?

[mitsely]

I just bought a new Epson ET-8550. It has great photo printing, but I bought it for two-sided booklet proofing on plain paper, which is worse than an HP ENVY Photo 7855 I bought for $150 in 2020.

The main problem is ink bleed on and through the paper:

1. The HP prints crisp text without bleed around the characters. The text and images do not show through the paper from the other side.
2. Text from the Epson ET-8550 bleeds around the characters.
3. Both text and images on the Epson are very visible through the paper from the other side, particularly the black areas of the images.

Any suggestions of what I can do, short of returning the Epson? Is it possible to switch off whichever black is showing through the paper? I could live with the bleeding.

Many thanks!