The DR of modern the dslr I don't see as a bonus, good in the shadows, bloody lawful with highlights or near highlights.
This simply means that the camera is overexposing, which unfortunately is a hazard with the common practice of exposure metering and analog gain levels that place metered midtones at around 12% of maximum raw level.
There is a simple solution: for example, to buy one stop of highlight headroom protection with one stop of that surplus shadow handling excellence:
1. when there is enough light to use base ISO speed, reduce the exposure by one stop
2. in lower light, where a higher ISO speed is needed, keep exposure (aperture and shutter speed) the same, but reduce that ISO setting by one stop
(Note that either of these can be achieved with -1 exposure compensation in A, S, or P mode).
3. in either case, compensate with a +1 levels adjustment in raw conversion (or just use auto-levels as a starting point.)
In fact some cameras [like the Olympus EM5] do this more or less as default, producing raw files with four or more stops between typical mid-tone placement and maximum raw level. (They are the cameras whose DXO measured sensitivity (what DXO calls "ISO speed") is significantly lower than the camera's ISO speed setting.)