Yes, that is my opinion but I may be wrong as I haven’t used 3Dsmax in a long time.
I would say the best test is : do you see the same thing in Vray and Fusion ? if the answer is ‘yes’, then your workflow is good.
You can send me an exr privately if you want me to test it.
Funny thing, have you seen this topic on the forum ? It looks very similar to your question.
Chris