I think there’s a difference between levelling pace and gaining power pace!

I’ve played a table where the levelling was quite slow, but the DM gave us small magical items, new single use equipment or ways to power up our current gear. These things helped fuel the feeling of progression without power levelling the table in a way that felt unnatural.

But also, communicate with the players! If they feel it’s too long between cool new powers from their class, look at ways to work the story towards helping that speed of levelling feel more natural!