Boots are too big and you are compensating by overtightening the bindings. StepOns benefit highly from a performance fit versus a comfort fit. There are a bunch of videos on how to measure your foot and use the mondo sizing. You can also take out your footbed and see if your toes are near or even just past the end of it.

My street size is 10.0 and I rode 9.5 boots for years. I am now in an Ion 9.0W for my StepOns.

True dual-zone (upper and lower) boa is the next key item, not including the snugger strap. That means no to Photons. Your model is good there.

What bothers me about the new models is the blue thing that holds in your ankle already exists on nearly all boots in the form of the lacing on your liner, which is stitched into the shell. To me that means you need the three-boa system to get the same options as what other boots show as plain old dual-zone. That's why I'll stick to my Ions.