Nixeus VUE27D Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen on December 23, 2013 8:00 AM ESTWith no adjustment beyond brightness, and only a single input, it is easy to get results from the VUE27D that should be repeatable for everyone. For all of this testing I use CalMAN 5.1.2 with an i1Pro spectrometer and a C6 colorimeter that I profile from the i1Pro. Our targets are 200 cd/m^2 of light output, a gamma of 2.2, and the sRGB color gamut.
The initial grayscale is very lacking in blue out of the box. The color temperature of 6032 is well below the target of 6504, which provides the warm, reddish tint of the grayscale. The overall gamma of 2.19 is very close to 2.2 but it isn’t flat.
Colors also have a red/green push with the CIE chart showing a drift towards that side of the chart. The color errors are certainly visible especially with shades of cyan that have a greenish tint to them. The average errors for saturations and the color checker are relatively modest with skin tones and blue/cyan shades causing the largest errors. With no other controls available this is the performance most people should expect to see.
|
Pre-Calibration |
Post-Calibration, 200 cd/m^2 |
Post-Calibration, 80 cd/m^2 |
|
| White Level (cd/m^2) | 200.5 | 203.23 | 80.06 |
| Black Level (cd/m^2) | 0.1992 | 0.2274 | 0.1163 |
| Contrast Ratio | 1007:1 | 894:1 | 688:1 |
| Gamma (Average) | 2.1921 | 2.1958 | 2.4121 |
| Color Temperature | 6032K | 6406K | 6393K |
| Grayscale dE2000 | 5.9671 | 1.2165 | 0.7413 |
| Color Checker dE2000 | 4.2532 | 1.2528 | 1.0417 |
| Saturations dE2000 | 3.8643 | 1.2017 | 0.9421 |
Calibrating with CalMAN v5.2.0 removes these issues. We have a slight color shift in the grayscale but nothing bad at all. Our gamma becomes neutral and the contrast ratio falls a bit from 1000:1 to 900:1 but is still good for IPS. Color errors are almost completely corrected for and no samples at all pass the dE2000 level of 3.0 that people consider visible.
Calibrating for 80 cd/m2 of light and the sRGB gamma curve produces similar results. The Contrast ratio is worse as the backlight does not go low enough to hit this target easily. The grayscale and gamma are both very good and the colors are also far improved. If you have the ability to calibrate the VUE27D it has the potential to produce very accurate images.
The most recent release of CalMAN also adds the ability to test color accuracy for ICC aware applications. All the other tests involve just modifying the video card or monitor LUT, so we see how every application will work. If you are using Photoshop or other color critical work, your application is almost certainly ICC aware and can use profiles to be even more accurate.
For those applications the VUE27D can produce numbers better than anything I’ve seen to date. This is also the first monitor tested to use this ICC ability so there is nothing to compare it to. However if you are someone that can calibrate their display to get an ICC profile, and who uses ICC aware applications, the VUE27D will look virtually flawless.
If you don’t have any calibration hardware or software, the VUE27D is pretty decent out of the box. Skin tones and oceans will have a bit of a tint to them, but not a giant one. If you can calibrate it, then you’ll get fantastic results from all applications, ICC aware or not.
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cheinonen - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
That joint looks like it should tilt, but I just went and tested again and it does not tilt. The specs say tilt, which means perhaps mine is too tight as shipped, but I cannot get it to tilt when I try. I'll update the text to reflect this.DiHydro - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
Could you also update the spec chart? I also see that on the manufacturer spec page for the monitor it says tilt.menting - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
Chris, can you comment if this model has PWM dimming?Thanks!
Krause - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
How is the Refresh Rate and overclockability? The main reason people were importing these 27 inch monitors from South Korea was that the refresh rates weren't locked and would usually overclock 95hz+ no problem.willxiv - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
I have no problem with the product images. They show what I want to know about the product (the physical features).Perfectly rendered professional product images lend no more credence to a monitor than crappy images. I'm here to read a review, not look at gorgeous photos of a cheap monitor.
Thanks for the review, Chris.
SirZ - Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - link
Lack of attention to detail in the photography suggests a lack of attention where things matter (ie the meat of the article.) Meticulous attention to detail produces a professional grade appearance, which enhances the inherent trust of credibility the reader has in the author. This is why people don't go to (white collar) job interviews with sweatpants and T-shirts with pizza stains on them. The OP said it perfectly.Wall Street - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
Chris,Can you please please please request review samples for some faster monitors? I enjoy reading monitor reviews and I get they you probably like photography and care about color accuracy and viewing angles. I don't. It would be great if you could add the ASUS VG248QE (with or without g-sync), the Eizo Foris FG2421 and the BenQ XL2420Z to your lag database. For gamers who play things like Quake Live, Streetfighter or Couterstrike, 20+ ms lag just doesn't cut it.
wurizen - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link
what's up with these ugly ips monitor reviews lately?ZeDestructor - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - link
Demand. Lots of people want to know how the cheap Korean Catleap/Yamasaki/QNix etc perform. In this case, its particularly interesting to see a no-ISP, DisplayPort-only screen go through the test and give excellent results.SunLord - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - link
Are there any good looking monitor outside of maybe apple if you like white anyways?They make a slightly better and more use able version of this monitor the Nixeus Vue NX-VUE27 and it looks to be the same screen for it's only $50 more on newegg plus you get dvi and hdmi