The XL2566K builds on what has made its predecessors great, and that can be taken quite literally in some cases. The exterior and design is the exact same as that of the XL2546K, but I think that that’s a plus. ‘Never change a winning team,’ they say, and if you ask me the modern XL line of monitors have a design that’s pretty hard to beat. I’ll speak more about the build quality and design in the next section, but I love the fact that they haven’t made any unnecessary changes here. Catch every detail of motion and enjoy the most fluid gameplay by ZOWIE native TN 360Hz refresh rate monitor, which ensures a flawless view of fast-motion consistently. I sadly don’t have the video equipment to show you any convincing footage of the XL2566K compared to other 360Hz monitors, but I did spend a great deal of time comparing it to IPS monitors and there’s no denying that the XL2566K is smoother. This wasn’t only evident when looking at the panels in ‘laboratory-like’ conditions (such as the UFO test, or viewing slow motion footage of the panels) but also when playing games. XL2566K is the flagship model that offers competitive gamers optimized smoothness and fast response, as well as its many customizable features that will help amateurs and pros alike to perform to the best of their best abilities. With the exclusive DyAc?™ technology on top of 360Hz refresh rate on a TN panel, XL2566K provides an overall clearer motion clarity than the market's offerings in its class. At real world speeds, the image is faster, sharper and more clear than anything else on the market. It might not be by much, but, and we’ll labour the point, major championships can be decided by less. If you play FPS games, you need the fastest, clearest screen to perform to your potential and this is it.

As I said earlier, the XL2566K looks exactly the same as its predecessor, the XL2546K. For me, that’s a huge plus, as I’m of the opinion that ZOWIE pretty much nailed it on that front. One thing that I love about the monitor is that it has such a small footprint. The panel itself isn’t the thinnest or sleekest, but the stand has a very small footprint, especially when compared to some other gaming-focused monitors out there. I seriously don’t get the need for monitor stands with the wingspan of a bald eagle; it looks impressive, but it’s infuriating how much space some monitors take up on your desk. That’s not the case with the XL2566K. The base measures a mere 18×25 centimeters, and while the stand itself expands outwards a tiny bit it’s not much more than a centimeter or two, making this a very compact monitor indeed. The stand also has a bunch of markings applied to it in all the relevant positions so that you can mark down your ultimate panel position in case you’re sharing the monitor with other people. This also comes in handy if you want to curve the monitor a bit for those lounge sessions where you’re slouched down in your chair when watching some Netflix, for example. You might not make use of those markings at all, but it’s cool to see that they’re there, as it shows how ZOWIE is really thinking about all the little things with this product. It all amounts to the XL2566K being the best monitor for seeing even the smallest, most-rapidly moving objects in relief that’s sharper than on any rival’s screen. The difference may be tiny... but tournaments have been decided by less. Monitor base is designed to take up less space while maintaining the same stability. This allows gamers more space in their setup for in-game movements and allows them the flexibility to make adjustments and play comfortably.

Still, the XL2566K is an extremely impressive gaming monitor, and if you’re looking for the fastest, most responsive monitor out there at this point in time then this is it. If you are a competitive gamer who takes their game extremely seriously and you want to get the fastest and smoothest gaming monitor to help you be the best player you can be, then you have to get the ZOWIE XL2566K right now. If you are anything other than the aforementioned gamer, it’s best to take your time and really consider what you want out of a monitor. A TN panel, no matter how good it is, is never going to live up to a good IPS panel when it comes to the overall image quality, and that’s something that you should take into account when considering this monitor. This is a monitor that’s geared towards esports, and nothing else. If you’re someone who plays a game or two of VALORANT every week and uses their monitor for content consumption or single player games, this is notthe monitor for you. Everything about this product is geared towards tryhard (I use that affectionately) competitive gamers, and those people don’t really care for visuals all that much.

DyAc?™ on XL2566K makes vigorous in-game actions such as spraying more clear than DyAc?™ on XL2546K. The clarity helps gamers see the position of the enemy during fast movements or fast moving targets more easily and notice the bullet trajectory more clearly which can help with recoil control and aim.Do note that this monitor doesn’t have built in speakers. I have absolutely no problem with this whatsoever, as this monitor is aimed at serious competitive gamers, and no serious competitive gamer is going to be using monitor speakers for gaming, but it’s handy to know regardless. Image Quality and Settings Some settings can be adjusted to suit individual preferences and this includes the AMA (pixel overdrive) setting. Indeed, the XL2566K comes with presets labelled Premium, High and Off, along with a 30-step customizable slider. Premium achieves a fast response time but inverse ghosting is noticeable. High offers a better blend and will be used by many players. However, it’s so easy to adjust the overdrive settings and see instant results (there’s no change-related lag) that tweaking everything is recommended. We found settings between 11-18 represented a sweet spot where response time and inverse ghosting coexisted well, before causing issues. This is what settings like Overdrive adjust – BenQ calls it Advanced Motion Acceleration (AMA). But, if you apply too-little or too-much charge you can get ghosting (smeary ghost images trailing on-screen objects) or inverse ghosting and overshoot (blur that leads on-screen objects and edges that continue to move after an object has stopped), or both. Compared to typical IPS 360Hz displays, DyAc?™ on a TN 360Hz panel provides clearer and sharper outlines of overall moving images, helping you focus and have less distractions from the unwanted afterimage of the motions in-game.

All of that comes at a cost, though. Reaching 360+ frames per secondin any game is no easy feat, and there are some games that won’t reliably reach those frames no matter how powerful your PC is. And your PC better be powerful. ZOWIE recommends at least an RTX 30 series (or RX6000 series) graphics card if you’re planning on buying this monitor. I wouldn’t go thatfar personally (in games like CS:GO you can get a whole lot frames even with slightly lower tier GPUs, as it’s mostly CPU-bound) but let it be clear: you need a beefy PC if you want to make full use of this panel. It’s perhaps a very specific example, but I noticed that spraying in CS:GO just felt a lot smoother and clearer on the XL2566K when compared to IPS panels. In case you’re not familiar; spraying in CS:GO violently shakes your screen, and that can cause a blurry mess if your display isn’t up to par. I’m not saying that the two IPS panels I compared it to made spraying a blurry mess, but I did definitely notice a difference.

Although you need a high frame rate camera to really see it in detail, the Zowie XL2566K’s motion performance in competitive-level FPS games is noticeably sharper than 360Hz IPS screens. For human beings in real-time, the result is having a smidge smoother and sharper imagery where even small-moving objects are rendered that bit clearer. The difference is miniscule, but major world championships have been decided by less.