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This is a TN Film panel and absolutely designed for gamers, so it’s unlikely you’d want to be doing any colour critical work on it anyway, but we would have liked to have seen a ~100% sRGB gamut in this day and age on any screen. Keep in mind also that this screen would give you no support for wider colour gamut content which is increasingly common nowadays (including HDR content) so you’re limited to a more traditional ~sRGB standard gamut here. That also means that you cannot work with wider colour spaces like Adobe RGB (photography) or DCI-P3 (HDR content creation) if you wanted to, although as we say this isn’t a screen aimed at those uses at all. 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. The setup in this mode was far better than FPS 1. Gamma was now very close to 2.2 across the greyscale which was great news. While some grey shades were still a bit too cool (6% deviance average across the greyscale) they were closer to our 6500K target than the FPS 1 mode, and we also had a more accurate white point with only 3% deviance, measured at 6678K. This leads to a much more accurate greyscale with 1.5 dE average, and also an improved contrast ratio too at 1010:1 which was very good for a TN Film panel. 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.
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. 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. We weren’t able to take response time measurements during the demo we had of the Corsair screen, but we know that being an OLED panel the actual pixel response times should be <1ms G2G consistently, with no overshoot. The interesting thing here is that this is a 240Hz OLED panel, but because of those super-fast near-instant OLED response times the real-world perceived motion clarity is very similar to the 360Hz LCD screens we’re talking about here. Generally an OLED has a 1.5 to 1 ratio in motion clarity to a good LCD (i.e. 240Hz OLED x 1.5 = 360Hz LCD). We measure the screen at default settings (with all ICC profiles deactivated and factory settings used), and any other modes that are of interest such as sRGB emulation presets. We then calibrate and profile the screen before re-measuring the calibrated state. Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD October 25, 2023 The large 49″ super ultrawide QD-OLED screen from Asus, with a 5120 x 1440 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate and 1000 nits peak brightness specAs for power consumption, the XL2566K does a great job. Although it's not the most efficient monitor, it's among the top half of contenders, consuming only 24W of power after calibration. The TN Film panel is not as well suited for general and office uses as competing IPS panels. The viewing angles are the main challenge, with the image showing noticeable changes in gamma and colour tone as you move viewing position. There’s characteristic darkening of the image when viewed from below, and overall the restrictive viewing angles impact viewing experience compared with IPS panels. If you’re using it from a head on viewing position it’s fine really, but the image is not as stable and consistent as other panel technologies.
In the Blur Busters UFO Test, with DyAc+ disabled and compared to other monitors at 360Hz, there isn't much difference between the XL2566K and PG27AQN. They both look very similar, which isn't surprising given their similar response testing data. The LG 27GR95QE, with its 240Hz OLED, is also competitive, albeit not quite as good. The faster response times somewhat compensate for the lower refresh rate, but without strobing enabled, it's difficult to declare a winner, particularly between the 360Hz LCDs.Let us tell you why the BenQ ZOWIE XL2566K is the monitor to get if you are serious about your play: DyAc+ Motion Blur Reduction Technology is a Game Changer 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. In practice you can see the impact of these slower changes from light to dark shades for the 360Hz IPS panel on the pursuit camera images, where you get some pale smearing on the moving UFO. In contrast, on the BenQ the outline of the UFO was much sharper and clearer and you don’t get this pale smearing. That’s the main visual difference in practice between the two screens, and something that older G2G measurements alone cannot reflect fully. On the top of the stand, you’ll find a carrying handle. That’s yet another example of ZOWIE thinking about the small things. For regular users, who just plant their monitor on their desk and don’t move it for years, this is inconsequential, but for gamers who are often traveling to LAN events or playing in team houses and what not, things like the handle and the stand markings can make life a lot easier.
Calibration and profiling can produce very good results if you have a suitable calibration device and software. This was profiled to 2.2 gamma, 6500k colour temp and to the sRGB colour space. You can see the recommended OSD settings above and our calibrated ICC profilefor this display is available now for our Patreon supportersand will be added to our main database in the coming months. General and Office 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.Additional performance improvements can be achieved through full calibration, and the XL2566K is quite easy to calibrate with excellent results. Professional gamers probably won't want to go through this process, as tinkering with contrast and color settings is likely the best way to game, but it's reassuring to know that accuracy is possible, even on a monitor like this.
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDM April 13, 2023 The new 27″ 1440p OLED monitor from Asus with 240Hz refresh rate, a custom heatsink and 1000 nits HDR brightness We’ve also included photos in the customizable mode at a setting of 12, which we found to be about as high as you could push things before the overshoot became visible. You can see the darker trail is now eliminated behind the yellow section but with the response times now being a bit slower, the image isn’t quite as crisp and has a little more smearing overall. In either setting though you do get excellent motion clarity from the super-fast response times combined with the high 360Hz refresh rate. There are small improvements in motion clarity relative to 240Hz, which is already very fast, but if we’re talking about the absolute fastest panels current available, supporting the highest frame rate output, this makes a difference to competitive and serious gamers. Gaming Comparisons We have also provided some comparisons of the motion clarity in the DyAc+ mode compared with other gaming screens and their respective motion blur reduction modes. With the high 360Hz refresh rate, super-fast TN Film panel, and well implemented strobing mode, the BenQ delivered the clearest and sharpest images in these tests. Even in terms of response time, the ZOWIE XL2566K keeps the competition firmly behind. With the AMA set to ‘Premium’, the XL2566K measured a GTG response time of just 1.8ms, while the ViewSonic XG2431 (with AMA set to Ultra Fast) measured a GTG average of 3.7ms, completely busting the claim that an IPS panel is as fast as a TN panel. XL Setting to Share Makes Fine Tuning Settings for Games Easy The maximum brightness of 353 nits peak is average, but as mentioned earlier, it's commendable to see that strobed brightness is also high, at 330 nits. If desired, you can run this display at 42 nits, though this might not be the optimal configuration for professional gaming.
Specifications
The stand offers a full range of ergonomic adjustments with tilt, height, swivel and rotate available. All are pretty smooth and easy to use and offer a good range of adjustments.
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