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The FO27Q2 supports HDR10 content with an automatic switch and four additional picture modes. It isn’t the brightest OLED I’ve seen but it hangs with the competition and for my office environment, is more than bright enough.
HDR Brightness and Contrast
OLED brightness is a bit variable because when APL Stabilize or Variable Brightness is engaged, the pattern window size makes a difference. I always use 25% to keep tests consistent. The FO27Q2 hits 461 nits and Aorus claims 1,000 nits for a 3% window. My experience leads me not to doubt this. There is a lot of dynamic punch here with bright highlights and deep shadows rich with detail. Another nice bit is that you can control the APL Stabilize in all the HDR modes to find your preferred look. Three of the modes also enable brightness, contrast and level controls if you want to tweak your HDR further. Few monitors offer this level of flexibility.
Grayscale, EOTF and Color
The default HDR mode, called appropriately “HDR”, is the most accurate of the four. It has visually perfect grayscale tracking and an EOTF that rides close to the reference. Shadows and lower steps are a tad dark but not enough to hide fine detail. There is a slight rise above reference in the mid-tones up to the tone-map transition at 65% brightness. This is the correct value given the measured white level.
In the HDR color tests, the FO27Q2 takes advantage of its large gamut to punch up the vivid factor for all three primaries. Red is especially bold with linear tracking that keeps it from going too far astray of its targets. It’s great to see more than full coverage of green which is a color most LCDs can’t fully render in the DCI-P3 color space. In the BT.2020 test, we see the same slight but linear oversaturation with red covering just over 90%, green at 80% and a little off hue, and blue just over 95%.
Test Takeaway: The FO27Q2 defines the genre for HDR monitors. Though there are brighter models available, there are few that also offer this level of accuracy. It also adds flexibility with three variable brightness options and three modes that allow further adjustment. It truly doesn’t get better than this.
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Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.
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Zforgetaboutit The first review page contains "stunning" 6 times. Give it a rest, else it causes me to doubt your sincerity somewhat.Reply -
UnforcedERROR I find it strange this review was posted after the Envia 27M2N8500 review. Primarily my issue with this is that the Envia has lower input lag than the Auros FO27Q2, which you note in its review. I think this could be confusing to readers and should be noted somewhere.Reply -
santis1982 I bought this monitor a couple of weeks ago. I didn´t see mentioned that there is a firmware and driver update that enables DisplayHDR True Black 1000, actually reaches 1040nits in mine. On the reviewer´s defense, I can´t find a better adjective than stunning on OLEDs screens. The only drawback on this particular monitor is that it is glossy and really reflects any ambient light and blacks can come as purple if it isn´t in a dark room.Reply -
santis1982 Reply
TBH I don´t know.. info is mixed.. Some say the Q2 240Hz is gen2 and the Q3 360Hz is gen3.. They have the same OLED Care technology and both are Samsung panels so I´m not sure.user27943284 said:Is it a gen 2 or 3 qd oled panel?