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Like all Asus gaming monitors, the XG27AQDPG ships in its Racing mode, which is very close to the mark. There is no need for calibration, but all the means necessary to do it are provided.
Grayscale and Gamma Tracking
Default grayscale tracking is a tad red, but the errors don’t crack the 3dE line, the visible threshold, until 100% brightness, and then only just. This is an excellent first run with gamma that’s close to perfect. Calibration tightens it up nicely with all errors now below 1dE, except for 100% which is just over 2dE. Gamma is unchanged.
The XG27AQDPG has an sRGB Cal picture mode, but I preferred to leave it in Racing and change the gamut in the Color Space menu. This gives you the same grayscale tracking as the default and you can calibrate for a small improvement if you wish. Gamma runs a tad light above 60% brightness, but that is a barely noticeable error. This is excellent performance.
Comparisons
OLED monitors remain in a premium category, so they perform well out of the box with just a few exceptions. I recommend calibrating the bottom three screens, but the top three can be enjoyed without tweaking. The XG27AQDPG’s 2.12dE score is very good.
Calibration levels the playing field to where all the monitors become identical in appearance. You won’t be able to discern the LG from the Alienware in a direct comparison, and the XG27AQDPG won’t stand out either. This is excellent performance.
Gamma tracking is a tad better than average with a tight 0.11 range of values and just 0.9% deviation from 2.2. The actual value is 2.18. Accurate gamma tracking is very important and the XG27AQDPG achieves it.
Color Gamut Accuracy
Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
Color saturation is what you buy a Quantum Dot monitor for and the XG27AQDPG has plenty. It completely fills the green and blue primaries and exceeds the red targets by a small amount. The progression is linear, which maintains good balance. Red is not overemphasized in practice. The magenta hue error goes away with calibration, taking the error even further below the visible point. This is a seriously colorful and color accurate monitor.
The sRGB mode shows similar tracking with slight red oversaturation and a magenta hue error. If you stick with Racing and change the gamut selection in the Color Space menu, you can tweak this to perfection. Even without adjustment, the average 1.68dE error is low enough to qualify the XG27AQDPG as a professional display.
Comparisons
OLEDs are colorful and accurate, whether you have Quantum Dots or not. The XG27AQDPG sits near the top of this group with a 1.38dE gamut score. It doesn’t get much better than that. There’s plenty of color volume too, though it’s a tad behind the top three. It’d hard to see a 4% difference, but if you look very closely, you might see just a tad more saturation from the Samsung, Alienware and Philips. The XG27AQDPG is well ahead of its non-QD competition, and its nearly 100% coverage of sRGB is ideal.
Test Takeaway: The XG27AQDPG has excellent accuracy and performance with visually perfect color out of the box and a slight improvement available from calibration. It has a huge gamut volume, which makes it great for gaming and entertainment. No one will think a monitor is too colorful. It is well suited for work, play and professional applications in equal measures.
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