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Conclusion

I began this review by discussing the precision that today’s OLED monitors are capable of. The screens I’ve seen so far in the past year have been almost universally excellent, with accurate and saturated color, tremendous contrast, superior gaming performance, and premium build quality. The Dough Spectrum Black 27 is the display that finally led me to the one term that describes them all: precise.

Dough Spectrum Black — (Image credit: Dough)

To be fair, the Spectrum Black 27 is a big ask in price. You can get an equally capable 27-inch QHD 240 Hz OLED monitor like Acer’s X27U for around $800. The Dough is $1,198 with Gorilla Glass and a stand. But the Gorilla Glass is better than what’s found on other OLEDs. It enhances black and is optically superior. It resists fingerprints and reflections with ease and ups the build quality quotient.

Image-wise, the Spectrum Black 27 has all the same attributes as its competition. It’s perfectly accurate out of the box and does not require calibration. It has a usable sRGB mode. It nails HDR with spot-on color and a true 1,000-nit peak. It also has more inputs and USB options than any other OLED I’ve seen with four total USB-C jacks, HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4. The KVM possibilities here are vast.

My only complaint concerns the color gamut. Quantum Dots have invaded the OLED segment, so every premium display should have this technology. It provides DCI-P3 coverage exceeding 100%, and that is where the Spectrum Black 27 is a bit behind its rivals. Color is extremely accurate and covers 94% of DCI-P3. But if you want the most color possible, MSI’s MPG271QRX brushes the underside of 110%.

I still think the Spectrum Black 27 is worth the price. It delivers a stunning image and stellar gaming performance. It has every option and adjustment there is and sports some of the best build quality and styling I’ve yet seen. If you have the budget for a premium OLED gaming monitor, it should certainly be on your watchlist.

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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.