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The XG2536 is a very straightforward gaming monitor from a color standpoint. It doesn’t have a wide gamut so its story can be told with a single color mode, Game Custom. It measures well out of the box and improves slightly with calibration.
Grayscale and Gamma Tracking
Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.
The XG2536’s default chart shows a slight cool tone that’s not visible to the naked eye. With errors all below the 3dE threshold, you won’t see a problem here. Gamma rides around the 2.2 reference with a slight dip at 90% brightness. This value is too light, but the error is quite small.
Calibration tightens up grayscale tracking to where only the 10% step is above 1dE. Gamma remains the same which is visually perfect. This is excellent performance.
Comparisons
With a default grayscale error of 1.92dE, the XG2536 can be enjoyed without calibration. You won’t see any grayscale errors in test patterns or real-world content. Calibration makes a tiny improvement that is mostly detectable by the meter rather than the human eye. Adjustment puts it in a tie for first with the R27fc-30 at 0.62dE.
Gamma tracks extremely well with a 0.20 range of values and a 0% deviation from 2.2. It is on par with the other screens except for the Alienware which is pretty much perfect in this test.
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.
The XG2536 has a single color gamut which I would call sRGB+. It has a little bonus blue and green but not enough to cause visible inaccuracy. In the default chart, you can see slight hue errors in the magenta and yellow secondaries. These are mitigated with a grayscale calibration. You can also see a bit of general oversaturation. This serves to make color nice and vivid without straying too far off the mark.
Comparisons
Calibration reduces the XG2536’s color gamut error from 2.35 to 1.82dE, a very tiny amount. Adjustment is strictly optional; the monitor looks great right out of the box.
In the gamut volume test, the lack of DCI-P3 becomes evident. Though wide gamuts aren’t common in the speedy monitor genre, the other screens are more colorful in their native states.
Test Takeaway: The XG2536 has very accurate color that is achieved right out of the box, no calibration needed. It has a bit less gamut volume than the competition but still looks bright and vibrant. There are more colorful displays available, but they won’t be as quick or responsive.
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