In the television world, glossy screens are common, especially in premium models. The optical advantages are that you can see the pixels more clearly, so contrast seems greater, and color seems more saturated. And image detail is cleaner and sharper. It is true that the room must be considered when installing a glossy display. Lamps, overhead fixtures and sunny windows can have a deleterious effect on that stunning picture. But if you have the right conditions, a glossy screen provides a significant improvement.
Dough, formerly Eve Devices, impressed me with its original Spectrum 4K display last year. Not only does it have a stunning image, but its video processing is second to none. Though it hits the same 144 Hz as other 4K screens, the superb overdrive makes it seem to be running at a higher frame rate.
The Spectrum Glossy delivers the best gaming performance I’ve seen from any 4K monitor. Until we see higher refresh rates, and video cards capable of exploiting them (perhaps with the RTX 4090), 120fps is the practical limit for now. Ideally, a monitor’s overdrive must be precise and accurate. It can’t over or undershoot the mark. The Spectrum Glossy not only includes a preset that’s near-perfect, but it also lets you tweak a fine-resolution slider to make it even better.
It also has the best backlight strobe feature I’ve ever seen. Very few monitors present a blur-reduction option that I actually want to use. The Spectrum Glossy is one of those few. Since I can precisely control the pulse width and phase, I can eliminate the artifacts typically associated with this technology, namely phasing and a dim picture.
My only complaint about the Spectrum Glossy was its need for calibration. The Matte version I reviewed previously was visually perfect out of the box. But the Glossy needed some adjustment to its RGB sliders. For me, this is a minor issue that is easily offset by its mesmerizing image and performance.
If you want to play at 4K resolution, the Dough Spectrum Glossy is easily the best choice if you weigh video processing equally with image quality. There are a few more expensive screens that are brighter and have larger color gamuts, but nothing can touch the Spectrum’s video processing. As a gaming monitor, it has no true equal.
That said, it's worth pointing out that the company has had problems in the past (back when it was called Eve) shipping products to buyers in a reasonable time frame. But as of this writing, the product page for the Spectrum claims the an estimated time of October 2022 and comes with a 14-day "risk-free trial."
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