Monoprice CrystalPro 28-Inch 4K Monitor Review

Results: Grayscale Tracking And Gamma Response

Our grayscale and gamma tests are described in detail here.

A budget monitor that registers an out-of-box result this good is rare. Aside from a little too much green and red at 100-percent brightness, the Monoprice has no visible error. That’s mainly due to the Innolux part, which shows a similar result in all the brands we’ve tested so far. The chart shows the Normal color temp mode.

Usually when a display has an sRGB mode, it’s pretty close to correct. But this one takes a step downward in accuracy. Now you can see a slight green tint across the board. It’s not a grievous error, however, Normal is definitely the better choice if you don’t calibrate.

These are the numbers you'd expect from an expensive professional monitor. Obviously, Monoprice didn't cut corners in the engineering department with its Ultra HD flagship.

Here is our comparison group:

A grayscale error of 2.13dE is perfectly acceptable for any screen in our opinion. Looking at the entire group, this is one area where all the screens are pretty much equal. None of them are begging for a calibration and they’ll all look just fine without one.

OK now we’re seriously impressed. Remember that all of the displays in this chart use the same panel. Obviously, that doesn’t mean the end products are created equal.

The Asus and Philips screens don't seem to be taking full advantage of the panel’s capabilities. A result of .78dE is what we’d expect from a professional screen costing at least twice as much.

Gamma Response

We found a little weakness in our gamma tests. Without calibration, there is a gradual slide all the way up the brightness scale. It robs image depth because much of the detail is too bright. Unfortunately, the gamma presets only move the tracking up and down. The trace’s shape looks the same at all settings.

Calibration improves the gamma response significantly. Now there is only a minimal error at the 90-percent mark. If you want an overall darker look, you can select the 2.4 gamma preset, though it’s a fairly coarse adjustment. In our tests, the best numbers come from the 2.2 option.

Here is our comparison group again:

None of these displays have any serious gamma tracking problems. A fifth-place finish in this group is not a bad thing, though there is a little room for improvement from Monoprice and Planar.

We calculate gamma deviation by expressing the difference from 2.2 as a percentage.

If the Monoprice had a 2.3 gamma option, the result would likely be better. Our measured average is 2.13, translating to a 3.18-percent deviation. The variance is toward the light side, and we’d prefer to see it a little too dark instead. This is extreme nit-picking, however. We really like the look of the CrystalPro 4K a lot.