Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.
The XG2431 sports excellent HDR picture quality, better than its SDR performance both visually and measured. Switching is automatic for HDR10 content, and there is effective dynamic contrast to broaden dynamic range.
HDR Brightness and Contrast
The XG2431 earns a DisplayHDR 400 certification, and my sample exceeded that with over 574 nits peak for a best-in-class finish. It further impressed with a very low 0.1119-nit black level taking the HDR contrast ratio to over 5133:1, second only to the MSI premium screen. For around $300, it doesn’t get much better. Most inexpensive monitors merely support HDR without exploiting it. The XG2431 is committed to excellent HDR image quality.
Grayscale, EOTF and Color
In the HDR color tests, the XG2431 showed a slight blue error in the grayscale run and near-perfect adherence to the EOTF reference with a tone-map transition point at 68%. While it would be nice to have RGB controls for HDR to make this even better, I can’t complain; the image looks great.
Nearly all HDR content is mastered in the DCI-P3 or Rec.2020 color spaces. Since the XG2531 is an sRGB panel, it must perform a bit of magic to enhance color. It does this by over-saturating the inner targets in a linear fashion. The over-saturation builds until the panel runs out of color, at which point, the red and green hues are adjusted to give a bit more punch. In practice, it works. HDR color looks more saturated than SDR even though there isn’t a wide gamut. The XG2431 is one of the better HDR monitors I’ve seen and one of the best for the money.
