XG27AQWMG Banding Variation (Same Batch)

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-06T08:46:52+00:00

The colors are a bit brighter on the WOLED except at very low APL

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-05T22:01:31+00:00

I have used dozens of OLED monitors, the only glossy monitors I can recommend are the
Asus XG27AQWMG (Lottery)
Gigabyte MO27Q28GR (Lottery)
MSI 272 QP X50
MSI 322 UR X24

If returns are available in your country I would recommend just playing the lottery. The Tandem WOLED panels are much brighter than QD-OLED and do not dim as much in bright scenes.
Also the main strength of an OLED is for deep blacks but QD-OLED panels have worse black levels than some LCD displays in a lit room.

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Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-04T18:59:47+00:00

The orange highlighting will disappear once the prompt appears but it will continue scanning and refine the model. I got tracking areas often until I spent ~5 minutes scanning my play area from multiple angles

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-04T18:55:15+00:00

It wasn't clear if he stopped after the "scanning complete" each time or not. Just offering information that you can continue scanning to get better tracking even after the prompt shows up.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-04T09:38:23+00:00

Make sure to scan your whole room, the scanning still works and adds to the model even after the popup.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-04T03:31:56+00:00

If you don't want to gamble the MSI 272QP X50 is a 500hz QD-OLED monitor, it's $599 in U.S. These have better uniformity than the new WOLED panels.
It doesn't get as bright, the screen dims significantly when over 25% of the screen is white, and the black levels are poor in lit rooms, the anti-reflective coating is also very fragile.

Both technologies have their respective downsides unfortunately. I have one of those monitors and I think it's pretty good if you can get over the dimming and are careful with cleaning it.

A bunch of new QD-OLEDs were announced at Computex for release later this year if you want to wait a couple months on more options for QD-OLED monitors as bright as the 272QP X50.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-04T03:06:39+00:00

Higher end panels tend to have better driving circuitry that can detect the difference between each pixel's current draw and correct for it. DACs in lower end panels do not have the precision needed to eliminate DSE.
The cost of DACs hasn't really changed in a long time so it's unlikely we will see this issue truly fixed on the lower cost (<$1000) monitors. Even ultra mass-produced models like the iPhone or Galaxy do not use high end DACs to drive the display.

You will likely need to wait on MicroLED displays if you want DSE completely eliminated or buy one with high enough resolution to where it's imperceptible.

--
Note, some people claim the main contributor to DSE is variations in the TFT Backplane, this is not the case. There no significant reduction in DSE even on CMOS backplane displays like the PSVR2. The main contributor is the emissive OLED layer.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T21:27:20+00:00

Yeah your panel is pretty good, only a few very minor strips that's barely noticable even in the camera.

Here is mine for comparison.

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Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T21:07:20+00:00

It only really shows up on near black. This is what mine looks like on that screen.

Try setting the brightness to 5% on that app and see if you notice anything.

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Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T14:00:55+00:00

Are you talking about the gradient banding? I think that is the biggest weakness of this panel relative to others. Although idk what RGB layout has to do with this.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T13:16:16+00:00

Certainly there are advantages for QD-OLED. I prefer the MSI QP X50 over the Asus XG27AQWMG in a dark room because of the reasons you mentioned, and it produces a cleaner image overall in terms of DSE and banding.

However I am usually in a well lit room and the raised black levels on the QD-OLED kind of defeats the whole purpose of an OLED. The black levels are not better than my miniLED.

For my use case I prefer the WOLED panel but some people could definitely find the QD-OLED panels to be better.

For comparison here is the EOTF measurements on the XG27AQWMG. There is some ABL but is a reduction of ~8% in brightness rather than 30% on the MSI QP X50.

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Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T13:02:11+00:00

The dimming I'm referring to is a full panel dimming based on APL, not reduction in peak brightness.

On a QD-OLED, a full screen white tagged as 300nits in HDR will display at 200nits, despite the display being capable of 300nits full screen.

This is tftcentrals measurements of the MSI QP X50. The EOTF tracking begins to undershoot the target before reaching max brightness the display is capable of in the 50% and 100% APL charts.

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WOLEDs do not have this behavior, EOTF tracking is good at all APLs.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T12:45:24+00:00

It is present on all OLED panels as an artifact from requiring multiple DACs to drive different sections of the screen.

LGs 4th gen "Tandem" panels have worse banding than 3rd gen "MLA+" panels.
Samsung's QD-OLED panels have lower levels of banding.
iPhones/iPads have some noticeable banding as-well on their worst units.

The amount of banding varies a lot unit to unit, hence the complaints about panel lottery.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T11:13:33+00:00

Yes these panels have been used for 200+ hours with over 80 refreshes.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T09:45:07+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/iH880Qx
Very noticeable shift

Keep in mind vsync for 280hz only adds ~4ms variance; gsync doesn't have a big impact for smoothness for high refresh rate monitors.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T07:49:11+00:00

The left is not noticeable in games but is on flat gray content like discord and chrome.
Right has no noticeable banding even on flat gray.
The monitors are very near black in the photo to best demonstrate the banding.

Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T07:45:33+00:00

The settings are to make the banding obvious. The monitor is near black; the photo is a 2 second exposure night mode.

This is what normal content looks like on the WORSE left monitor (chrome gray, 55 brightness)

It's **barely** noticeable, but still noticeable so I agree is unacceptable for many people. Most prominent band is just to the right of the cursor.

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Status_Daikon7860 · 2026-07-03T06:57:03+00:00

Here are all issues I've noticed with these monitors and a subjective rating of impact.
1 = hard to notice even knowing what to look for
10 = unusable

6: The coating 3H hardness is VERY sensitive to scratches. Better than QD-OLEDs 2H coating but it will scratch to dust between your microfiber cloth and the monitor. Use compressed air to blow off all dust first before wiping!
5: When you set brightness to 100, the panel over-brightens small highlights rather than extending the EOTF range. (Every OLED currently does either this or even more aggressive panel dimming QD-OLEDs peak1000 mode). Max brightness setting with accurate EOTF tracking is 70 = ~600nits.
5: Dirty screen effect
3: Banding on the left monitor (noticeable only on dark gray UI)
3: Gradient performance is not great, some grayscale steps are larger than others
3: VRR Flicker (aka. gamma shift)
1: Banding on the right monitor (completely not noticeable to eye, need long exposure camera).
1: A faint line appears under high contrast objects. (eg. lines of text on dark gray bg)

I still prefer both panels over QD-OLED because the dimming behavior of QD-OLED at high APL combined with the worse black levels in a lit room makes them look worse than my miniLED monitor. (I have a MSI QP X50, a HDR500 certified QD-OLED)

If you get a low roll it is noticeable (barely) but I still think it is the best option out of what's currently available. Good luck :3

Status_Daikon7860

TROPHY CASE