BenQ XL2730Z Gaming Monitor Review

Almost everything you would want

by hodg100
Tech Review

Recommended
BenQ XL2730Z Gaming Monitor Review
MSRP: £460.00

What is the BenQ XL2730Z?

This 27-inch BenQ XLZ2730Z gaming monitor sits at the top of the manufacturers range and features a 27-inch screen with a WQHD (2,560x1,440) resolution. The XLZ2730Z also features a 144Hz refresh rate, VESA Standard Adaptive-Sync technology, the promise of ultra-fast pixel response and a number of other special features designed to provide a gaming advantage. Priced at around £460 (December 2015), it’s also competitive in the market place so let’s see if it can deliver on the promises.

Assembly, Design & Connections

The package comes in three parts – the screen, stand and base but assembly couldn’t really be any easier with not a screwdriver in sight. You simply clip the stand in to its base, twist in to position and tighten the thumbscrew. It’s then a case of clipping the screen on to the stand and positioning it to suit. BenQ’s ‘Adjustment Scale’ design allows for 14 height levels that are trackable by a moving marker. Trackable scales are also added to the screen, which tilts forward and backward to 0°, 10° and 20° and swivels left and right generously.
BenQ XL2730Z
BenQ XL2730Z

At the front of the screen are some control buttons, allowing you to change inputs, access picture modes and change settings whilst, at the rear, are all the connections. Those include two HDMI ports – one version 1.4, the other 2.0 – a Display Port connection, D-Sub and DVI-D sockets, microphone in and headphone out jacks, a USB port and a connection for the supplied S Switch. What’s an S Switch, you might ask. Well this is handy little remote-type handset allowing you to instantly jump in to one of the preset game modes or access other menu features; it’s much easier than using the rather clunky on-screen menus in conjunction with the buttons on the front. Another convenient feature is the retractable headphone hook on the left side, keeping your headphones within arm’s reach.

Features

The XL2730Z features an Auto Game Mode which detects the genre of the game being played and switches the display setting to the corresponding game mode automatically. How useful anybody is going to find this is debatable. It is also designed to make new game mode recommendations for download from BenQ’s website where you can also share your custom setups with other owners. The XL2730Z also features BenQ’s ‘Black eQualizer’ processing which claims to brighten dark scenes without over-exposing the bright areas – in practise we didn’t find it particularly effective and only lessened picture quality but if you’re struggling in a particularly dark area, it does have some merit.

Viewing Angles & Screen Uniformity

As we can see from the results to the left of the chart below, the default Standard picture mode returned reasonable to mediocre image accuracy both against the sRGB colour space and in the greyscale and gamma tracking. Red and Green, and as a result yellow, were all a little over-saturated while the balance of energies within the greyscale, although fairly consistent among red, green and blue, were skewed toward an overly dark gamma curve. We would generally aim for a gamma response around 2.2 to 2.4 but the XL2730Z was tracking at near 3.0, which won’t suit any normal living environment and will crush details in the shadows, which might cost you.
BenQ XL2730Z
Using Calman RGB monitor calibration software, a Klein K-10 colorimeter and the Murideo Fresco Six-G Video Generator it was a fairly simple matter to reduce both colour and greyscale errors to unnoticeable levels. We can see from the RGB Balance Graph that as well as red, green and blue now all tracking together – meaning near perfect neutrality – they are also on the right gamma level and images are, as a result, more detailed and defined. The colours also benefitted by a general desaturation of the primary colours which brought the rest – save some shades of orange - in to line.
The only real disappointment was the colour accuracy in default modes.

Contrast & Black Levels

The XL2730Z is equipped with a TN panel which produces respectable, but not particularly deep, black levels. We measured black at 0.14cd/m2 in calibrated Standard mode, against our calibrated peak white output of just over 150cd/m2, giving an On/Off contrast ratio of just under 1,100:1. Using a chequerboard pattern, comprised of alternating black and white squares, the measured ANSI contrast ratio dropped to less than 850:1, which is about on par with the raft of IPS panel equipped monitors on the market.

Input lag & Pixel Response

We should point out that our input lag testing device can only output a maximum of a 1920 x 1080 resolution at 60Hz and it may very well be that the figures would be lower if the XL2730Z had been operating at 144Hz. Still, the figures are indicative for those gaming at 1080p and they proved pretty decent, although you might expect more (or less, really) from a gaming monitor. Reading the bar from the top of the screen, the Leo Bodnar device measured 18.8 milliseconds latency at the top of the screen and 23.9ms from the centre. You can shave a (very) little off these times by reducing the backlight setting. The BenQ XL2730Z also retained great clarity with fast moving images, although the Blur Reduction setting, whilst doing what it said on the tin, did introduce some issues, in the form of some stutters.

Viewing Angles & Screen Uniformity

You wouldn’t expect a TN panel to possess particularly generous viewing angles but then how much does it really matter when you’re likely to be plonked directly in front of the screen in any case? In the case of the XL2730Z, it does indeed noticeably lose saturation and contrast the moment you get more than 10 degrees of centre – in any direction but, as said, is that going to be an issue for you, especially since the screen can be positioned at many different angles. In general terms, screen uniformity was good although on very bright scences there was a noticeable patch of lighting which was considerably brighter than the rest of the screen; we’d term this a minor annoyance rather than a party spoiler.

Video Review

General Performance & Picture Quality

Once we’d applied our calibration to the BenQ XL2730Z, we were very happy with the images it produced, with believable colours and good-enough-for-most contrast levels. We wouldn’t have been particularly satisfied with the out-of-box pictures, however, which erred to being too dark for comfort – you can use the Black eQualiser to produce more details in the dark areas but we would advise against it if you can get it calibrated. Again using our Murideo Fresco Video Generator we were able to check on the scaling performance of the XL2730Z and it does a very good job with sources from 720p, and up, via both HDMI and the Display Port connections. Some of the modes add a little bit of undefeatable sharpening but it’s not present in either the Standard or Movie modes. On the subject of movies we would strictly say that you would definitely need to get your XL2730Z calibrated if you want to view any of it as the gamma response makes it unsuitable at defaults.

We should point out that we don't have the necessary hardware to run games at 144Hz but our experiences at 60Hz were very positive. Objects under rapid movement remained clear and defined with very little break up on edges and only a little blurring, which would obviously be less noticeable running at 120 or 144Hz. The circa 20 milliseconds input lag certainly didn't impact us, although that's going to be dependent on the type of games you like to play; so if you're in to 2D fighters or twitch shooters, you might want to seek out something a little bit quicker. Likewise, the patch of non-uniform lighting didn't affect performance in any meaningful way and the shallow viewing angles are another non-issue, provided you're not one prone to wild head movements in the heat of the battle. We do have to go back to the gamma response again, however, and although the Black eQualiser processing doesn't really float our boats, picture quality wise, most folks won't object and it undoubtedly does give you more (enough) details in the shadows.

Energy Consumption

The following measurements were taken with the BenQ XL2730Z displaying a full-screen 100% white pattern:

  • Out-of-box default, standard mode – 67 watts
  • Calibrated standard mode – 48 watts
  • Standby – < 0.5 watts

Conclusion

Pros

  • Great motion handling
  • Fairly low input lag
  • Accurate colours post calibration
  • Some useful features
  • Excellent connectivity
  • Good build quality

Cons

  • A couple of uniformity issues
  • Inaccurate in default picture modes

BenQ XL2730Z Gaming Monitor Review

Should I buy the BenQ XL2730Z?

The BenQ XL2730Z makes an excellent choice for gamers with Adaptive Sync technology, low input lag, the ability to take a 144Hz video signal, via its HDMI 2.0 input and DisplayPort connection, plus a range of features designed to provide a competitive advantage. Those include the S Switch ‘remote’ that can instantly switch between game modes, the ability to share those game modes – and download others’ custom setups and a Black eQualiser mode which aims to pick out more details in the dark areas of the image. Should you not go to the bother of calibrating, or at least applying an ICC profile, that setting will likely be needed as out-of-box images are on the dark side. That’s probably the biggest issue we have with this display, however, as the rest of the package is very impressive when set up correctly and well worthy of an AVForums Recommended Award.

Scores

Design

.
9

Connectivity

.
9

Out-of-the-box accuracy sRGB

.
.
.
7

Calibrated sRGB

.
9

Black Levels & Contrast

.
.
.
7

Bright Screen Uniformity

.
.
.
7

Dark Screen Uniformity

.
.
8

Viewing Angles

.
.
.
7

Input Lag

.
.
8

Pixel Response

.
9

Verdict

.
.
8
8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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