Bottom Line
The ASUS XG27AQDMG is a 27″ 1440p 240Hz W-OLED MLA+ gaming monitor with a glossy screen surface. It offers a unique set of specifications that might appeal to some users. Make sure you check out all the alternatives in this price range as well.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQDMG is yet another gaming monitor based on LG’s 27″ 1440p 240Hz W-OLED panel.
What makes this model stand out from the rest is its glossy screen surface, as well as the MLA+ (Micro Lens Array+) technology, which allows for higher brightness!
Image Quality
The main advantage of OLED displays is by now probably known to everybody – an infinite contrast ratio made possible by per-pixel dimming.
Unlike LED-backlit panels, OLED displays produce their own light and so, each pixel can individually turn off for true blacks.
This also means that there are no backlight bleeding, glowing or haloing visual artifacts, resulting in an immersive viewing experience, especially when viewing in a dark room.
Additionally, the ASUS XG27AQDMG has a wide 98.5% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage (~135% sRGB color gamut volume), which results in vibrant colors. Further, true 10-bit color depth is supported for smoother gradients with no banding.
The monitor is factory-calibrated at Delta E < 2 and has flawless 178° wide viewing angles, making it fit for professional color-critical work.
You can also clamp the monitor’s native ~135% sRGB color volume down to ~100% sRGB for proper SDR color accuracy by either using the sRGB Cal Mode or selecting ‘sRGB’ in the Display Color Space option.
Now, while previous-gen 27″ 1440p 240Hz W-OLED panels had a somewhat limited peak brightness performance of up to 1000-nits for small HDR highlights (< 3% APL – Average Picture Level or white window test size), 650-nits for 10% APL, and up to 250-nits for 100% APL, the ASUS XG27AQDMG boasts the MLA+ technology.
It’s capable of reaching a higher peak brightness of 1300-nits for < 3% APL, 750-nits for 10% APL and 275-nits for 100% APL, resulting in punchier and more vivid highlights.
There are three HDR modes: Gaming, Cinema and Console.
We recommend using the Cinema HDR mode since it’s the most accurate preset. Additioanlly, you should enable the Brightness Adjustable option and increase brightness to 100 from the default 90 to unlock the maximum brightness.
The monitor can also maintain around 275-nits in SDR mode with Uniform Brightness option enabled, which is more than bright enough under normal lighting conditions.
If you disable Uniform Brightness, the screen can reach up to 450-nits in SDR, but only for smaller APL, resulting in fluctuating brightness during regular desktop use. When playing games that don’t support HDR, Uniform Brightness can be disabled for a boost in brightness, but be sure to disable it otherwise.
Of course, if you plan on using the monitor under studio lighting or facing a big window without curtains/blinds, you’ll need to opt for a brighter mini LED display for the screen to mitigate glare. However, these displays have their own disadvantages, such as FALD blooming.
Keep in mind that while Samsung’s QD-OLED panel displays have a lower peak brightness specified (1000-nits < 3% APL, 450-nits 10% APL, 250-nits 100% APL) – these measures refer to white luminance.
The QD-OLED panels actually have a higher color luminance and a wider color gamut of 99.3% DCI-P3. This means that the colors can get brighter and more saturated, which results in a higher perceived brightness. Regardless, both OLED technologies provide an immersive viewing experience with bright highlights and vivid colors.
Next, the ASUS XG27AQDMG has a QHD screen resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, which on its 26.5″ sized screen results in a pixel density of 110.84 PPI (pixels per inch). You get plenty of screen space with sharp details and text. The resolution is also not nearly as taxing on the GPU as 4K UHD, allowing for higher frame rates.
Now, the ASUS XG27AQDMG uses a W-OLED panel with the older RWBG subpixel layout (instead of the newer RGWB).
This results in noticeable green and red fringing on small text and fine details. In games and videos, it’s not visible at all, but if you plan on using the monitor for any work that involves a lot of reading and typing, it might bother you.
ASUS offers a feature called Clear Pixel Edge in the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu that’s supposed to improve text clarity, but it mostly just makes it blurrier.
You can use Better ClearType Tuner to improve this a bit in some applications, but it can’t be completely fixed until we get proper OS support for panels with this subpixel layout.
Performance
The ASUS XG27AQDMG has a high 240Hz refresh rate, which provides you with a small but noticeable boost in motion clarity as opposed to ~144Hz displays.
All OLED displays have instantaneous pixel response time speed, so there are no ghosting or overshoot (inverse ghosting) visual artifacts behind fast-moving objects regardless of your refresh/frame rate.
Input latency is also excellent with ~3ms of delay, which is imperceptible.
Moving on, the monitor supports VRR (variable refresh rate) for tear-free gameplay up to 240FPS via AMD FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible.
As expected from an OLED display, in some dark scenes of games with fluctuating frame rates, VRR brightness flickering might be observed, but it’s rare.
ASUS offers a feature called OLED Anti-Flicker that’s supposed to prevent flickering from occurring, and while it can reduce it, it only does so by limiting the VRR range to 160-240Hz (Middle) or 200-240Hz (Strong).
In most cases, this will replace the flickering with frame stuttering. This method was already possible on PC via CRU.
Next, the ASUS XG27AQDMG monitor supports ELMB (Extreme Low Motion Blur), which uses BFI (Black Frame Insertion) to improve motion clarity.
It only works at 120Hz, so the display basically operates at 240Hz and shows every other frame as a black frame to eliminate perceived motion blur.
As a result, you get similar motion clarity at 120Hz as you would on native 240Hz, which is excellent for consoles (that are limited to 120Hz anyway) and PC gamers who cannot output more than 120FPS.
The downside is that brightness is reduced to around 100-nits when ELMB is active, and you cannot use it at the same time as VRR or HDR.
The monitor is flicker-free and there’s a dedicated low-blue light filter (as well as a hardware-level solution).
Lastly, note that all OLED monitors suffer from the risk of permanent image burn-in and temporary image retention.
When leaving an image with bright static elements for too long, those static elements may become permanently visible as an afterimage. However, if you’re using the monitor sensibly and playing varied content, it shouldn’t be an issue.
ASUS even offers a 3-year warranty that covers burn-in, as well as various burn-in prevention features, such as Screen Saver, Screen Move, Auto Logo Brightness and Pixel Cleaning.
Features
Behind the bottom bezel of the screen, there’s a directional joystick for quick and easy navigation through the OSD menu, as well as a dedicated power button and an additional hotkey.
Besides the standard image adjustment tools (brightness, contrast, color temperature, etc.), you’ll also find some advanced settings, such as gamma, 6-axis hue/saturation, sharpness (VividPixel), aspect ratio control (including a 24.5″ simulation mode) and Automatic Input Detection.
Useful gaming features include Shadow Boost (improves visibility in dark scenes), crosshair overlays (including a dynamic mode that changes the color of crosshair depending on the background), a refresh rate tracker, on-screen timers, Sniper (zooms in the area around the crosshair) and Sniper Night Vision.
You can also download ASUS’ DisplayWidget desktop application for OSD settings.
Design & Connectivity
The stand of the monitor is sturdy and offers a good range of ergonomics, including up to 120mm height adjustment, +/- 45° swivel, +/- 90° pivot, -5°/20° tilt and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.
At the rear of the monitor, there’s the AuraSync customizable RGB lighting, while the screen has a glossy screen surface. This makes the image quality more vivid as there’s no added graininess associated with matte anti-glare coatings.
However, it also makes the screen more reflective, but unlike glossy screens of QD-OLED panels, blacks aren’t raised when hit by direct lighting – you just get regular mirror-like reflections like on most TVs. So, for the optimal viewing experience, the screen shouldn’t face a window without curtains or any strong light source.
At the top of the stand, there’s also a 1/4″ socket for mounting a webcam.
Connectivity options include DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.0 ports (limited to 144Hz), a dual-USB 3.0 hub and a headphone jack.
The HDMI port supports 4K 60Hz upscaling (but not 120Hz) and 1080p/1440p 120Hz modes on consoles. FreeSync is supported as well, but we weren’t able to test if the monitor supports HDMI 2.1 VRR.
Price & Similar Monitors
The ASUS XG27AQDMG price ranges from $700 to $750.
Along with the LG 27GS95QE, it’s the only 27″ 1440p 240Hz gaming monitor with a W-OLED MLA+ panel, though LG’s model has a matte anti-glare coating, hardware calibration support and HDMI 2.1 that allows for 4K 120Hz upscaling for consoles.
For most gamers, we recommend getting the MSI MAG 271QPX instead. It has a 27″ 1440p QD-OLED panel with a higher 360Hz refresh rate, a wider color gamut, a higher color luminance, HDMI 2.1 and a diamond-shaped RGB subpixel layout for no bothersome fringing on small text and fine details. It can be found for $725.
The ASUS XG27AQDMG is a valid option if you really don’t need 360Hz and would rather have BFI at 120Hz and a glossy screen surface that doesn’t raise black levels when hit by direct lighting.
Conclusion
Overall, the ASUS XG27AQDMG is an excellent HDR gaming monitor, but there are a lot of OLED alternatives worth considering in this price range.
Specifications
| Screen Size | 26.5-inch |
| Resolution | 2560×1440 (WQHD) |
| Panel Type | OLED |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 (Widescreen) |
| Refresh Rate | 240Hz |
| Response Time | 0.03ms (GtG) |
| Motion Blur Reduction | ELMB |
| Adaptive-Sync | FreeSync Premium (40-240Hz) G-SYNC Compatible |
| Ports | DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.0 |
| Other Ports | Headphone Jack, 2x USB 3.0 |
| Brightness (1 – 3% White Window) | 1300 cd/m² |
| Brightness (10% White Window) | 750 cd/m² |
| Brightness (100% White Window) | 275 cd/m² |
| Contrast Ratio | Infinite |
| Colors | 1.07 billion (true 10-bit) 98.5% DCI-P3 |
| HDR | VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black |
| VESA | Yes (100x100mm) |
The Pros:
- Infinite contrast ratio, decent peak brightness, wide color gamut
- Instant response time
- Plenty of features, including VRR up to 240Hz, BFI up to 120Hz
- Fully ergonomic design
The Cons:
- Risk of burn-in (though covered by 3-year warranty)
