The past 18 months has seen a huge change in the price of 27″, 2560×1440 monitors for the desktop. Thanks to Korean import models you can buy off Ebay, the prices have fallen from close to $1,000 to as low as $300 for the cheapest models. Now we are starting to see the same trend with 30″ displays happen as well. The first two affordable 30″ monitors to come out with a US warranty are from Nixeus and Monoprice. I took a look at the Nixeus model, the Nixeus VUE 30, for AnandTech to see if it pairs good performance with a low price.

Having reviewed the Nixeus VUE 27 I had an idea of what to expect with the Nixeus VUE 30. I was happy to see that the quality of packaging and instructions has improved in the past year. The Nixeus VUE 30 is much easier to assemble and pack up that the VUE 27 was. It also has an integrated PSU instead of a power brick, which I like. The stand is still very basic and lacks adjustments, but that is what you find when you only spend $800 instead of $1,000 or more. The big question was one of performance.

On that side, the Nixeus is a bit of a mixed bag. The main issue is that it offers a wide-gamut CCFL backlight, so it can do full coverage of the AdobeRGB colorspace. Usually this is very good, and costs a premium from most vendors, but here it isn’t as great. Since there is no sRGB emulation mode, standard gamut images will be over-saturated compared to what they should be and there isn’t much of a way to correct it. However, this also makes it a great candidate for someone that needs AdobeRGB coverage, as this is a cheaper way to get it than from anyone else.

If you want all the details, you can read the Nixeus VUE 30 review at AnandTech. I go into really great depth on pre- and post-calibration results for sRGB and AdobeRGB targets. Hopefully I can take a look at the 30″ Monoprice display soon to see how it does, though I am looking at their 27″ displays right now and those reviews will come shortly.