Eizo ColorEdge CG276 review

The ColorEdge CG275W has spent almost two years on PC Pro’s A-List, and for good reason. Eizo’s flagship 27in monitor delivers stunning image quality – and maintains it, thanks to its built-in colorimeter. Now, the manufacturer seeks to improve upon near-perfection with an updated model – the ColorEdge CG276.

Initially, it’s tough to tell the two monitors apart. Both use the same chunky matte-black chassis, but that isn’t a bad thing: build quality feels as bombproof as ever, and the sturdy stand provides 152mm of height adjustment, as well as tilting back and forth and spinning smoothly left and right.

At the rear, however, Eizo has made a couple of changes that will be of interest to video-production buffs. While mini-DisplayPort has fallen by the wayside, the DVI and full-sized DisplayPort connections are now supplemented by an HDCP-enabled HDMI input, supporting resolutions up to Full HD, and accepting both interlaced and 24fps video inputs. The DisplayPort still accepts 10-bit colour input (albeit only with the appropriate graphics card and software chain), and now also supports 2K and 4K signals, which are scaled automatically to fit the Eizo’s native 2,560 x 1,440 resolution.

The Eizo’s 27in IPS panel has been upgraded, too, with the quoted contrast ratio rising from 850:1 to 1,000:1, and maximum brightness increasing from 270cd/m[sup]2[/sup] to 350cd/m[sup]2[/sup]. In practice, however, with the CG275W and CG276 side-by-side, both calibrated to a usable everyday brightness of 120cd/m[sup]2[/sup], we found it near-impossible to detect any difference.

Image quality remains staggeringly good. There’s still the same graininess to the CG276’s anti-glare coating – we hoped Eizo might have managed to bring the CG276 in line with the grain-free coating of the ColorEdge CX240 in that respect – but colour accuracy remains high. Testing the Eizo’s pre-calibrated sRGB mode, our X-Rite i1Display 2 reported an average Delta E of 1.3 and an average of 3.9. With the Adobe RGB mode activated, the Eizo provided a Delta E of 1 and an average of 3.6.

Eizo’s ColorNavigator software also allowed us to compare calibration results between the CG276’s internal colorimeter, X-Rite’s i1Display 2 and the newer X-Rite i1Display Pro. Our reference X-Rite i1Display 2 is known to struggle with wide-gamut displays, and produced an overly warm tone, with whites looking slightly rosy. The CG276’s internal sensor produced excellent results, however, appearing to our eyes on par with the X-Rite i1Display Pro. In fact, ColorNavigator indicated that the CG276’s internal colorimeter did a narrowly better job, providing an average Delta E of 0.5 and a maximum deviation of 1.7, a contrast ratio of 827:1 and a colour temperature of 6,496K.

Brightness uniformity remains another high point of the Eizo’s performance. The Digital Uniformity Equalizer does a tremendous job, and having measured the CG276’s brightness across 44 points on the panel we found no more than a 5.8% deviation in brightness. That’s better than any other high-end monitor we’ve seen.

ColorNavigator remains just as flexible: calibration targets can be selected from a wide range of colour spaces, brightness levels, gamma curves and white points. The CG276’s built-in sensor can be correlated with a third-party calibration device used as a reference point – a handy feature for ensuring accurate colour matching across multiple monitors – and it’s also possible to emulate the colour response of tablets and smartphones for soft-proofing purposes, although for this a third-party spectrophotometer is required.

The ColorEdge CG276 is spectacularly expensive, but for colour-critical professional use it’s simply unbeatable. The addition of HDMI and a proper 1080/24p display mode give the CG276 the edge over its predecessor for video-production duties, and the subtle panel improvements are welcome, too. If you can find the old model for a bargain price, and don’t need the new features, we suggest you snap it up while you can; if you’re looking for the finest, most flexible 27in monitor money can buy, the ColorEdge CG276 is most definitely it.

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