Ever since the start of the year, Iiyama has been bringing us an impressive bunch of new monitors with improved performance in both colour handling and responsiveness. That's why we were looking forward to testing the new ProLite B2776HDS, a 27'' monitor with a 1920 x 1080 pixel display and—apparently—a response time of just 1 ms. Does that mean Iiyama's latest monitor could be a gamer's new best friend? Let's take a closer look ...
Alongside the VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs we always look for, the B2776HDS is on a rotating, height-adjustable stand. That means that the user can position it perfectly, something that surprisingly few monitors allow. For audio, there's just a pair of 2 x 1.5 W speakers and no headphone jack, so there's nothing that you can do with the audio signal that's carried via the HDMI cable.
The B2776HDS can't do any better at reproducing colours than with its default settings, offering an accurate picture with a deltaE of 2.7. No one shade dominates, and while blue and green aren't quite as good as other colours, the only way to improve the situation is via a specialist calibration profile.
The contrast, on the other hand, is a little less impressive. We measured black levels of 0.27 cd/m² against whites of 197 cd/m², which works out as a contrast ratio of 730:1, which falls short of the average figure of 850:1.
Iiyama claims that the B2776HDS has a response time of just 1 ms, which should make it faster than a 2 ms TN monitor like the firm's ProLite B2475HDS. But once you've set it up properly, activating the overdrive, which is turned off by default, it behaves like most other 2 ms TN displays, with an average ghosting time of around 10 ms.
That means it will be up to the expectations of most gamers, but anybody who is looking for the very fastest 27'' monitor will plump for a screen like the Asus VE278Q instead: its ghosting time never stretches above 7 ms. There's nothing wrong with the input lag: there's a slight delay, but it's far too slow to be noticeable to the naked eye. That means it will be up to the expectations of most gamers, but anybody who is looking for the very fastest 27'' monitor will plump for a screen like the Asus VE278Q instead: its ghosting time never stretches above 7 ms.
There's nothing wrong with the input lag: there's a slight delay, but it's far too slow to be noticeable to the naked eye.
Hardware and features: it's all in the stand
Alongside the VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs we always look for, the B2776HDS is on a rotating, height-adjustable stand. That means that the user can position it perfectly, something that surprisingly few monitors allow. For audio, there's just a pair of 2 x 1.5 W speakers and no headphone jack, so there's nothing that you can do with the audio signal that's carried via the HDMI cable.
Colours: well-calibrated out of the box
The B2776HDS can't do any better at reproducing colours than with its default settings, offering an accurate picture with a deltaE of 2.7. No one shade dominates, and while blue and green aren't quite as good as other colours, the only way to improve the situation is via a specialist calibration profile. The contrast, on the other hand, is a little less impressive. We measured black levels of 0.27 cd/m² against whites of 197 cd/m², which works out as a contrast ratio of 730:1, which falls short of the average figure of 850:1.
Responsiveness: it's good ... but not as good as Iiyama thinks
Iiyama claims that the B2776HDS has a response time of just 1 ms, which should make it faster than a 2 ms TN monitor like the firm's ProLite B2475HDS. But once you've set it up properly, activating the overdrive, which is turned off by default, it behaves like most other 2 ms TN displays, with an average ghosting time of around 10 ms.| Responsiveness | ||
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This graph shows the ghosting time, measured in ms, that the monitor takes to entirely remove the previous frame. The shorter the time, the more fluid moving images will appear
That means it will be up to the expectations of most gamers, but anybody who is looking for the very fastest 27'' monitor will plump for a screen like the Asus VE278Q instead: its ghosting time never stretches above 7 ms. There's nothing wrong with the input lag: there's a slight delay, but it's far too slow to be noticeable to the naked eye. That means it will be up to the expectations of most gamers, but anybody who is looking for the very fastest 27'' monitor will plump for a screen like the Asus VE278Q instead: its ghosting time never stretches above 7 ms.
There's nothing wrong with the input lag: there's a slight delay, but it's far too slow to be noticeable to the naked eye.
Pros
- Accurate colours without any adjustments: deltaE: 2.7
- Ghosting time is low enough for games: 10 ms
- Handy height-adjustable stand
Cons
- Below average contrast: 730:1
- TN panel, so poor vertical viewing angles
Conclusion
The Iiyama ProLite B2776HDS is a 27'' monitor with plenty of points in its favour: it's responsive, reproduces colours accurately and has a great stand. It only misses out on a five-star rating by not having better contrast or a more flexible stand.
OUR SCORE
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