The AGON by AOC AG275QXN sets a new benchmark for affordable monitors
- Manufacturer: AGON by AOC
- Model: AGON 5
- SKU: AG275QXN/EU
- Display Type: Fast-VA Gaming Monitor
- Resolution: 1440p (QHD)
- Refresh rate: 165 Hz
- Price when reviewed: £339.99 (BOX – UK)
- Supplied by: AOC
AGON by AOC AG275QXN Review
Overview
Ever since the new AGON 5 monitors were announced, I’ve been dying to get my hands on them. What intrigued me the most is that AOC is releasing two affordable monitors to spearhead the launch – The AG275QX (IPS) and AG275QXN (VA). This is significant because manufacturers will often release their flagship products first to build a bit of hype.
Make no mistake, the AG275QXN may be an affordable monitor, but the specs it packs wouldn’t have been out of place on a premium display not so long ago. I’m lucky enough to have both of the new monitors here for review, but I chose the AG275QXN to review first. The AGON by AOC AG275QXN is one of the first Fast-VA panels to be released, and I’m very happy to say it lives up to the (self-generated) hype.
Whenever I test a new VA panel, the first thing I check for is black smear. It’s a simple test, just open a page with white text against a black background and scroll or jiggle the window, and it invariably results in the text darkening or disappearing in the worst cases. Incredibly, the fast-VA panel in the AG275QXN has essentially eliminated black smearing (so much so that I had to check I’d unboxed the VA monitor and not the IPS AG275QX instead). In one fell swoop, the biggest downside to VA panels has been negated.
With that out of the way, we can move on to everything else that this monitor does so well. Peak brightness is a very respectable 475 cd/m2 with a black level of just 0.12 cd/m2 which equates to a maximum contrast ratio of 3830:1, producing deep blacks with negligible light bleed – this is a very good display for use in a darkened room. Colour accuracy is also superb, with an average sRGB DeltaE of just 0.78. The AG275QXN can also display a wide gamut, pumping out an impressive depth of colour that puts more expensive monitors to shame.
If I were to highlight any negatives, it would be that the panel uniformity could be a little bit better; the tone response is slightly off and the white point is marginally offset from the desired 6500K. However, these are slight deviations from what I personally aim for, and without measuring equipment I probably wouldn’t have noticed. None of this should put you off the AG275QXN, as the quality of the display matches monitors costing twice as much.
Design and build
Viewed head-on, the AOC AGON 5 AG275QXN is almost indistinguishable from AOC’s AGON PRO line of monitors. Slim bezels surround the top and sides, while a slightly larger chin bezel bearing a metallic AGON logo completes the look. I noticed they’ve shrunk and dimmed the power indicator light in the lower right corner, which I really appreciate. As far as lights go, though, that’s your lot; There’s no RGB lighting on the AG275QXN, and aside from some angular design on the stand and at the rear of the monitor, it doesn’t scream “gamer”.
One of my biggest issues with the previous AGON 4 range was the size of the stands. AOC has obviously paid attention, and the stand on the AG275QXN has an appreciably smaller footprint. The stand is still very wide, but it only protrudes slightly past the front of the display, which itself doesn’t sit as far out from the back of the desk; From the back of the stand to the front of the display is just 19 cm – compare this with 28 cm on the AG274QZM and this is clearly a huge improvement.
You get a great range of ergonomic adjustments, too: Height can be adjusted by 150mm, the display can be tilted -5°/+23°, swivelled -20°/+20°, and pivoted 90° into portrait orientation.
Another thing I really like about the AG275QXN is that there is no power brick needed, making cable management much easier. There’s also a large cutaway section in the stand for tucking cables through, so it’s easy to keep your setup clean and tidy.
The UI of the AG275QXN is the same old AGON menu you may be familiar with. It’s starting to look a little dated, but it is sensibly laid out and effective, so it’s hard to complain. The easy-to-reach joystick at the rear of the monitor gives you responsive control over the features, and the menus are easy to navigate.
Connectivity and Supported Resolutions
The AGON by AOC AG275QXN has a good selection of ports, especially at this price point: 2x HDMI 2.0 and 2x DisplayPort 1.4 inputs are available for display connections, along with a 3.5mm audio out and a four-port USB 3.2 hub which has 4 downstream USB-A ports (including a fast-charge port). There’s no USB-C connection, but that’s excusable at this price.
The AG275QXN supports the following optimum resolutions:
HDMI 2.0: 2560*1440 @ 144 Hz
DisplayPort: 2560*1440 @ 165 Hz
The AG275QXN is both Freesync and G-Sync compatible. The adaptive sync window spans 48-165 Hz via DisplayPort and 48-144 Hz over HDMI. If you want to hook up a gaming console, 1440p @ 120Hz is supported on both Xbox Series consoles and the Sony PS5.
Having an integrated USB hub is more common nowadays, but the four-port hub here is very welcome. Without USB-C there’s no KVM switching so you’re restricted to a single connection to the hub, but it also works great for powering desk lighting and connecting a handy universal charger.
DisplayPort, HDMI and USB-B to A cables are included. The AG275QXN, as mentioned, has an integrated power adapter, so there’s no power brick to worry about, and the power cable has plenty of length.
Display quality
The AG275QXN is an excellent monitor, with image quality that is far better than we’ve become accustomed to for the price. I can’t emphasise enough just how much better this fast-VA panel is compared to previous VA panels I’ve tested. It’s not quite as fast as an IPS panel, and it has subtle but noticeable motion blur, but black smearing is almost completely eradicated.
If you’re a serious competitive gamer, IPS is still the best bet, but the gap between fast-VA and IPS is very small. When you factor in the excellent contrast and low black level, the AG275QXN is a serious contender, especially if you prefer cinematic adventure games and watch a lot of TV or movies at your desk.
In general, the AG275QXN is good to go straight out of the box, and although I slightly improved the image with calibration, the differences were only minor and didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this monitor.
Panel response
The AG275QXN utilises one of the first fast VA panels to hit the market, and it’s a huge improvement over its predecessors. Pixel response is fantastic for a VA panel, and although it can’t keep up with the best IPS has to offer, it’s still impressive.
The grey-to-grey response was consistently below 20ms on darker transitions, which is where VA panels traditionally struggle, while light-to-light transitions were comfortably below 10ms. Unless you are a hardcore competitive gamer, this is more than acceptable, and in my opinion a worthy trade-off for the excellent contrast.
Motion blur is noticeable, but it’s not too distracting, especially at more modest frame rates. The medium overdrive setting worked best in my testing, reducing the blur significantly, though not quite eliminating it. The Strong overdrive setting improved response but at the cost of severe overshoot, creating inverse ghosting visible as lighter-coloured coronas behind moving objects.
This fast-VA technology still has room for improvement, but unlike older examples which put me off using VA monitors, I’d happily use this monitor for gaming, and it’s remarkably close to the experience of (and better than many) IPS panels.
Brightness, contrast and colour
The warm temperature preset matched the desired 6500K white point. Using the warm colour temperature preset, the display peaked at 474.3 cd/m², which is more than enough for most room and lighting combinations. (The Normal preset peaked at over 500 cd/m2 so if you prefer a cooler picture, you can eke out a bit more brightness)
Black levels were excellent, measuring 0.12 cd/m2 with the display set to maximum brightness, and lowering in line with the brightness level. As such, the AG275QXN had an excellent peak contrast ratio of 3830:1 and a still respectable 2640:1 at the lowest brightness setting. This results in wonderfully deep blacks, and you still get tonnes of detail retained in dark scenes.
Nb: Brightness is locked in sRGB mode, but it’s set at a usable 241 cd/m2.
Colour reproduction and accuracy are also strong points for the AG275QXN. This panel produces beautifully vivid images, even at lower brightness levels, making it a great way to enjoy your favourite games and movies. Unlike lesser displays, there’s no overemphasis or excessive saturation of any colours, with the factory calibration providing accuracy across the whole range.
The average sRGB DeltaE of 0.78 (colour accuracy) is outstanding, and impressively, the vast majority of colours have a DeltaE of below 1.0 (with 2.0 recognised as the perceivable limit).
The gamma could have been calibrated slightly better, however. The Gamma 1 setting, which measured 2.3, was closest to the ideal 2.2 curve. This is visible as a slight darkening of the image compared to my calibration, but it’s subtle enough that you wouldn’t notice just by looking at it.
Gamut coverage and HDR
Colour saturation and gamut coverage are excellent. The AG275QXN has a WLED backlight providing wide gamut coverage and great colour vibrancy without oversaturation.
The panel in the AG275QXN has 10bit (8bit+FRC) colour depth, allowing it to display up to 1.07 billion colours. Gamut coverage* is very good, surpassing what we would usually expect from such an affordable monitor:
- sRGB 100% coverage – 126.1% volume
- AdobeRGB 86% coverage – 86.9% volume
- DCI-P3 95% coverage – 89.3% volume
*Coverage is how much of the gamut is covered, whilst volume includes any colour that extends beyond the defined gamut.
HDR is very limited on this display. You get a slightly expanded colourspace, but the brightness doesn’t increase by more than a few candelas, and without local dimming, it doesn’t have any significant impact. Technically this is an HDR display, but the SDR performance is just as good. Considering a proper HDR display costs hundreds more, this is expected and shouldn’t be a deciding factor when weighing up your purchase.
Viewing angles and uniformity
Panel uniformity is only average, with significant variances across the lower third of the screen. Brightness fluctuates by over 60 cd/m² (13%) in the bottom left corner, though this is at maximum brightness, and the variance becomes less at lower levels.
Colour accuracy also falls off across the bottom of the display, with some colours recording a DeltaE of 5.9. In practical terms, however, it’s not something I noticed until I ran the display analysis.
There is no backlight bleed around the bezels, and there was no discernible glow in the corners of the display. There’s room for improvement, but the inconsistencies in the panel uniformity are more than outweighed by the numerous positives of the AG275QXN.
This is a VA panel, so as expected, off-angle viewing results in significant shifts in contrast and colour saturation. You can still clearly see the display off-angle, but for the best image quality, you need it squared up in front of you.
Sound quality
The AG275QXN does not have any integrated speakers, but that’s no big deal. The audio passthrough via the headphone jack is clean and works well with desktop speakers, and considering most monitor speakers are basic at best, it’s a good opportunity to pick up a new headset or set of bookshelf speakers.
Summary
AOC’s AGON 5 AG275QXN has set a new benchmark for what we should expect of monitors in this price range. The fast-VA panel lives up to the promise of eliminating black smear and the overall picture quality is great. There’s room for improvement in a few areas, but the AG275QXN holds its own against far more expensive monitors. If you don’t need the slightly faster response of an IPS display for competitive gaming and would prefer much better black levels for dark room viewing, the AG275QXN could be exactly what you need.
