Philips’ Momentum 5000 32M1N5800a is a compelling option for this price, especially for gamers with new-gen consoles as well as PCs
- Manufacturer: Philips
- Model: Momentum 5000
- SKU: 32M1N5800a/00
- Display Type: IPS Gaming Monitor
- Resolution: 2160p (4K/UHD)
- Refresh rate: 144 Hz
- Price when reviewed: £709.99 (BOX – UK)
- Supplied by: Philips
Philips Momentum 32M1N5800a Review
Overview
Disclaimer: This monitor was gifted to me by Philips (thank you!) and is now part of my regular setup. As always, our reviews remain unbiased, and I’ll be sure to give you the complete lowdown, both the good and the bad.
We recently reviewed a few 27” Momentum 5000 displays, but the 32M1N5800a knocks it up another notch, bumping the screen size up to 32” and the resolution to UHD, and also adding HDMI 2.1 support, making the overall specs very similar to those of the Momentum 329M1RV.
This is a premium display, but unlike some of its 27” siblings, there is no Nano-IPS or Mini-LED display tech here, just good old-fashioned traditional IPS with bold colour, fast response, excellent brightness and a top-tier feature set.
Philips sets a high standard when it comes to its factory setup and calibration, and the 32M1N5800a continues this trend. Most users will be more than happy with the picture straight out of the box, but I still needed to make some adjustments to the factory-calibrated picture to meet my (admittedly anally high) standards.
Display analysis revealed reasonably accurate colour temperature, with a slight bias towards blue hues, but I was able to correct this in the display settings. Whether you want to change this is entirely down to personal preference, of course. I aim for a 6500K temperature, but the default temperature of 7100K is very close with a difference that is barely noticeable to the naked eye.
Native gamma was a little dark across the midrange – changing the Gamma setting to 2.0 ended up much close to the targetted 2.2 curve, and even though it was slightly lighter, the balance was better as a whole. A further calibration after this correction made no difference to the colour temperature, though it did bring the gamma in line with the 2.2 curve.
Peak brightness under optimised settings reached a lofty 576 cd/m², which is well above average for many IPS displays, but I was also surprised and pleased that the black levels were so well managed, with a consistent contrast ratio of over 1200:1 (anything over 1000:1 is considered good for an IPS display without local dimming).
Colour accuracy is also very good – The majority of shades have a DeltaE of around 1.0, but it’s slightly let down by a single inaccurate Ocean Blue shade with a high DeltaE of 5.29. Even so, the average DeltaE of 1.14 is below the perceptible limit, and I noticed no glaring inaccuracies in the content I was viewing.
The quality of the 32M1N5800a goes beyond the base image quality, though. You get low latency as well as Freesync Premium and G-Sync compatibility, along with lightning-fast pixel response with sub-10ms grey-to-grey response across the broadest transitions. This is a great monitor for competitive gaming, but it can also hold its own for cinematic games and movies thanks to the expansive 32” display, high pixel density and stunning peak brightness.
There are a couple of things that could be improved, however. DisplayPort over USB-C is not supported, and there is noticeable IPS glow in the lower corners. HDR performance is also underwhelming as there is no local dimming (although the high peak brightness and DCI-P3 coverage allow it to have some impact, at least), but these minor shortcomings are outweighed by the quality of the overall package.
Design and build
My initial impressions of the 32M1N5800a were excellent, and that’s before I’d even plugged it in. Philips are leading the way when it comes to sustainable initiatives, and like much of their recent range, the vast majority of the packaging is cardboard with the bare minimum of plastic. You can attach the tool-less two-piece stand to the display while it’s still in the box, which makes it very easy to lift out and put into place.
From the front, the 32M1N5800a is favourably comparable to many other 32” displays we’ve tested, but it has a significantly slimmer chin bezel than most. A metallic-effect Philips logo sits front and centre, with a slim Momentum logo in the lower left, and a bright but small power indicator on the right.
The 32M1N5800a shares the same styling at the rear as the rest of the Momentum 5000 family, with a hex-like pattern across most of the panels, contrasted with a lighter grey panel in the centre. It’s fairly plain by gaming monitor standards, but considering the vast majority will never look at it once installed, it’s not likely to matter. For what it’s worth, I like the premium finish of the Momentum range. I would have liked to see Ambilight added to this display, but the 329M1RV fills this niche if you really need this feature (though the responsiveness isn’t quite as good as this monitor).
The star of the design show, and the only gamer-centric design feature, is the excellent stand. The Momentum 32M1N5800a has the same pincer-shaped legs as the rest of the PC-focused Momentum range, it’s just slightly larger to accommodate the much bigger panel. The tapered legs lie flush with your desk, and because they kink inwards rather than splaying outwards, it means the monitor remains exceptionally sturdy without dominating your desk space.
The 32M1N5800a has an outstanding range of ergonomic adjustments: Height can be adjusted by 130mm, the display can be tilted -5°/+20°, swivelled a massive -45°/+45°, and pivoted 90° either way into portrait orientation. This Momentum 5000 is also VESA 100 mount compatible if you’d prefer to wall mount it or use a monitor arm or third-party stand.
Philips has fitted the 32M1N5800a with an integrated power adapter, so there is no need for a power brick, which makes cable management much easier. Speaking of which, a good-sized cable management clip sits at the back of the downtube, and it’s big enough to fit a couple of display cables, the power cable and maybe a USB or two. As I use quite a few USB devices with the integrated hub, I just draped the extra USB cables over the back of the stand, which helped keep my setup clean and tidy.
The UI of the 32M1N5800a is concise, sensibly organised and simple to navigate. Like the other Momentum 5000 displays, the control joystick at the rear is set a bit too far back from the edge of the monitor, requiring a small stretch to reach, but it’s responsive and reliable. Philips has also improved its PC control app (Philips SmartControl), which lets you control most of the features of your monitor from your desktop (overdrive settings are unavailable via the app). It even let me control some basic features of my AOC monitor, too, but I can’t guarantee it will work for all brands.
Connectivity and Supported Resolutions
The Philips Momentum 32M1N5800a has a great selection of ports, let down only by the omission of USB-C: 2x HDMI 2.1 and 2x DisplayPort 1.4 inputs handle display connections for PCs and consoles, along with a 3.5mm audio out and a four-port USB 3.2 Gen1 hub which has 4 downstream USB-A ports (including two BC1.2 fast-charge ports).
The 32M1N5800 supports the following optimum resolutions:
HDMI 2.1: 3840*2160 @ 144 Hz
DisplayPort: 3840*2160 @ 144 Hz
The Momentum 32M1N5800a is both Freesync Premium certified and officially G-Sync compatible, with an adaptive sync window that spans 48-144 Hz via DisplayPort and HDMI, and supports Automatic Low Latency. If you want to hook up a gaming console or two, 4K @ 120Hz is supported on both Xbox Series consoles and the Sony PS5.
The integrated USB hub is a welcome addition, especially with the benefit of two fast-charge ports. Because there is no USB-C there’s no KVM switch, so you’ll have to physically switch the USB upstream cable between devices when needed. Even if you don’t need to use it connected to your PC, though, the hub is very useful for powering desk lighting and charging your phone or gadgets.
DisplayPort, HDMI and USB-B to A cables are included. The 32M1N5800a has an integrated power supply, which helps cut down on under-desk clutter, so there’s a simple kettle plug included (both EU and UK, in our sample).
Display analysis
The 32M1N5800a is a quality monitor, with great performance across the board. If there was a specific area of weakness, I would point towards panel uniformity, but even then, aside from the IPS glow, it’s not something I noticed without physically measuring it.
You can quite happily use this display straight out of the box, but small improvements can be made with a couple of easy changes. Even without a hardware colourimeter, you can check the gamma using the Lagom test, which will help you bring this into line if it’s slightly out like mine was. You can also install the Windows sRGB ICC colour profile, which I found made a small improvement to the overall colour balance, too.
Considering the price, this is a great larger-screen display for PC and console gaming, and unless you specifically want an HDR display, it’s worthy of making your shortlist.
Panel response
The Momentum 32M1N5800a has an average grey-to-grey response of <10ms across minor and major transitions, which is fantastic. Latency isn’t quite at the standards of the 240 Hz 1440p Momentum displays, but my averaged system latency of 25ms at 144 Hz is still very good, and should be suitable for most gamers who enjoy fast-paced games.
Motion blur using the default settings is minimal, but setting SmartResponse to Faster (equivalent to medium overdrive) effectively removed trailing edge blur. Even when gaming at 60 Hz, the Faster setting didn’t introduce any overshoot, so I’d recommend this as your go-to setting. (As usual, with SmartResponse set to Fastest, overdrive artefacts were rampant, with severe overshoot, inverse coronas and hideous flickering.)
Brightness, contrast and colour
The 6500 K temperature preset was slightly cooler than indicated, measuring 7100K. I lowered the Blue to 93/100, which brought this to 6483K. Either of these colour settings will give you a peak brightness of over 570 cd/m², which is suitable for very brightly lit rooms.
Black levels were much better than average for an IPS display, measuring 0.46 cd/m2 with the display set to maximum brightness, lowering consistently alongside the brightness level. This allowed the 32M1N5800a to achieve a contrast ratio of over 1200:1 right down to 200 cd/m², which is very desirable for nighttime viewing.
Nb: Brightness is locked to 100% in sRGB mode, which recorded 553 cd/m2, with a 6900K white point.
Colour reproduction is impressive, with the 32M1N5800a producing stunningly rich and vibrant images. It’s also remarkably well-balanced, when necessary. Skin tones appear natural, with a subtle definition in tone, and earthy and pastel hues also come through very well without becoming overly saturated.
The average sRGB DeltaE of 1.14 (colour accuracy) is respectable, though as you can see below, one of the Ocean Blue shades falls well beyond the perceivable limit. I ran the tests multiple times, including after calibration, and the results were identical. To be fair, I couldn’t see this in general use, and unless you strictly need the most accurate colour for content creation, it’s not likely that you’d even notice.
The gamma curve accuracy was quite far out using the 2.2 default, which actually measured >2.3. This darkened the image noticeably. Switching to the 2.0 gamma setting brought this closer to the ideal curve, albeit a little lighter, but it’s close enough.
Gamut coverage and HDR
Colour saturation and gamut coverage are excellent, as we’d expect from a premium display. The WLED backlight produces wide gamut coverage and wonderful vibrancy without oversaturation. DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB could be higher, but I have no complaints considering that most gamers will be utilising the sRGB colourspace.
The panel in the 32M1N5800a has 10bit (8bit+FRC) colour depth, allowing it to display up to 1.07 billion colours. Gamut coverage* is as we’d expect from a premium display, and comparable to other displays using similar 32” panels.
- sRGB 100% coverage – 135.7% volume
- AdobeRGB 80% coverage – 84.5% volume
- DCI-P3 86% coverage – 90.1% volume
*Coverage is how much of the gamut is covered, whilst volume includes any colour that extends beyond the defined gamut.
Unfortunately, HDR makes little difference on this display. The colourspace is expanded slightly, but I couldn’t get it to play nice with Windows HDR. It worked reasonably well for games, but movies and TV shows ended up darkened. It fared slightly better with an Xbox Series X, but simply turning up the brightness and staying in SDR gave a far better image, in my opinion. Local dimming could have helped, but in comparison to true HDR monitors, the HDR implementation here does little more than allow them to tick a box.
Viewing angles and uniformity
Panel uniformity is decent, with subtle differences just about noticeable around the display. It’s not something you’d pay much attention to in regular use, but there are some significant deviations in colour and brightness, especially in the lower right corner. The largest difference was around 40 cd/m², but this is at maximum brightness.
Colour accuracy is also average, with minor deviances recorded, but it certainly wasn’t distracting in any way.
There is no backlight bleed around the bezels, but there was distinct IPS glow visible in the lower corners of the display. It is by no means a deal breaker but should be noted as being more significant than other IPS displays I’ve tested. Off-angle viewing is very good, however, with the 32M1N5800a retaining clarity, contrast and colour from extreme angles.
Sound quality
The 32M1N5800a sports a pair of 5W speakers that do a barely passable job in lieu of headphones or bookshelf speakers. Bass frequencies are essentially non-existent, along with the lower mid-range, while higher frequencies and overly sharp and unpleasant. Lacking in width and with poor sound imaging, I couldn’t recommend using these speakers as anything other than an emergency backup.
Summary
Philips’ Momentum 5000 32M1N5800a is a compelling option for this price, especially for gamers with new-gen consoles as well as PCs. The integrated speakers are pretty dire, and the uniformity is only average, but this is easily outshone by the rest of the package, and the 32M1N5800a gets the important things right. Contrast is above average, responsiveness is exemplary, the brightness is suitably high, and colours are rich and vibrant. With its understated yet premium design and useful gamer-focused features, this monitor now takes pride of place on my desk.
