Asus Designo MX34VQ: 34 inch FreeSync 100 Hz curved monitor

Presentation

The Asus Designo MX34VQ has a 34 inch curved VA panel (radius of curvature 1800R) displaying a UWQHD definition of 3440 x 1440 px. The manufacturer announces a brightness of 300 cd / m², a contrast of 3,000: 1, viewing angles of 178 ° / 178 °, a response time of 4 ms and 95% coverage of the sRGB color space. This model is compatible with AdaptiveSync (FreeSync) between 48 and 100 Hz. It also has no flicker (Flicker-Free) and offers a blue light filter. Its two particularities reside in the induction charging system placed judiciously in the stand and in the Harman / Kardon audio system of 2 x 8 watts.

Sold between 850 and 900 €, this model competes with the Philips BDM3470UP, AOC U3477PQU, Iiyama ProLite XUB3490WQSU, Dell UltraSharp U3415W, LG 34UC98 and especially the last Philips 349X7F which seems to use the same panel.

---

Ergonomics

The Asus MX34VQ is part of the Designo range of the Taiwanese manufacturer which, as its name suggests, emphasizes design. The latter is ultimately quite sober and only the round foot is truly original. For the rest, the screen is entirely black with simply an anthracite gray lower edge. The 21: 9 panoramic screen is curved over a radius of 1.8 meters. The coating of the slab is matt, which avoids reflections.

If the design of the stand is unique, it is especially its integrated induction charger which makes its originality. Just place your smartphone on it to start recharging (see box).

Ergonomics is the weak point of this Asus monitor. It just settles the tilt between -5 and + 15 °. The stand is not rotatable and, above all, it is impossible to adjust the height of the screen, a feature that is far from anecdotal.

The back of the monitor is classic and sleek as possible. The connectors are oriented downwards and hidden by a hatch. On the other hand, Asus did not go through with the process since there is no cable grouping system. So you have to be tricky to make the cables disappear. Finally, the power supply is external.

The connection consists of a DisplayPort 1.2 input, three HDMI 2.0 inputs and a headphone output. The screen also has two 8-watt speakers, the quality of which is very good and eliminates the need for small speakers.

The monitor speakers do well between 150 and 8,000 Hz. It lacks deep bass, but the rendering is surprisingly good for a PC screen. The average distortion does not exceed 0.43%.

The joystick located under the screen provides quick and easy access to all settings. Pressing the button allows you to change the source, mode (presets) and access the settings (brightness, contrast, sharpness, overdrive, gamma, temperature, etc.). The menus are readable and the navigation is fluid. The other two buttons allow you to turn on the monitor or quickly change sources.

By lowering the brightness to 49 to obtain a white at 150 cd / m², the Asus MX34VQ consumes 35 watts, a relative consumption which does not exceed 84 W / m² and lower than the average of the monitors tested (100 W / m²).

---

Colors and contrast

Default: average gray temperature: 7.820 K

Default: gamma curve at 2.1

Default: Average Delta E at 2.8

By default, the rendering is not necessarily incredible. If the colors are correct (Delta E less than 3 - value below which the human eye no longer perceives color drifts), the range curve is irregular, with light gray and dark gray slightly overexposed. Measured at 7,820 K, the temperature is far from the 6,500 K reference.

Manual setting: average gray temperature: 7,460 K

Manual adjustment: gamma curve at 2.1

Manual setting: Average Delta E at 2.2

To improve the rendering, we lowered the backlight to 49 in order to obtain a white close to 150 cd / m², then we set the temperature to Warm. The average temperature thus drops to 7,460 K, but the curve remains decreasing. The gamma is identical while the color fidelity improves. The average Delta E thus drops to 2.2 and few colors exceed a Delta E of 4. The rendering is therefore satisfactory, nothing more.

Calibrated: average gray temperature: 7,000 K

Calibrated: gamma curve at 2.2

Calibrated: Delta E medium at 1.4

The calibration of the screen using a probe allows, as often, to stabilize the temperature and gamma curves which find a satisfactory profile. The average gamma is perfect (2.2) while the temperature is still a little too high. This color profile is available on this link.

The 34-inch VA panel offers a contrast of 1810: 1; pretty good in absolute terms, but far from that of the best VA panels (the Eizo Foris FG2421 and BenQ BL2410PT monitors exceed 3000: 1). This contrast is still twice as high as that of an IPS or TN model and therefore allows to benefit from a good depth of blacks.

The average difference in lighting uniformity is only 6% across the entire screen, which is excellent for a 34-inch screen. We found slight light leaks in the corners, but no clouding on our test model. As far as viewing angles are concerned, VA technology is a bit more directive than IPS technology, but the viewing angles remain wide enough, at least enough not to suffer from color variations.

---

Reactivity

The Asus Designo MX34VQ does not use Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to adjust the brightness. It therefore does not flicker and does not cause headaches for the most sensitive people. It also offers a blue light filter.

This monitor manages FreeSync between 48 and 100 Hz and therefore works optimally when the graphics card sends between 48 and 100 images per second; a fairly wide range that suits the UWQHD definition of the screen. In the operating range, fluidity is at the rendezvous and the image does not suffer from tearing problems or jerks (micro-stuttering).

The good surprise comes from the reactivity of this screen. We measured the remanence time at only 10 ms with the TraceFree set to 60. This value allows to limit the ghosting. Beyond that, a very unpleasant reverse ghosting appears. This monitor does as well as the models dedicated to games, like the Asus PG348 and the Acer Predator X34. Finally, we measured the delay in the display (input lag) at 10.5 ms (60 Hz). There is thus no offset between the source and the display on the monitor.

---

Conclusion

The Asus Designo MX34VQ is a good monitor that stands out above all with its induction charger and the quality of its built-in speakers. The good image quality, but nothing more, the absence of a USB hub and a height adjustment prevent it from obtaining the maximum score.

---