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The DF-recommended Spectrum One glossy 4K 144Hz monitor is down to $599 for Black Friday

A great price for a 27-inch HDMI 2.1 monitor that outshines its matte panel competition.

The Spectrum One is a great DF-recommended gaming monitor, with a 27-inch 4K 144Hz Fast IPS panel and an incredible glossy finish that stands in stark contrast to the matte screens monitors normally come with. The glossy Spectrum One normally retails for $700, but today you can pick it up for $100 less from B&H Photo in the US.

So what's the deal with that glossy screen? In short, this option delivers more vibrant colour and more impactful HDR than a matte finish, but reflections can be more distracting. With the right setup, you won't get reflections anyway, and this becomes a straight upgrade that makes games and films look significantly better - but this model is worth avoiding if you'd need to use it in a bright room with strong light falling on the screen.

I've been using a (matte) Spectrum as my primary monitor for the past two years, and it's been a reliable option in that time. Despite testing Mini LED VA monitors that offer better contrast and OLED models that come in larger sizes and look better in games, the Fast IPS panel of the Spectrum has proven my all-around favourite. It doesn't suffer from the text fringing or burn-in concerns of OLED, nor the slow pixel response times and narrower viewing angles of VA. Instead, you get great pixel response times, wide viewing angles, great colour reproduction and crisp text rendering - all great benefits to both my work and gaming, I'd argue.

There are some nice extra features here too, including a USB-C power delivery for connecting to a laptop and charging it with a single cable, and a perfect pixel scaling mode that delivers sharper results with low-res content (like retro consoles or pixel art indie games) than the usual nearest-neighbour scalers used in most monitors.

The biggest reason not to recommend the Spectrum has been its creator, Dough - formerly known as Eve. The start-up has struggled at times to provide adequate customer support and timely deliveries, which is a real shame given the quality of the Spectrum once it's in your hands.

Thankfully, Dough is now stocking the Spectrum through retailers like B&H Photo above, which makes it much easier to recommend this monitor - especially when it's also on sale.

Do note that this price is for the monitor only; you'll need to provide your own 100x100 VESA desk mount or stand. Given that you can get a really nice monitor arm for $36 that provides a way better experience than a stand, this isn't a major issue for me - but it's worth keeping in mind.

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Will Judd avatar

Will Judd

Deputy Editor, Digital Foundry

A bizarre British-American hybrid, Will turns caffeine into technology articles through a little-known process called 'writing'. His favourite games are Counter-Strike, StarCraft and Fallout 2. Will also tweets the latest tech deals at @DigitalFoundry.

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