BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K Monitor Review

The BenQ Zowie XL2546K has a plain and simple design that isn't too heavy on the gamer aesthetic, so it should fit easily into most office environments. The borders are a little on the thicker side compared to other recent monitors. Like the BenQ Zowie XL2540, anti-glare shields are included in the box.

The stand is relatively small and entirely plastic. Unfortunately, it isn't stable, and the monitor wobbles a lot when nudged.

The ergonomics are excellent. It allows for all manner of adjustments, making it easy to adjust the screen to your ideal viewing position.

The back is plain except for the branding and the headphone hook on the right. There's a cutout on the stand for cable management and a quick-release feature to remove the stand for VESA-mounting.

The borders are a little thick and protrude from the screen.

Both the monitor and the stand are of moderate thickness.

The build quality is okay as it's entirely made out of plastic and feels a bit cheap. The stand isn't particularly stable, and the monitor wobbles a lot. The adjustment hinges are sturdy, but adjusting the display doesn't feel smooth and causes the whole monitor to move. Also, you can easily separate the bezels from the screen.

As is expected of most TN panels, the BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K has a sub-par contrast ratio, resulting in blacks that look gray in dark rooms. It's a bit lower than the advertised 1000:1; however, contrast can vary between individual units.

The Benq XL2546K doesn't have a local dimming feature. The video above is provided for reference only.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K has decent SDR peak brightness, a bit lower than the advertised 320 cd/m². It's remarkably consistent when displaying different scenes, but it might not be bright enough to overcome glare in well-lit environments. If you want a monitor that gets significantly brighter, check out the ASUS TUF Gaming VG258QM.

We measured the SDR peak brightness after calibration in the 'Standard' Picture Mode with Brightness set to max. Calibration seems to reduce the screen's overall peak brightness, as we were able to reach 335.2 cd/m² before calibration, which is much closer to the advertised brightness.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

The BenQ XL2546K has mediocre horizontal viewing angles. You lose image accuracy almost as soon as you move off-center, which isn't ideal if you want to share content or play co-op games.

Poor vertical viewing angles. This makes the image look inaccurate if you have the monitor mounted above eye level.

Gray uniformity is good; however, this can vary between units. The upper edge of the screen is darker, and although it's better in near-dark scenes, you can still see the difference in shade between the top and bottom half of the screen. Thankfully, dirty screen effect is pretty minimal.

Our BenQ XL2546K has mediocre black uniformity; however, this may vary between units. The whole screen is blue/gray, and there's some clouding here and there.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K has decent accuracy out of the box. Most colors and shades of gray are slightly inaccurate, and the cold color temperature gives the image a slight blueish tint. Gamma doesn't follow the sRGB curve all that well, resulting in most scenes appearing brighter than they should. Note that accuracy can vary between units.

Accuracy is exceptional after calibration. The remaining color inaccuracies shouldn't be visible with the naked eye. White balance is nearly perfect, and the color temperature is much closer to our 6500k target. Gamma is much improved, but some dark and bright scenes are over-brightened.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit due to manufacturing tolerances, even for the same model.

The BenQ XL2546K has an excellent SDR color gamut. It covers the commonly-used sRGB color space almost entirely, and it has good Adobe RGB coverage, a color space that's mostly used for photo editing.

Excellent color volume. It only has trouble displaying dark colors due to its low contrast ratio.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K doesn't support HDR.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K doesn't show any signs of image retention; however, this can vary between units.

Great gradient handling. There's banding in most colors, but it's more noticeable in the grays and greens.

There's a little bit of vertical color bleed, but it isn't noticeable in regular content.

Great reflection handling. The matte anti-reflective coating works very well at reducing the intensity of reflected lights. However, visibility can still be an issue as the screen might not get bright enough to overcome intense glare. That said, there are anti-glare panels included if glare is a problem.

Decent text clarity. Enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) improves diagonal lines such as on the R and N. The pixels are blurry due to the monitor's matte anti-reflective coating.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K has exceptional response time at its max refresh rate. Images are clear in fast-moving scenes, but there are some dark artifacts, most notably on the moving object's leading edge. It's recommended to leave the overdrive setting at 'Off' because the other options add too much overshoot.

The response time at 60Hz is great. The image is blurrier than at max refresh rate, but there are less dark artifacts. The recommended overdrive setting is 'High' because it provides the best performance with an acceptable overshoot level. This means you have to change the overdrive setting if your game's frame rate drops to 60Hz.

The backlight is flicker-free at all backlight levels, which helps minimize image duplication and reduce eye strain.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K has an optional Black Frame Insertion feature that can improve motion clarity called DyAc+. It can be enabled at any refresh rate, but the flickering doesn't match the refresh rate below 100Hz, which results in visible image duplication due to crosstalk. Also, it isn't usable while VRR is active.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K has a high refresh rate to deliver smooth gameplay and supports FreeSync to reduce screen tearing. It's compatible with G-SYNC as well, but it only works over a DisplayPort connection.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K has remarkably low input lag. It's higher at 60Hz, but it shouldn't be noticeable for most people.