MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED  Monitor Review

The MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED has a gamer-oriented aesthetic with a black plastic body and gold accents. It features down-facing RGB lighting on the bottom bezel, which you can see here. It even includes a mouse bungee, and you can place it on either side of the monitor, which you can see here.

The build quality is excellent. It feels solid, and the plastic body doesn't flex. Rubber feet on the stand prevent it from sliding easily, but the screen still wobbles, so you need a stable desk to place it on. One small annoyance is that the power cable measures 59" (1.5 m) and may be too small if your power source is far from the monitor.

The ergonomics are decent for an ultrawide monitor, but without having swivel range, it can be difficult to turn the screen to show to a friend. The back features matte plastic with vents on top, and cable management is serviced through the stand.

This monitor has a V-shaped stand that takes up a lot of space, and you can see what it looks like from the back here. The thickness is measured from the sides to the back of the stand, and the thickness from the center of the screen to the back of the stand is 8.9" (22.5 cm).

The thickness is measured from the sides to the back of the screen, and the thickness from the center of the screen is 3.3" (8.4 cm).

The controls consist of a power button, a button to open Gaming Intelligence if you have it installed (or you can use it as a hotkey), and a joystick to control the on-screen menu.

• DisplayPort cable
• HDMI cable
• USB-C cable
• USB-B to USB-A cable
• Audio splitter
• Power cable
• VESA wall-mount adapter screws
• Mouse bungee
• User guides, including calibration report

The MSI 342C has a near-infinite contrast ratio with perfect black levels thanks to its OLED panel. This means it can display deep blacks next to bright highlights when viewed in dark rooms. However, it's important to remember that ambient light causes the black levels to rise, so blacks look closer to purple in bright rooms.

The MSI MEG 342C doesn't have a backlight, so it doesn't require a local dimming feature. However, with a near-infinite contrast ratio, there isn't any blooming around bright objects, and it's the equivalent of a perfect local dimming feature. We still film these videos on the monitor so you can see how the screen performs and compare it with a monitor that has local dimming.

The SDR brightness is okay. It gets bright enough to fight glare in rooms with a few lights around, and while it isn't enough if you have direct sunlight in your room, it's best to avoid placing OLEDs in direct sunlight as it can damage the panel. Luckily, its brightness is very consistent across different scenes, and there isn't an aggressively distracting Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL).

The results are from after calibration with the following settings:

• Game Mode: User
• Brightness: 100
• Auto Brightness Control: Off
• Pixel Shift: Slow
• Static Screen Detection: Off

The MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED has okay HDR brightness. While it doesn't get as bright with real content as the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8/G85SB S34BG85 or the Dell Alienware AW3423DW, it still gets very bright with small highlights, and they pop against the rest of the image. The EOTF doesn't follow the target well either, as dark scenes are too dark, and other scenes are too bright. There's a sharp cut-off at the peak brightness, meaning it gets the brightest it can before your PC does any tone mapping.

These results are in the 'Peak 1000 nits' DisplayHDR mode, which lets it get bright, but it has an aggressive ABL. This can be noticeable when you're on the desktop, as you'll see some changes in brightness when opening and closing windows. If that bothers you, you can also use the 'True Black 400' DisplayHDR mode, for which you can see the results below. It doesn't get as bright, but the EOTF is also much better, following the target almost perfectly.

• Real Scene 346 cd/m²
• Peak 2% Window 436 cd/m²
• Peak 10% Window 444 cd/m²
• Peak 25% Window 362 cd/m²
• Peak 50% Window 309 cd/m²
• Peak 100% Window 262 cd/m²
• Sustained 2% Window 433 cd/m²
• Sustained 10% Window 440 cd/m²
• Sustained 25% Window 360 cd/m²
• Sustained 50% Window 307 cd/m²
• Sustained 100% Window 260 cd/m²
• ABL 0.034
• EOTF

The horizontal viewing angle is incredible. Although it isn't perfect, you won't have any issues as the image remains consistent from the sides.

The vertical viewing angle is fantastic. There's a bit of color shift going on at wide angles, but you need to stand above the monitor and look down on it from a tight angle to notice any difference.

The MSI MEG 342C has excellent gray uniformity. Solid colors across the screen look great, and there's no visible dirty screen effect in the center. However, like any OLED, it has thin vertical lines in dark scenes, but they're hard to notice unless you really look for them. You can see examples of what it looks like with darker grays in the Dell Alienware AW3423DW review here, which uses the same panel.

The MSI 342C has perfect black uniformity. Thanks to its OLED panel, it can turn individual pixels on and off, and there isn't any blooming around bright objects.

The accuracy before calibration in the sRGB mode is impressive. Some colors are still oversaturated, and gamma is too dark with really dark and really bright scenes, but other than that, the image is accurate. However, using the sRGB mode locks some settings like the Contrast and Color Temperature. You'd have to use another mode to unlock those settings, but you won't get the same accurate image, as you can see here.

The MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED has fantastic accuracy after a full calibration. While it isn't perfect, you won't notice any inaccuracies.

The SDR color gamut is incredible. It displays all the colors needed for the commonly used sRGB color space. It also displays a wide range of colors in Adobe RGB but oversaturates most colors, which isn't ideal for professional publishing.

The HDR color gamut is remarkable. It displays a wide range of colors in both the commonly used sRGB color space and the wider Rec. 2020 color space. Tone mapping is great with each color space, too, so images are life-like and realistic.

This monitor has incredible HDR color volume. Thanks to its QD-OLED panel, it displays colors as bright as pure white, and it doesn't have any issues displaying dark colors either.

The MSI 342C has okay text clarity, but it isn't as good as other 34-inch, 1440p monitors because of its triangular RGB subpixel layout. It's different from traditional RGB monitors, which have all three subpixels in a straight line, and computer programs are designed to render text with this subpixel layout. This means that text looks worse with a triangular RGB layout. Another downside is that there's color fringing around text, which is worse with ClearType enabled, and there's even color fringing around windows. You'll see a thin green line at the top of every open window and a thin red line at the bottom. The unique subpixel layout causes all this. The text clarity photos are in Windows 10; you can also see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on here and with ClearType off here.

These issues with clarity don't affect everybody, and whether you like it or not is a personal opinion. You can read our own subjective impressions about it here. There are also workarounds to this, as you can use the Better ClearType Tuner utility to try to further improve the text clarity.

You can see other examples of the color fringing with photos that we took with the Dell Alienware AW3423DW, and it's also valid for this monitor as it uses the same panel:

• White on black background - green color fringing on top
• White on black background - red color fringing on bottom
• White on black background - no color fringing on side
• Green and blue pixels - fringing on top
• Blue and red pixels - no fringing
• Green and red pixels - fringing on bottom

The glossy screen has fantastic reflection handling, and there aren't any distracting reflections from strong light sources. However, the main downside to using it in a bright room is that the black levels rise and look purple. This is because it lacks a polarizing layer, and it's the same issue as other QD-OLED monitors like the Dell Alienware AW3423DW. You can see examples of this with the Dell next to an IPS monitor, the ViewSonic XG2431, and an OLED monitor, the LG 42 C2 OLED.

Dark room
Bright room
Bright room - with LG C2

The MSI MEG 342C has incredible gradient handling, and you won't have any issues with banding of similar shades.

If you're looking for an ultrawide monitor with a higher refresh rate, check out the MSI MPG 341CQPX QD-OLED.

On top of supporting FreeSync and G-SYNC compatibility, this monitor also supports HDMI Forum VRR.

The MSI MEG 342C has outstanding motion handling across its entire refresh rate range with VRR enabled. CAD remains low throughout, and there's minimal blur with fast-moving objects.

The refresh rate compliance is outstanding. As it has a near-instantaneous response time, it makes full color transitions before drawing the next frame.

The CAD at the maximum refresh rate of 175Hz is outstanding. It displays fast-moving objects as intended, and motion is extremely sharp.

The CAD at 120Hz is outstanding. Pixels transition to their target RGB level almost instantly, so there isn't any blur trail. Although there's a bit of overshoot in dark transitions, it isn't noticeable.

The CAD at 60Hz is outstanding. Pixels transition colors almost perfectly, and any noticeable blur is persistent. At 120Hz, there's a bit of overshoot with dark transitions, but it isn't noticeable.

The MSI MEG 342C doesn't have an optional black frame insertion feature to reduce persistence blur.

Unfortunately, this monitor has bad VRR flicker with changing frame rates. It's very noticeable and distracting in dark scenes, and while it isn't so bad in brighter scenes, you can still see it in dark shadows. However, it isn't as much of an issue with consistent frame rates or if you disable VRR altogether.

The backlight isn't technically flicker-free because it has a slight dip in brightness that corresponds to the 175Hz refresh rate.

The MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED has very low input lag for a responsive feel while gaming, and it doesn't significantly increase at 60Hz.

Thanks to its HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, the MSI 342C supports any signal from the PS5, as long as you set the HDMI 2.1 setting to 'Console' instead of 'PC.' Unlike the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8/G85SB S34BG85, it even supports 4k @ 120Hz, as it downscales a 4k signal to 1440p, which results in a more detailed image than native 1440p, but because the PS5 doesn't support ultrawide gaming, you'll see black bars on the sides.

Thanks to its HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, the MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED supports any signal from the Xbox Series X|S, as long as you set the HDMI 2.1 setting to 'Console' instead of 'PC.' Unlike the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8/G85SB S34BG85, it even supports 4k @ 120Hz, as it downscales a 4k signal to 1440p, which is useful because the Xbox only supports HDR with 4k signals.

The power input is located on the left side of the back, as you can see here. The audio port on the back serves as a combo port with both audio out and mic in, and there are separate ports for each of those on the side.

The 65W of power delivery from the USB-C port is high enough to charge most smaller laptops while you're using them, but it isn't enough for power-hungry, bigger laptops.

The MSI 342C works without issue with macOS. VRR works well, and HDR looks great too. The Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL) isn't too aggressive in HDR, so you can enable HDR even on the desktop, and there won't be any distracting changes in brightness. Even if you're using a MacBook, you can close the lid and continue using it if you have it connected over USB-C, and windows return to their position when reopening the lid.

The MSI MEG 342C has extra features that improve the user experience. It has a KVM switch that makes it easy to switch between sources and use the same keyboard and mouse connected to the monitor. It works well and is responsive even if changing sources takes a couple of seconds. For example, if you have a MacBook and Windows PC connected and put the MacBook to sleep, the KVM automatically switches to the PC. It performs best when you have Gaming Intelligence installed. On top of the KVM switch, it has Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture modes to view two images at the same time, and it has different settings for how you can display the images.

As with other OLED panels, it has a few settings to mitigate the risk of permanent burn-in when exposed to the same static elements over time.

• Pixel Shift: This is meant to move the image by a few pixels at a time so that each pixel isn't always displaying the same thing. You can set it to 'Slow,' 'Normal,' or 'Fast,' so while you can't turn it off, it's very hard to notice it's happening with it set to 'Slow.'
• Static Screen Detection: Reduces the brightness of static elements, like logos, that have been on the screen for a long time.
• Panel Protect: This feature is to give a full pixel refresh cycle to reduce the risk of permanent burn-in. A message pops up every four hours of usage to run the cycle, which takes a couple of minutes to complete. However, the message can pop up at any time, including while you're gaming. You can cancel it when the message pops up, but it will either pop up again four hours later or run the cycle the next time you turn the monitor off or put it in standby. If you're concerned about the message popping up during critical times of your games, you can also manually run the cycle before the four-hour mark, and you can see how long it's been since the last cycle in the OLED Panel Info page of the settings menu. It also has an option for a longer refresh cycle that takes about an hour and runs after 1,500 hours of usage.

The monitor has some other extra features, like:

• Ambient RGB Light: Matches the RGB lighting on the monitor to ambient light in your room.
• HDMI CEC: It supports the HDMI CEC standard, so it will automatically turn on when you power up compatible devices like consoles.
• HDMI 2.1: There's a setting to change HDMI 2.1 between 'PC' and 'Console.' As the names suggest, you need to set it to 'PC' when you have a PC connected to reach the native resolution and max refresh rate, and 'Console' is used for 4k @ 120Hz gaming from consoles.
• Smart Crosshair and Optix Scope: These are two different settings for various crosshairs and scope features, making it easier to see opponents in games. Your games' anti-cheating tools won't detect it, giving you a competitive advantage.
• Sound Tune: There's a mic on the front bezel that supports ANC, but you need to have the USB-B cable plugged into your computer for it work.

While you can access most of the settings through the on-screen display, you have extra settings with the downloadable Gaming Intelligence program. Some of these settings that are only available with Gaming Intelligence include Ray Tracing, Macro Key, Windows Layout, and mice and keyboard settings.