Samsung U32J590/UJ59 Monitor Review

The Samsung U32J590 has a decent stand. It is slightly thicker than the stand on the CF398, and it supports the monitor better. The monitor does wobble quite a bit though, even from the vibrations caused by typing aggressively.

Unfortunately, the UJ590 has terrible ergonomics. The stand can be tilted, but has a smaller tilt range than the UE590 and CF398.

The back of the monitor is very plain. There is a single vent that spans nearly the entire width of the monitor. The inputs can be difficult to access when the monitor is VESA mounted. There is only very basic cable management.

The borders are thin and look good. There is almost no gap between the border of the monitor and the screen.

The stand on the U32J590UQN sits back from the monitor, and prevents it from being placed flush with a wall. When the stand is removed to VESA mount it, the UJ590 is very thin.

Overall, the Samsung UJ59 has decent build quality. It is a bit more sturdy than the CF398, but not quite as good as the BenQ EW3270. Most of the monitor is made of plastic, but there don't appear to be any significant gaps or issues.

The Samsung U32J590 has a very good native contrast ratio, nearly identical to the CF398. This is a significant improvement over the previous model, the UE590, which had a TN panel and low native contrast.

This monitor does not have a local dimming feature, the above video is for reference only.

Disappointing peak brightness, the worst we've tested so far. The Samsung UJ59 isn't an ideal choice if you have a bright room. If you want a similar monitor that can get brighter to combat glare, check out the Dell S3221QS.

HDR is not supported on the U32J590

Disappointing horizontal viewing angles, nearly identical to the Samsung UE590 and LG 32UD59. The black levels rise rapidly at even moderate angles. Colors stay accurate even at wide angles, which is great, and the brightness only drops to half at an even wider angle, which is great.

Decent vertical viewing angles, as good as the LG 32UD59, and above average for VA panels. Whether you are looking at this monitor from above or below doesn't matter, the image remains accurate even at moderate angles. At around 30° the colors become inaccurate and the black levels are too high.

Great gray uniformity. Again, the UJ590 is nearly identical to the CF398. When playing sports games or browsing the web, there is below average dirty screen effect (DSE), which is great. In near-dark scenes the uniformity is even better, with very little DSE.

The Samsung UJ590 has decent black uniformity. There is some clouding noticeable, but very little backlight bleed or flashlighting.

Out of the box, the Samsung U32J590UQN has good accuracy. The white point and color error are high enough that some enthusiasts might notice it, but not high enough to be noticeable by most people. The gamma curve is a bit high, so some darker scenes appear too dark. Finally, the color temperature is a bit on the cool side.

After calibration, nearly all inaccuracies are corrected. The gamma follows the target curve nearly perfectly, and any remaining inaccuracies in the white balance and color are not noticeable. The color temperature is much closer to the calibration target of 6500 K.

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

s.RGB Picture Mode: User (Calibrated)
Adobe RGB Picture Mode: User

The Samsung UJ59 has an excellent SDR color gamut. It almost perfectly covers the smaller s.RGB color space, and has excellent Adobe RGB coverage as well, great for professional photo and video editing. These results are nearly identical to the CF398 and LG 32UD59-B.

s.RGB Picture Mode: User
Adobe RGB Picture Mode: User

Outstanding SDR color volume. The Samsung U32J590 can produce bright and dark colors across the entire color gamut at almost all brightness levels.

The U32J590 does not support HDR, and so it cannot display an HDR color gamut.

HDR is not supported on the U32J590UQN.

There are no signs of temporary image retention on the UJ590, even immediately after displaying our high contrast static test pattern for 10 minutes.

Excellent gradient handling. There is some banding visible in darker scenes, but not enough to cause any issues under normal use.

There are no pixel errors whatsoever, which is great.

Decent reflections handling, similar to the VG245H and the Samsung UE590.

Standard
Faster
Fastest

The U32J590 has a very good response time. There is a slight blur-trail behind fast moving objects, but this shouldn't be very noticeable with normal content.

There are some duplications noticeable in our photo due to the PWM flicker. This should not be noticeable under normal viewing conditions, as most people will have the backlight set bright enough that there is no flicker.

The Response Time setting can be adjusted to customize the Overdrive. There are three levels, but we recommend using 'Standard'. The other two modes provide slightly faster response times, but with higher levels of overshoot that may bother some people.

Unfortunately, the Samsung U32J590 uses PWM to dim the backlight. There is flicker at a setting of '30' or below. Since the monitor is not very bright, this shouldn't be an issue for most people, as there is no flicker at higher brightness settings.

Update 05/10/2019: We have retested the UJ590 with NVIDIA drivers 430.39, and FreeSync is now working properly on our GTX 1060 6 Gb, but only with the FreeSync setting on the monitor set to 'Ultimate'.

The maximum refresh rate is 60 Hz, which may disappoint some people. It supports FreeSync over HDMI and DisplayPort.

FreeSync has two modes on this monitor: Ultimate Engine provides the widest FreeSync range, and results in the least amount of screen tearing. In some cases, there may be some noticeable screen flicker in this mode, which can be reduced by switching to the Standard Engine, although this mode has a reduced VRR range of 50-60 fps.

Excellent low input lag in any mode, even with FreeSync enabled.

The 32", 4k screen is great for multitasking, as it provides a great deal of screen real estate. It also provides for a more immersive gaming experience.

The U32J590UQN has two HDMI ports, but only HDMI 2 supports 4k @ 60 Hz, whereas HDMI 1 is limited to 4k @ 30 Hz.