The XGIMI Horizon S Max is a long-throw 4k XPR DLP projector built around XGIMI's Dual Light 2.0 tri-laser + LED engine. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG, and IMAX Enhanced and adds ISA 5.0 setup features, which include uninterrupted auto-keystone/autofocus, obstacle avoidance, screen alignment, and wall-color adaptation, plus a flexible built-in stand and an electric sliding lens cover. It runs Android TV 11 with Google Cast, includes 64 GB storage, and uses dual 12W Harman/Kardon speakers. The fixed 1.2:1 throw covers 40–200 inches; that's roughly ~3.5 ft (40 inches) to ~17.4 ft (200 inches). Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, HDMI (eARC), and two USBs.
We've independently bought and tested over 60 projectors, and we've published all the detailed results for each so you can decide which one to buy. These have all been tested under the same standardized methodology, allowing you to compare them side by side. We still have all these projects in our lab so we can continually go back and compare them to ensure our reviews are still accurate. All our test methodology is also public on our website, so you can validate the results yourself.
Our Verdict
The XGIMI Horizon S Max is a great unit for watching movies. It's bright enough for rooms with a few scattered lights, and its contrast is solid enough to impress in darker contexts. It is very accurate right out of the box and is bright enough to project decent colors. The projector is easy to calibrate, a boon for purists who want an even more accurate image. It's also quite easy to set up due to its wide selection of ISA 5.0 image correction features and a fully rotating stand. Finally, it has Dolby Vision support.
Bright enough for rooms with few lights.
Solid contrast that impresses in most content.
Very accurate right out-of-the-box, and is easy to calibrate.
Wide color gamut.
A ton of smart features, alongside ISA 5.0.
Dolby Vision support.
The XGIMI Horizon S Max is a solid pick for casual gaming if you're fine with gaming at 60Hz. In Game Mode with Ultra-Low Latency enabled, input lag is decently low, so it feels responsive, although not quite enough for very fast-paced titles. There's no 120Hz support to lower the input lag further. The unit also offers solid image quality, as it's bright and colorful, with good overall contrast. Plus, it's quite accurate right out of the box. Ultimately, this a good choice for anyone wanting a good looking image for their single player gaming needs.
Bright enough for rooms with few lights.
Solid contrast that impresses in most content.
Very accurate right out-of-the-box, and is easy to calibrate.
Wide color gamut.
Low enough input lag for single player games.
No 120Hz mode to make the unit even more responsive.
Changelog
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Updated Nov 11, 2025:
We mentioned the newly reviewed XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max in the Differences Between Variants and Popular Projector Comparisons sections of this review.
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Updated Nov 04, 2025:
We mentioned the newly reviewed NexiGo TriVision Ultra in the Noise section of this review.
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Updated Oct 15, 2025:
We've added Imaging, Optics, Noise, Supported Resolutions, HDR Format Support, 3D, Input Lag, and Audio Passthrough boxes as a result of our latest test bench. We've also added a Gaming usage in the Verdict section.
- Updated Oct 03, 2025: We've converted the review to Test Bench 0.10, which updates our Design tests, and adds a whole new suite of Inputs tests. We also added new gaming-oriented usage scores in Our Verdict. See the 0.10 changelog.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The XGIMI Horizon lineup ranges from earlier LED-based models to newer Dual Light (laser+LED) flagships with higher brightness and Dolby Vision. Key differences include the light source, peak brightness, supported HDR formats, image-automation features (ISA version), optics (fixed throw vs limited zoom or built-in stand), OS/storage, and audio/I/O extras like eARC. The following table highlights some key differences.
| Model | Light Source | Resolution | HDR Formats | Setup / OS | Ports (highlights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon 20 Max | Laser (single) | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, IMAX Enhanced | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI 2.1 (eARC)×1 + HDMI×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.2 |
| Horizon S Max | Dual Light 2.0 (RGB laser+LED) | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG, IMAX Enhanced | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI (eARC)×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 5 |
| Horizon S Pro | Dual Light 2.0 | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI (eARC)×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 5 |
| Horizon Ultra | Dual Light (laser+LED) | 4k (XPR) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG | ISA 3.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI×2 (1×eARC), USB×2, LAN, optical out, Wi-Fi 6 |
| Horizon Pro | LED | 4k (XPR) | HDR10, HLG | ISA (earlier gen); Android TV 10 | HDMI×2, USB×2, LAN, optical out, Wi-Fi |
| Horizon | LED | 1080p | HDR10, HLG | ISA (earlier gen); Android TV | Typical: HDMI×2, USB×2, LAN |
Our unit was manufactured in December 2024.
Popular Projector Comparisons
The XGIMI Horizon S Max is a great product and is a noticeable improvement over the XGIMI Horizon Ultra. In particular, the Max's portability is vastly enhanced over its predecessor due to its fully rotating stand. Still, some of its competitors, like the Hisense C2 Ultra and the higher-end XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max, also have that feature while offering slightly better image quality. And if portability is what you're after, the Anker Nebula X1, with its integrated handle and excellent image quality, is a better pick. Still, the Horizon S Max still brings an interesting beige color scheme and a slightly smaller overall size than the aforementioned products, making it an interesting pick depending on your needs.
Check out our recommendations for the best 4k projectors and the best projectors for home theater. If you'd prefer to shop for a projector that you can use outdoors, look up the best outdoor projectors instead.
The Hisense C2 Ultra is a bit better than the XGIMI Horizon S Max, mostly due to the Hisense's brighter picture, which is noticeable. Otherwise, both units are pretty similar, with a rotating stand, a full suite of image correction features, and similar contrast.
The XGIMI Horizon S Max is better than the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra. While the Ultra is brighter overall, the Max fights back with deeper blacks and a more colorful image. It's also more portable due to its vast image correction features and fully rotating stand.
It's very close, but the XGIMI Horizon S Max is a bit better than the XGIMI AURA 2. They're very similar in terms of image quality, but the Max has the edge in colors. Its biggest advantage over the AURA 2, however, is in portability: the AURA 2 is a massive unit, while the Max is smaller and has a fully rotating stand.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 Max is a step up from the XGIMI HORIZON S Max. The 20 Max is brighter, has deeper contrast, and offers 120Hz and 240Hz support at 1080p. The S Max, for its part, is limited to 60Hz, with no high-refresh-rate support. Still, its input lag at 60Hz is much lower than the 20 Max's input lag at 60Hz, giving the former the edge for single-player titles played at 4k @ 60Hz.
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Global Controls
Test Results
The XGIMI Horizon S Max's brightness is very good. It's easily bright enough to deal with a few lights in an otherwise dim room. It's also very uniform, so you don't notice any dark spots in the image. As for colors, they're decent; the unit isn't bright enough to project very vibrant images, but they don't look faded or washed out either.
The projector's contrast is very good in most scenes. It struggles a little in very dim scenes or extremely bright ones, but even then, it's decent. Overall, this unit impresses when watched in darker rooms.
The projector's pre-calibration color accuracy in SDR is great out-of-the-box. Its blues are overrepresented in all shades of white, but so are reds (to a lesser extent), so the unit isn't excessively cold out-of-the-box. Its colors are mostly on target, although the unit struggles more with desaturated colors, and especially with whites.
There are two color temperature settings on this projector: one called Color Temperature and the other called Picture Color Temperature. Our tests are with Color Temperature set to 'Standard', and Picture Color Temperature set to 'Warm'. Doing it any other way makes gamma worse. The color space also had to be manually set to Rec. 709, as all other color spaces returned less accurate results.
The projector is quite easy to calibrate, and doing so really improves its overall accuracy. Note that setting Color Temperature to 'Custom' locks the maximum brightness to 9; it's impossible to raise it to 10 or 10+ (boost mode).
The XGIMI Horizon S Max has an incredibly wide color gamut. It easily displays the entirety of the Rec. 709 color space, and even overshoots it a little bit, but barely. It's also excellent in the wider Rec. 2020 color space that is sometimes used in HDR content, although cyans and greens are visibly undersaturated.
The XGIMI Horizon S Max has a single-chip 0.47-inch DMD with XPR pixel-shifting, so it's not native 4k, but it's still noticeably sharper than a regular 1080p projector. The projector uses XGIMI's Dual Light 2.0 (RGB laser + LED) light engine with an expected 20,000-hour lifespan. XGIMI does not list any user-replaceable lamp/module for this model; the user manual also says not to disassemble/repair it yourself.
The projector has a fixed-zoom lens with no optical zoom. Auto Focus and Auto Keystone are available, which are useful for quick setup, but try to avoid keystoning for the best sharpness.
Here are some typical throw distances:
- 40″ image: ~3.5 ft from the screen
- 80″ image: ~7 ft
- 100″ image: ~8.7 ft
- 150″ image: ~13 ft
- 200″ image: ~17.4 ft
Even though the XGIMI Horizon S Max is a home-theater model, it's easy to place thanks to the rotating built-in stand and electric sliding lens cover. Setup is quick with ISA 5.0: uninterrupted auto-keystone, uninterrupted autofocus, intelligent screen alignment, obstacle avoidance, plus wall-color adaptation and eye-protection.
Still, it's not a small projector, weighing 10.6 lbs, and there's no internal battery, so you'll need an outlet if you do happen to take it outside. For another similarly sized projector with a rotating stand, look at the JMGO N1S Ultimate.
Fan noise is noticeable but not distracting in a living room; it gets drowned out by audio relatively easily, unless you're sitting very close to the unit. If you prefer a quieter unit, consider the NexiGo TriVision Ultra instead.
The projector has one HDMI (eARC) port, two USB-A data ports, and a DC power input. For wireless connectivity, it has Wi-Fi 5 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth 5.1. Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG, and IMAX Enhanced are supported
With Game Mode and Ultra-Low Latency both enabled, the projector's input lag is decently low at 60Hz. This is fast enough for single-player titles, especially if you're not trying to play the game at its top difficulty setting or chasing trophies. Unfortunately, there's no high-refresh mode to lower the input lag further.
The HDMI port supports eARC, but it can't passthrough any external sources. Practically, this means you can connect a soundbar/AVR and get return audio from internal apps over eARC, but don't expect the projector to act as a hub that passes audio from an external HDMI device to your sound system.
The projector does 3D outside of Game Mode. Supports Side-by-Side, Top-And-Bottom, plus 3D-to-2D conversions (SBS and TAB).
