The Nixeus EDG34S economizes the otherwise premium segment of 3440 x 1440 ultrawide monitors with a 144Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals. 100Hz to 120Hz models used to cost a thousand bucks, but the price point was recently inherited by identical 144Hz monitors like the LG 34GK950F at launch. The Nixeus EDG34S has a ton of potential like its 16:9 siblings, so let’s check out how it compares to its established rivals.
Nixeus EDG34S Specifications
- Screen Size: 34Inches
- Resolution: 3440 x 1440 UW-QHD
- Aspect Ratio: 21:9
- Panel Technology: Vertical Alignment
- Refresh Rate: 144Hz
- Response Time: 4ms
- Contrast Ratio: 3000:1 (Static)
- Brightness: 400 cd/m²
- Built-in Speakers: No
- Stand: Height – Yes
- Stand: Tilt – Yes
- Stand: Swivel – Yes
- Stand: Pivot – No
- VESA Compatibility: Yes
- Connectivity: DisplayPort 1.4x 1, HDMI 0 x 2, USB 3.0 x 2, 3.5mm Audio Jacks
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 32.01” x 17.99” x 4.02”
- Weight: 24.47 lbs
Design and Features
The Nixeus EDG34S sports a minimalist design that would make you mistake it for an office monitor unless you look at its back panel. The device is finished entirely in matte black save for a few red accents on top of the metallic stand. The display is bezel-free on three sides, freeing up almost every square inch of the massive screen for viewing.
The Nixeus EDG34S is noticeably lacking the chunkiness of its competitors, but it isn’t lightweight at around 25 pounds. The device also needs almost three feet of width on a desk since its obviously bigger than your typical office monitor. The device doesn’t wobble thanks to a centralized attachment point which is stronger than most who use the bottom part of the housing.
What makes the design of the Nixeus EDG34S distinct is its trio of red LED strips at apexes at the attachment point for the stand. The lights add a gentle glow which can act as a bias light, but unfortunately, you can’t change the colors since it’s fixed at red. You can also deactivate them if in case the lights bother you while gaming.
Build quality for the Nixeus EDG34S isn’t best we’ve seen due to the abundant use of plastic all over the product. The monitor still feels sturdy, but there are some areas of the wide chassis where minor flexing happens. We think this is all reasonable considering the price, and as long as the monitor doesn’t topple over or drop to the floor, it’s going to be fine.
It’s also worth noting that the Nixeus EDG34S does have OSD buttons instead of a widely preferred joystick. The layout is located at the bottom bezel on the right-hand side, so there are times where you have to extend your reach to access them. The monitor doesn’t have a lot of settings to tinker with, but it can get irritating if you miss-press a button while trying to adjust the brightness in the dark.
Another limitation on the Nixeus EDG34S is its stand only offers tilt which can be troublesome for some users. The display sits a bit low especially for taller users, so height adjustments would have been handy here. You can, however, use the included adapter plate to mount the EDG34S to a VESA mount, but that adds cost to the purchase and you lose the flip-out headset hanger at the tip of the upright.
What we like about the Nixeus EDG34S is it includes a variety of connectivity options that you would normally find on a high-end display. The video inputs include two DisplayPort 1.4 slots and two HDMI 2.0 slots which supports 144Hz and 100Hz operation respectively. There are no USB slots, but the four signal inputs enhance this device’s usability if you are a multi-platform gamer.
Display and Performance
The Nixeus EDG34S sports a 34-inch Samsung VA panel with a 3440 x 1440 resolution, 144Hz maximum refresh rate, and 4ms typical response time. The monitor is rated to be DisplayHDR 400 compatible thanks to its 400 cd/m2 backlight and 3000:1 contrast ratio. This model has a sharper, 1500r curve which places the corners closer to your peripherals, but you have to sit at dead-center to enjoy its benefits.
The Nixeus EDG34S is well balanced when it comes to sharpness and visibility with its 109PPI which is comparable to a 27-inch QHD monitor. The screen provides fantastic detail in games, but you don’t have to squint or use scalers to read walls of text. This characteristic makes the product ideal for both work and play, but sadly, it doesn’t support PiP or PbP modes for multitasking.
The Nixeus EDG34S covers a little over 100% of the sRGB gamut and around 87% of the DCI-P3 color space for vibrant images. However, default accuracy is dismal due to color errors which reached an average of DeltaE 3.9 which means deviances are noticeable. The screen also looks warmer than the ideal 6500K, which in turn, produces the errors.
The good news that the Nixeus EDG34S does respond to tweaking and calibration, so you can reduce the DeltaE manually around 3.0 or to an excellent DE of 1.2 with a colorimeter. Gamma doesn’t move a lot at 2.21 to 2.25 between these states, ensuring the scenes on display aren’t too bright or dim.
The Nixeus EDG34S also provided strong performance in contrast, reaching as much as 2100:1 by default and 2350:1 once calibrated. The backlight fails to reach its specification since it maxes out at 370 cd/m2 which is too bright for regular use, but insufficient for HDR. The monitor isn’t able to produce the wider range and increase in lighting detail you’d expect from an HDR display, but that’s fair considering this is a budget model.
Panel uniformity for the Nixeus EDG34S is decent considering that colors looked even across the massive display area. However, a bit of backlight bleeding on the top corners appears when an all-black image is on display. Clouding is minimal in darker scenes from games like Modern Warfare, but this aspect could vary between unit to unit.
The Nixeus EDG34S isn’t immune to the blurring woes of its panel type unless you utilize its overdrive feature. We recommend the middle setting as the best option since it doesn’t induce noticeable overshoot while making the pixels fast enough to clear up the ghosting. The highest level doesn’t do much better with regards to the latter, but inverse ghosting will appear even if the pace of scenes is moderate.
The Nixeus EDG34S is a FreeSync gaming monitor with a 48Hz to 144Hz functional range and LFC or Low Framerate Compensation enabled. The device also works with G-Sync, so Nvidia users still get to enjoy buttery-smooth frames and tear-free gaming. Input lag sits at 11ms which means there should be no noticeable delays or “de-synced” instances while playing.
Thoughts on the Nixeus EDG34S
The Nixeus EDG34S provides excellent value at the sub-$600 price point compared to alternatives like the LG 34GK950F which when regularly priced cost twice. The VA panel in this offering is capable of decent responsiveness and comprehensive color-coverage which makes it ideal for immersive gaming. It does need a bit of love and elbow grease to improve, but that’s expected from budget models.
The biggest downsides of the Nixeus EDG34S are its semi-permanent quirks like the tilt-only stand or its use of OSD buttons. The image quality is disappointing compared to the LG, but you can work around it and the latter has a more refined Nano IPS panel at a higher price. Overall, this model is a great buy if you want a QHD ultrawide that’s faster than the more common 100Hz and 120Hz models out there.
About the Author:
Paolo is a gaming veteran since the golden days of Doom and Warcraft and has been building gaming systems for family, friends, and colleagues since his junior high years. High-performance monitors are one of his fixations and he believes that it’s every citizen’s right to enjoy one. He has gone through several pieces of hardware in pursuit of every bit of performance gain, much to the dismay of his wallet. He now works with Monitornerds to scrutinize the latest gear to create reviews that accentuate the seldom explained aspects of a PC monitor.
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