Hands On With Eve's Spectrum 4K Display

Eve Spectrum bills itself as the first crowd-developed monitor, and it was in the works for quite some time ahead of launch. The Eve Spectrum is now shipping out and available, so we thought we'd test it out to see if it's worth picking up.


There are three versions of the 27-inch Spectrum display. For $459, you can get a Spectrum QHD with a 144Hz refresh rate, while a 240Hz version is available for $609. A 4K version is also available with a 144Hz refresh rate, and this top-of-the-line version costs $799. The Spectrum stand for those who aren't using a VESA mount is an additional $99.

MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has been testing the 4K 144Hz version, and he found the design to be minimal, clean, and subtle, and for video editing work, it performed well.

Colors were accurate and natural and viewing angles were solid, but there is some light bleed with blacks and contrast doesn't quite measure up to some other displays at this price point.

Gameplay was smooth thanks to the high refresh rate, and the high contrast and peak brightness made games look great. There were times, however, that the video feed would die, and it's unclear if the issue was a cable or a port.

The Eve Spectrum comes equipped with a single DisplayPort port, two HDMI 2.1 ports, two USB-C ports, and one USB-A port, along with an audio port. There's no Thunderbolt support, but with a 100W USB-C port, it can charge even the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

There are few gaming monitors with these specs and HDMI 2.1, so for those who need these features, the Spectrum may be worth checking out. Make sure to watch the full video up above to see it in action.

Update:Those interested in purchasing the Eve Spectrum monitor should know that Eve previously launched preorders for a V laptop and did not deliver the product. There are also complaints on Reddit from users who preordered a Spectrum display and have not yet received it.

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Top Rated Comments

Christopher Kim Avatar
48 months ago

4k @ 27" is in an odd spot, in my opinion. Pixel-doubling would put you at an effective resolution of 1920x1080 which makes things very large at that scale. If you run it at an effective resolution of 2560x1440, you end up with blurry text.
The last sentence isn't really true, particularly on macOS. I'm currently running my 2016 13" MBP in closed clamshell mode into an older 4K 27" LG monitor (UD68). I run it at "Looks like 2560 x 1440".

macOS HiDPI scaling basically doubles the effective resolution from 2560 x 1440 to 5120 x 2880, and then downscales it to fit the 3840 x 2160 4K resolution of the monitor. It doesn't look blurry at all - in fact, it looks almost as good as it would running on a true 5K monitor. And still better than it would just running 2560 x 1440 resolution on a standard QHD 2560 x 1440 monitor (with no pixel doubling). The only downside to doing it this way is the non-integer scaling reduces GPU performance.

There are very few 5K monitors out there at the 27" size, and so from a budget standpoint, 4K @ 27" can be nice bang-for-buck.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
48 months ago
Dan Barbera! Let's do a giveaway tomorrow of this bad boy :)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Eightarmedpet Avatar
48 months ago
I think you need to mention Eve's bad past they have currently not fully escaped from.
They are still up to a few naughty things too, such as declaring these monitors at 1/4 value to get them through customs cheaper.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andrewxgx Avatar
48 months ago
so you have decent 4k display at the price of pro xdr display stand?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghanwani Avatar
48 months ago
Maybe crowd spec’d it from available options at an ODM. For sure, crowd didn’t develop anything.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Joe_ Avatar
48 months ago
Not sure about this company since they don’t have the greatest track record.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)