The Evnia is the Dutch TV giant’s new line of gaming monitors, and after testing the 42M2N8900, it’s now time for the 34-inch model, which in many ways is the flagship of this chalk-white line of monitors. 34M2C8600 is a 34-inch QD OLED display with a resolution of 3440×1440 and an operating frequency of 175hz. It’s based on a Samsung panel that’s now been used in six different gaming monitors in the last year, and the panel itself is without a doubt one of the best you can buy right now.
On paper, this is a real show-off in many ways. Offering 1000 nits of maximum brightness (HDR), lightning-fast response times, 99% DCI-P3 and Ambiglow on the back of the chassis, and 1800R of curvature, I think it’s perfect for the size and format. There’s a DP port (1.4), two HDMI 2.0 inputs (unfortunately not 2.1, which is a miss in my opinion) and a USB C port. Honestly, it seems ridiculous that Philips doesn’t offer at least one HDMI 1230 input for all console gamers who want to run their PS5 or Xbox Series X consoles at 2.1Hz, which means I’d only recommend this monitor for computer use.only
Design-wise, this screen is super gorgeous. Colored in white, the back cover looks luxurious and unique, and the base is well designed and flexible. It’s easy to turn the screen 90 degrees higher for those who want to, and it’s very easy to raise or lower it. Out of the box, our test screen already framed images well, except that the colors were a little oversaturated, like Samsung’s OLED panels. This isn’t really a problem as the images are intense, bright, vivid, colourful, sharp and pleasing to the eye, but for those who want to measure out as natural an image as possible, you’ll want to desaturate the colors. Unfortunately, the OSD leaves something to be desired, as the RGB colors can’t be adjusted individually, which is unusual in this price range. Instead, we have to set the entire color temperature here, which also changes the near-perfect white balance out of the box, which is a bit of a shame if I’m being picky here. I’d really like to see smooth, simple settings for dialing in the red, green, and blue portions of the panel.
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Minus that, as I said, the images are absolutely stunning. There’s really nothing to be desired about 1000 nits of contrast, facial contrast, blacks, grayscale, color, speed and brightness in HDR. You won’t find any lag or cloudiness here, and Samsung’s QD OLED panel has to be praised for the way it handles motion. Being able to blast away at 175Hz in Warzone and take advantage of all the benefits OLED has to offer as an imaging technology is a pure joy, and in many ways I think this panel is the best on the market right now . I just wish Philips had a good taste and included an HDMI 2.1 port and individual color channel controls. And then we’re going to look at the maximum rating here.
