BenQ ZOWIE XL2546X Monitor Review

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546X has a simple design with a definite gamer aesthetic. The bezels are roughly the same thickness on all four sides, but they're thicker and deeper than more premium models. There are two removable, adjustable shields on either side of the monitor to help keep you focused on your game. It has a few nice convenience features, including a built-in headphone hook to keep your desk organized when you're not gaming.

The build quality is decent. The monitor's plastic panels don't flex, and its all-plastic construction is solid. However, height and swivel adjustments require some force.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546X has impressive ergonomics, so you can easily adjust it to an ideal viewing position. The height adjustment even has a ruler, so you can quickly adjust it to the perfect height depending on your needs. Next to the ruler there's a loop for cable management.

The monitor's stand ensures there's minimal wobble if you tap the monitor on the edge. Despite the stand being on an angle, the thickness of the display remains the same at any height. You see how the display looks when the shading hoods are fully opened.

There's a joystick on the back of the monitor for navigating the monitor's on-screen display, as well as a power and input button. There's also an external S Switch controller that makes it even easier to navigate the menus and change settings on the fly.

• HDMI cable
• DisplayPort cable
• S Switch (remote)
• Shading hoods (installed on monitor)
• Plugs for shading hood holes
• Power cable
• User documentation and guides

The contrast is adequate, but deep blacks appear gray in a dark room. There's also no local dimming feature to improve the contrast between bright and dark areas of the screen.

Unfortunately, this monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. However, we still filmed this video on it so you can compare the backlight performance to another monitor with local dimming.

The SDR brightness is decent. It's bright enough to overcome all but the brightest glare, like a large bright window, and there's very little variation in brightness with different content. These measurements are taken after calibration, in the 'Standard' Mode, with the Brightness at max.

Without calibration, the monitor's maximum brightness is around 350 cd/m² across all peak and sustained windows, and the real scene brightness is 300 cd/m². If you don't need an accurate image and want to overcome bright glare, you may prefer to leave your monitor uncalibrated, as it's brighter before calibration.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

Unfortunately, the horizontal viewing angle is disappointing. Colors shift rapidly as you move off-center and appear noticeably washed out at a moderate angle, so it's not ideal for sharing your screen with someone sitting beside you.

Unfortunately, like all monitors with a TN panel, the vertical viewing angle is sub-par. If you're standing up and looking down at the monitor the image fades and appears washed out, but if you're looking at it from below, the image is completely inverted and looks bad.

The gray uniformity is mediocre. The edges of the screen are significantly darker than the center. While there's some dirty screen effect in the center, it's not nearly as bad as the decrease in brightness at the edges.

The black uniformity is alright. The screen is a bit cloudy throughout due to the low contrast ratio, and there's no local dimming feature to improve this.

The accuracy before calibration is decent. It doesn't have a dedicated sRGB mode, and colors are oversaturated. Additionally, the white balance is mediocre, and the color temperature is far too cool, so the image has a blue tint. Finally, the gamma doesn't follow the sRGB curve very well, as darker and brighter scenes are too dark.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic, and you won't notice any inaccuracies.

The SDR color gamut is fantastic, and the monitor has incredible coverage of the sRGB color space. However, it has more limited coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing, and it doesn't display several colors accurately in that color space.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

The text clarity is decent. With ClearType on (top photo), diagonal lines appear bolder. These photos are in Windows 10, and you can also see them in Windows 11 with ClearType on and with ClearType off.

The reflection handling is great. You can see the monitor in most environments, as its matte coating effectively overcomes glare.

The gradient handling is great. There's noticeable 8-bit banding since this monitor can't display 10-bit gradients.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546X has impressive motion handling across its entire refresh rate range with VRR enabled. It has a few different overdrive settings, which are called AMA, including a 'Custom' setting that has a slider. Setting it to '11' results in the most consistent performance across the entire refresh rate range, but 'High' is a good choice if your games maintain high frame rates.

The refresh rate compliance is excellent. The 'Custom 11' and 'High' overdrive settings perform similarly. However, the response time isn't fast enough to take full advantage of the monitor's high refresh rate. That said, it's much better at lower refresh rates.

The CAD at the max refresh rate of 240Hz is excellent, and fast-moving objects look crisp. While both 'High' and 'Premium' overdrive settings have a similar CAD, 'High' has less overshoot.

The CAD at 120Hz is great, and fast-moving objects look quite crisp. The 'Custom 11' overdrive setting has the best CAD if you set your monitor's refresh rate to 120Hz, with the fastest total response time and almost no overshoot.

The CAD at 60Hz is decent, and fast-moving objects look fairly crisp. The 'Premium' overdrive setting has the best CAD if you set your monitor's refresh rate to 60Hz, as it has slightly less overshoot than 'Custom 11'. However, if you set the refresh rate to 240Hz and use VRR to go down to 60Hz, as seen in VRR Motion Performance, then 'Premium' performs considerably worse, and 'Custom 11' has the best CAD.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546X has a versatile backlight strobing feature, which BenQ calls DyAC 2, to improve the appearance of motion. It's available across a wide range of refresh rates, but it doesn't work at the same time as VRR. However, it causes image duplication. Additionally, turning BFI on resets the color settings, and the monitor uses a different preset brightness level.

The BenQ ZOWIE XL2546X has noticeable VRR flicker with changing frame rates. Dark scenes look slightly more distracting in person than in the video, but it isn't too significant. However, flicker is more noticeable in brighter areas. This can get bothersome, especially if you're sensitive to it, though it isn't a problem if your PC can maintain a consistent frame rate.

The backlight remains flicker-free at all brightness levels, which helps reduce eye strain if you're sensitive to flicker.

While there's almost no input lag at the monitor's maximum refresh rate of 240Hz and at 120Hz, there's considerable input lag at 60Hz, so games at this refresh rate don't feel as responsive. The input lag with backlight strobing on is the same with the 'Premium' and 'High' DyAc2 settings.

The monitor only supports VRR with 1080p signals, as you need to use the console's HDMI override to get 1440p @ 60Hz, which disables VRR.

There's a mini-USB port on the back of the monitor, but it's only for the S Switch remote.

This monitor works well with macOS. When using a MacBook, windows return to their original position when you wake the laptop up from sleep.

This monitor has a few additional features, including:

• Black eQualizer: Adjusts the gamma to make it easier to spot dark details.
• S Switch: A remote attached to the monitor to help navigate the on-screen display or switch between preset modes.
• XL Setting to Share: Allows you to easily share monitor settings with others.
• Low Blue Light: Decreases the light emitted from the monitor to reduce blue light exposure.