Corsair Voyager a1600 Review – 2022 AMD high-end hardware in a chic aluminum case

1 - Einführung, Unboxing und Spezifikationen 2 - Verarbeitung, Haptik und Optik 3 - Response Times und E2E Latenz 4 - Color-Performance 5 - Benchmarks allgemein 6 - Gaming-Performance 7 - Temperaturen, Lautstärke und Features 8 - Zusammenfassung und Fazit

Color-Performance and Brightness

The built-in panel is matte and has a good anti-reflective coating. I’ll leave out the topic of HDR in its entirety, because the panel doesn’t offer any HDR hardware. What really counts is SDR. And that’s where we first look at the brightness.

Max. Brightness

Measured: SDR 100% Window @ D65 = 359 nits*

Min. brightness

Measured: SDR 100% Window @ D65 = 18 nits*

*The IPS panel was measured after calibration to Gamma 2.2, 200 nits @D65

Color space coverage

At this point a short note. I am using the software from DataColor and DisplayCal here. Calman is registered to my testbench and cannot be easily used on the laptop. I could use Calman, but it would take a lot of effort. (Unregister, re-register via laptop and then undo everything – don’t feel like it as I’m testing 5 monitors at once here). The results are the same in the end – just look different.

Factory settings (Gray Scale and ColorChecker)

On factory settings, the Corsair Voyager delivers a usable sRGB “calibration” for everyday use. If you only gamble and consume content, you will easily manage with it. I particularly like the contrast of > 1200:1, which is still given even after calibration to 200 nits D65. That is very good for an IPS panel.

Gray Scale

Measurement Report 3.8.9.3 – NE160QDM-NZ1 @ 0, 0, 2560×1600 – 2023-05-10 12-05

The deviations are obvious – the D65 white point is missed and the gamma tracking doesn’t quite match either. As a result, this leads to “bad” delta E 2000 in terms of color accuracy.

ColorChecker

Measurement Report 3.8.9.3 – NE160QDM-NZ1 @ 0, 0, 2560×1600 – 2023-05-10 12-09

DisplayCal calibration (Gray Scale and ColorChecker)

Unfortunately, Corsair doesn’t offer access to the panel – not even via iCUE. However, that would be desirable. I can only offer you the value for 200 nits brightness. The settings for a 6500K white point? You can’t get access to that. This is where Corsair should improve and give access to the white balance via iCUE!

D65 @200 Nits

In Windows, under the display settings, set the brightness to 74 and you’ll get about 200 nits.

Gamut

Gray Scale

Measurement Report 3.8.9.3 – NE160QDM-NZ1 @ 0, 0, 2560×1600 – 2023-05-10 12-30 calibrated

ColorChecker

Measurement Report 3.8.9.3 – NE160QDM-NZ1 @ 0, 0, 2560×1600 – 2023-05-10 12-30 ColorChecker calibrated

Whether this is sufficiently calibrated for the content creator in the end, everyone must decide for himself. From my point of view it is ok. You just have to know that the IPS panel has its weaknesses in some areas (colors). You can find out where these are in the measurement reports.

Uniformity

There’s nothing to complain about, the small slip on the upper left isn’t noticeable. It can be measured, but can it be perceived? The display is uniformly illuminated and IPS bleeding or glowing is surprisingly low or even imperceptible. Important: Every panel is different, something like glowing/bleeding can fluctuate.

Uniformity Check 3.8.9.3 – NE160QDM-NZ1 @ 0, 0, 2560×1600 – 2023-05-15 16-23

I think that should be sufficient for the topic of the installed IPS panel. Most other articles or reviews about notebooks don’t offer you such details. What else do you do for the community…? We’ll continue with the general benchmarks.