Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 review - OLED and Ambiglow in a gaming monitor

The Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 brings Philips' signature Ambiglow technology to bear on the world of OLED gaming monitors. Adding a wash of lighting behind the screen that matches the image on display, it draws you into what you're watching or playing in a truly magical way. Philips combines this feature with a QD-OLED panel that boasts effectively infinite contrast and dazzling HDR, but there are a few downsides to this display.

The Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 actually slipped under our radar when it was first released, but has finally found its way into our testing labs and is still widely available. If you're a fan of the Ambiglow technology and the immersive feel it can bring, this Philips panel is going to have strong appeal and make it one of the best gaming monitors you can buy. We've put it through its paces to see just what its 34-inch, 175Hz, OLED, Ambiglow combination brings to the party.

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Specs

Features

Leading the charge on the features of this panel is its Ambiglow technology. This uses an array of 14 RGB LEDs on the back and 14 more on the underside of the panel to provide a flood of lighting behind your display. You can set these lights to be a fixed color, but the best way to use them is to set them to match the video that's being shown on your display.

With Ambiglow set to match your video feed, you're treated to an incredibly absorbing effect that, particularly when combined with the ultrawide aspect ratio of this panel, makes for an amazing experience when watching widescreen movies or playing games at the panel's 21:9 aspect ratio. At least that's the theory. As I discuss in the performance section, in practice, I found the Ambiglow tech comes with a few caveats.

This display uses a Samsung QD-OLED panel with a 3,440 x 1,440 resolution - an ideal match for the 34-inch screen size. The panel is an older generation than the latest QD-OLEDs, though. As such, its maximum brightness tops out at just 250cd/m². That's enough for most practical indoor use in somewhat dark environments, but is a bit dim for use in a brighter office, for instance.

Still, with effectively infinite contrast, dazzling HDR colors, and a lightning-fast response time - along with a decently speedy 175Hz refresh rate - you have a panel that should be ideal for most video watching and gaming. Freesync support is present too, and I confirmed the display provides G-Sync support too on Nvidia cards, even if it doesn't come with official G-Sync certification.

Joining the panel is a decently generous selection of extras. The stand offers height, rotation, and tilt adjustment, while the panel includes plenty of connections. You get a single DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.0 ports, an audio out, and a four-port USB hub. You even get a pair of built-in 5W speakers that aren't totally awful.

Design

The Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 is one sleek-looking gaming monitor. Its white, slightly mottled plastic and silver metal build really sets it apart from most other darker, moodier gaming displays, and there's a feeling of quality to its build too.

That said, it does suffer from the common problem of ultrawide, curved displays, which is that its stand is rather wide and deep, so it takes up a fair amount of desk space. It's not egregious, though, and again looks smart.

A slight design oddity is the width and uneven nature of the bezels around this screen. The side bezels are wider than the top one, and the left and right bezels aren't even. The latter is seemingly because of the display's OLED protection systems, which slightly move the image every now and then to stop the display showing exactly the same image for too long and resulting in image burn-in. However, we've never seen quite such an extreme version of this bezel width difference before.

One final design point to note is that this display includes a cooling fan. This spins effectively constantly and is noticeable in a silent room, so if that sort of background hum is a major irritation, you might struggle with this display. However, any sort of background noise - birdsong, wind in the trees, office chatter - quickly drowns it out, plus it's not noticeable when using a headset, even an open-backed one.

Image quality

Out of the box, the Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 immediately makes an impact with its image quality. It has all the elements you'd hope to get from an OLED panel, such as vivid colors, true black levels, and effectively infinite contrast. Fire up a game or video with bright colors and lots of variation in light and dark, and you'll be totally absorbed by its display.

However, longer-term use reveals a few issues. The most immediate is that the display has a slightly too warm/yellow look to it. It's subtle in person, but I tested it with a Calibrite colorimeter and the display's claimed 6,500K color temperature measured just 6,095k. Crucially, there's no way to manually tweak the color balance either.

You can select the 7,500K mode, which I measured at well below its claimed level, at 7,059K, but this is still slightly too cold/blue. This isn't a huge problem for gaming and watching video - the display still looks good - but isn't ideal for work, especially if you do any tasks that require accurate colors (video/photo editing, design, etc), unless you have access to a colorimeter to calibrate the display using software.

Another issue is text quality and color fringing on high-contrast edges. Many OLED panels suffer from noticeably lower quality text than LCD panels with the equivalent pixel density, and that's the case here too, though text is still by and large quite clear. The likes of the LG Ultragear 27GR95QE are worse, for instance, but this panel is still on the edge of what I'd consider using for daily work, where lots of reading or interacting with text is required.

As for Ambiglow, this can make a really big impact in certain situations. As you can see from the image below, in a dark room, the glow around the screen is quite absorbing.

However, there are a few minor problems with the implementation here. The first is that the rear lights aren't quite bright enough, and the lower lights are comparatively too bright, so the effect is a bit lost behind the screen, especially if you have anything other than a white wall close behind the screen (see below). Also, the rear lights cast a slight shadow of the monitor's stand on the wall behind.

The other issue is that the lighting tends to err on the side of being washed out and bright, rather than providing a more vivid display. When it works, it looks great, but the likes of the Nanoleaf 4D screen mirror kit provide a slightly better actual display, even if it is a far more cumbersome system.

Finally, this panel also has a glossy finish with a decently effective anti-reflection coating. Even with sunlight showing through under the blind behind me while I viewed this display, it still only reflected as much as you can see in the lighter patch on the bottom left area of the image below, while my powerful photography ceiling strip lights only created the reflections you can see in the image further up this page.

Gaming performance

Gaming on the Philips 34M2C8600 is a largely fantastic experience. Its slight issues with text clarity or color temperature aren't really noticeable while gaming, and the combination of the ultrawide panel, OLED image quality, 175Hz refresh rate, and the ultra-fast response time of its OLED panel, makes it hugely capable for all sorts of games.

Whether you want the cinematic feel of a game like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle or the fast response needed for a session of CS2, this display can do it all. The very latest OLED panels can go even brighter, and the likes of the LG Ultragear 32GS95UE with its 4K resolution and up to 480Hz refresh rate (only at 1080p) can outclass this panel in certain scenarios, but largely the experience here is fantastic.

Price

The Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 launched with an MSRP of $779 / $749 but can now be had for $729 /£649. Those aren't huge price drops for a monitor over a year old, but they're welcome and, ultimately, OLED panels still retain a premium price. For instance, it remains competitive with the price of similar monitors such as the Alienware AW3423DW, which uses the same QD-OLED panel.

Alternatives

Alienware AW3423DW

Launching a year or so before the Philips Evnia 34M2C8600, but still using the same QD-OLED panel, the Alienware AW3423DW was a revelation at the time. It was among the first OLED panels to really feel like a viable upgrade for a non-ridiculous price. It remains one of the few 34-inch ultrawide OLED choices and can be found slightly cheaper than the Philips. Read our full Alienware AW3423DW review for more information.

LG Ultragear 32GS95UE

The LG Ultragear 32GS95UE is a more expensive display than the Philips, but it makes up for the price with incredible versatility. Its 32-inch panel, combined with a 4K resolution, eliminates issues with OLED text quality and makes for stunning visuals. Meanwhile, its ability to switch to a 1080p/480Hz mode provides cutting-edge competitive gaming performance. It can even do 4K at 240Hz. Read our full LG Ultragear 32GS95UE review for more information.

Verdict

The Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 is showing its age a little, with the very latest OLED panels providing a higher maximum brightness and tending to have slightly better text clarity. However, this display still nails the core appeal of an ultrawide display for watching video and playing games. Its response is fast, colors are dazzling, and the wide, high contrast view it provides is utterly absorbing.

What's more, with Ambiglow in the right conditions - a dark room with a white wall behind it - this display's immersion outclasses just about any other display on the market. Add the handy extra features and sleek design, and there's a lot that appeals about this display.

Nonetheless, be aware of its limitations. It wouldn't be our first choice for text-heavy daily work because of its mediocre text clarity and fan noise - not ideal if you like to work in silence - and its low maximum brightness won't suit bright spaces either.

Ultimately, then, we would only really strongly recommend this display if you can find it at a decent discount. At ~$750, it's still a bit too expensive considering the several caveats to its performance.

For more curved gaming monitor options, check out our best curved gaming monitor guide, or if you want a totally new way to view your games, why not have a read of our best VR headset guide.