Hey guys!
 
I just have to let you know. I just got a 4k monitor and it blew me away. I've been wanting to get a higher resolution screen for Sonar for ages but never got to the Point of actually buying one. Man it really improved Sonar for me. No more fiddling around getting things to fit on screen. I dont even feel the need for two monitors anymore.
 
This is the one I got:
Acer Predator XB271HK
 
It got overall good performance so you can do both games and image work with it.
 
Just wanted to share with you if there are others out there wanting to go the higher resolution.
 
I might add that it requires a powerful GPU to run such a resolution. I have a GTX 980.
 
/M

+1
Your Acer Predator XB271HK has 2560 x 1440 Pixel.
I work with a similar Iiyama with also a resolution of  2560 x 1440.
But I need anyway 2 monitors per DAW, because I like it to have all plugins on the second screen.
A monitor with 2560 x 1440 is worth if you work with SONAR professionally.

Hi!
 
No this model has 3840 x 2160 pixels. I dont feel the need for a second monitor anymore but I couldnt fit two screens on my desk anyway :-D
 
/M

I've been using a 40" 4K monitor for about a year now. Will never go back to anything smaller or lower res again. The nice thing about a 40" 4K monitor is that it has the same DPI and number of pixels as 4 x 20" HD monitors. So you don't need to use a magnifying glass to read the text or worse, use > 100% text scaling (which many apps still have problems with). This feels like having a full size mixing console on the screen when I run SONAR, pretty nice!
 
However, there are two important aspects to look at when getting a replacement monitor. First, make sure the monitor has 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. Anything other than that and you will get blurry text. For a TV which has soft lines, this is fine, but for a computer monitor where you have sharp edges, you must have 4:4:4. To verify a monitor has 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, check the instructions here.
 
The second important aspect to check for is to make sure the monitor doesn't use PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the brightness of the backlight. Even if it refreshes at 240 Hz, it can still cause eyestrain. The reason is that it tricks your eyes into being unsure exactly where to focus, so your eyes keep re-focusing but can't quite "lock on" due to the flicker. This causes your eyes to feel tired after a while. Once again, just because it refreshes at higher than 60 Hz and you can't actually tell it is flickering, it doesn't mean it isn't causing eyestrain. To test for this, use this link. The lines moving across the screen must not have a strobing effect. If it does, it means your backlight is using PWM to control brightness.
 
[EDIT] The chroma subsampling problem is probably less likely to be an issue on smaller dedicated computer monitors, but if you go for 40", many of those "monitors" are rebranded TVs where you have a higher chance of getting something other than 4:4:4 chroma subsampling.

SilkTone
I've been using a 40" 4K monitor for about a year now. Will never go back to anything smaller or lower res again. The nice thing about a 40" 4K monitor is that it has the same DPI and number of pixels as 4 x 20" HD monitors. So you don't need to use a magnifying glass to read the text or worse, use > 100% text scaling (which many apps still have problems with). This feels like having a full size mixing console on the screen when I run SONAR, pretty nice!
 

Ditto here with 43"

metz
Hey guys!
 
I just have to let you know. I just got a 4k monitor and it blew me away. I've been wanting to get a higher resolution screen for Sonar for ages but never got to the Point of actually buying one. Man it really improved Sonar for me. No more fiddling around getting things to fit on screen. I dont even feel the need for two monitors anymore.
 
This is the one I got:
Acer Predator XB271HK
 
It got overall good performance so you can do both games and image work with it.
 
Just wanted to share with you if there are others out there wanting to go the higher resolution.
 
I might add that it requires a powerful GPU to run such a resolution. I have a GTX 980.
 
/M

Very nice.
I'm still using old Dell U2410 monitors. I have 2 but I don't use both of them together so often, other than with Sonar. I'm looking to upgrade in the coming months to a larger screen to freshen up the PC experience. I have the GTX 970.
I'm also hoping that it might improve my headshots in Battlefield 4! If I do any long-term in-game sniping, my eyes start aching quite badly, even with glasses and blue light filter.
 
Please let us know any follow-up thoughts down the line.

SilkTone
I've been using a 40" 4K monitor for about a year now. Will never go back to anything smaller or lower res again. The nice thing about a 40" 4K monitor is that it has the same DPI and number of pixels as 4 x 20" HD monitors. So you don't need to use a magnifying glass to read the text or worse, use > 100% text scaling (which many apps still have problems with). This feels like having a full size mixing console on the screen when I run SONAR, pretty nice!
 
However, there are two important aspects to look at when getting a replacement monitor. First, make sure the monitor has 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. Anything other than that and you will get blurry text. For a TV which has soft lines, this is fine, but for a computer monitor where you have sharp edges, you must have 4:4:4. To verify a monitor has 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, check the instructions here.
 
The second important aspect to check for is to make sure the monitor doesn't use PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the brightness of the backlight. Even if it refreshes at 240 Hz, it can still cause eyestrain. The reason is that it tricks your eyes into being unsure exactly where to focus, so your eyes keep re-focusing but can't quite "lock on" due to the flicker. This causes your eyes to feel tired after a while. Once again, just because it refreshes at higher than 60 Hz and you can't actually tell it is flickering, it doesn't mean it isn't causing eyestrain. To test for this, use this link. The lines moving across the screen must not have a strobing effect. If it does, it means your backlight is using PWM to control brightness.
 
[EDIT] The chroma subsampling problem is probably less likely to be an issue on smaller dedicated computer monitors, but if you go for 40", many of those "monitors" are rebranded TVs where you have a higher chance of getting something other than 4:4:4 chroma subsampling.

Very informative, thank you. I'll keep this in mind and refer to it when it's time for me to upgrade.

BobF

SilkTone
I've been using a 40" 4K monitor for about a year now. Will never go back to anything smaller or lower res again. The nice thing about a 40" 4K monitor is that it has the same DPI and number of pixels as 4 x 20" HD monitors. So you don't need to use a magnifying glass to read the text or worse, use > 100% text scaling (which many apps still have problems with). This feels like having a full size mixing console on the screen when I run SONAR, pretty nice!
 

Ditto here with 43"

I initially went with this 40" curved TV which I thought would make a good monitor. I erroneously based this on questions/answers posted on the Amazon website where people assured others that it does indeed make a great computer monitor. A google search also didn't indicate that it would make a bad monitor, so I went for it. But this was before I knew anything about chroma subsampling or knew that even a 240Hz PWM backlight can still result in eyestrain.
 
So after receiving the TV, I was confused as to why the text was so blurry. Especially red text on a black background was almost unreadable.  I'm a software developer working from home in my alternate life and this was not workable for me. So after some research I found that this was related to the fact that it was not using chroma 4:4:4 subsampling (i.e., it is compressing the color info).
 
I considered going more than 40" but I think for me at least that would be too much. At 40", the left/right edges of the screen are almost to the point of being too distorted due to the angle from where you look from. But it is still acceptable. More than that might be a problem, but it also depends on how far you sit from the monitor.

I chose 43" based on the 2 x 1920 x 21.5" I had before.  Pixel density is almost identical, so I don't have any scaling vs squinting problems at the same distance.  I probably could've gotten by with 40", but the 43" was the closest fit+best deal I found at the time.  No regrets.  I love having double the real estate I had before minus the frames/borders.
 
Width is not a problem, but height was initially.  I ended up having to lower it considerably from initial guess.
It's in the sweet spot now.
 
I could never go back.  I even have one of the 21.5"-ers connected off to the side as a utility display.  Honestly, it doesn't get used very much at all.

I've had a 4k monitor for over a year, it's night and day. My eyes thank me daily. I'm hopefully getting a 4k gaming laptop so I can have duel 4k monitors in a week or two.