# New single monitor 1600 vs 1440 vs 4k



## Pablocrespo (Jul 12, 2015)

Hi everybody, several recent threads have inspired me to change my displays, didn´t want to hijack so I made a new one.

I have been using cubase on windows 7 with two 23 1920x1080 displays, and I wanted to go to a single main display (maybe keeping the 23s by its side).

So, keeping in mind that a wide range of displays are hard to find in my country, what would be your advice:

-30 display with 2560x1600 res.
-27 display with 2560x1440 (less horizontal space)

or go for 4k and a bigger display, I have seen charlie clouser and samphony went for that route. I would have to go for a fan cooled video card (I am using a silent card now).


Any advice? experiences?


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## samphony (Jul 12, 2015)

If You have the room for it look for the CrossOver UHD 404k it's a 40" display not a TV with 4k resolution via displayport and hdmi 2.0 so it's running at 60hz no lag!

Some people also love the new 4k superwidescreen. I had that before the 40".
I prefer the 40" 4k for more vertical space.


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## Pablocrespo (Jul 12, 2015)

Thanks for the reply but that display is difficult to find here...and I don't think I have the room for a 40"

I believe that smaller than that size 4k would make cubase very small?


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## Nathanael Iversen (Jul 12, 2015)

4K is amazing. So much space. I scale mine slightly down in Windows, but it looks great and has tons of room. I picked up a 28" Dell on sale about a year ago. Very happy with it. Dragging windows up to the 60" 1080P above the desk shows just how low rez a 1080P display is!


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## muk (Jul 13, 2015)

1440p at 27" is a sweet spot. For 4k I'd go with 32" at least, otherwise everything will be really small without scaling. Basically it depends on how large a monitor you want to have. Once that's settled the resolution will more or less choose itself.
Crossover screens are a good recommendation. They can be bought over ebay (accessorieswhole is a good, reliable seller), and basically you get the same panel as in high end monitors, at a fraction of the cost. The downsides are a wobbly stand (doesn't matter if you vesa-mount) and an ugly casing.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Jul 13, 2015)

I think that 40" is what you need for 4k in order for things to be at a reasonable size. If you get a TV, make sure to check out the amount of lag (mine has a pretty high amount but it was a cheap TV so I can't complain). 

You can get silent graphics cards that can handle it. I'm using a silent HD 7750 that's running 4k and 1440. I had to pull out a second card to run my 1080 TV but its only because I don't have the right adapter to run the 3 on my 7750. I'm fairly certain that it can handle all 3. 

Although I do only use 1 display now (my second 1440 I only used for internet or when I need to have a pdf score open), its really tempting to want to maximize the main window and move the mixer to the other monitor. I feel like there's an unquenchable thirst for more screen space. You always want more so if you can't help yourself from going back to 2 monitors, it might not be worth the change since no one really needs 4k of space just for the sequencer. 

Another thing relating to that is that 4k doesn't quite add up to 1080+1440 displays side-by-side or one on top of the other even though overall it has more pixels so you'll have to readjust the proportions of your windows e.g. either having a mixer with less height but more tracks showing or fewer tracks showing but more height. 

John Powell is also using 4k in 1 of his rooms.


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## samphony (Jul 13, 2015)

As I pointed out here is the one I've bought via Dreamseller http://www.ebay.com/itm/331528830447 I am happy with the monitor and will shop here for my next screen. This one is a display without the TV crab no one needs in a monitor. It has hdmi 2.0 @60hz and displayport 1.2 @60hz on windows one can overdrive it to 144hz. The panel is an AHVA with awesome blacks and low blue light mode. It's PWM free so by by eye strain


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## Pablocrespo (Jul 14, 2015)

Thanks very much for the responses. I think I will keep the 1080p displays for mixer and plugins. I tend to use the proyect window 90% of the time.

I believe 40" is too big for my desk, and I have conflicting reports about 4k in smaller than 32" screens and cubase.
32" 4k screens are more rare than 40 screens!

So, I think 1440p would be the compromise for now....anybody who likes to advocate for 2560x1600 and old dell 30" screens?


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## samphony (Jul 14, 2015)

If you want 30" 2560x1600 look at this beauty. It's cheap and the ones Tom uses in his home studio
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CROSSOVER-BLACK-TUNE-30X-P-DRIVER-IPS-LED-2560X1600-Pivot-Monitor-30-/221289956694?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3385e8c556

Or this one a 32" 2560x1440
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Perfect-CrossOver-BlackTune-32X2-P-QHD-LED-2560x1440-120Hz-32-Computer-Monitor-/221719505899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339f832beb


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Jul 14, 2015)

I've been using the 27" 1440p Qnix monitor which I believe go for <$400 on ebay. I've had it for over 2 years but now it's been acting strange. I believe that its something to do with the power supply. Possibly overheating since my studio has been really hot lately. Considering that I have several 1080 monitors laying around and that I only use it as a secondary monitor, if it dies I might just swap it with a 1080 instead of buying a new one since I don't really need that much resolution for Facebook .


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## Pablocrespo (Jul 21, 2015)

You have almost have me conviced, I think it will be the 404k or the QNIX uhd325 (32").

I still don't know if I can use those sizes in my setup. I think I will need a vesa arm desk mount, do you know some that can handle the 40" one?


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## rgames (Jul 21, 2015)

I think the sweet spot for DAW use these days is one of the 34" QHD monitors. 40" is just way too big for me.

http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34UC97-S-ultrawide-monitor

Dell has one also. I think Samsung does, as well. You can get them for $800 - $1000 if you look around.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Jul 21, 2015)

I find the 40" at ~1m away to be perfect. The size of things are only slightly smaller than on my 27" 1440 so if you have an apple cinema display or similar sized 1440 monitor it gives you an idea of 40" 4k.


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## Pablocrespo (Jul 23, 2015)

ok, decision time, 40" vs 32" 4k. I want vertical space so ultrawide is out.

It is almost imposible to put a 40" in my desk because I have a 1080p back on the wall for video playback (I would need a mount arm to install it lower)

The main issue is if 32" with 4k will render the text and cubase too small. I know charlie is enjoying it and I would have the 23" 1080 to throw the plugin windows, but I don´t know and can´t test before hand

does anybody have first hand experience with 32" vs 40" for 4k?


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Jul 23, 2015)

When I was first deciding on what I was going to get for 4k what I did was create screenshots of Cubase and calculate the size that it would end up being for the different sizes on the monitor I had (I can't remember the exact math that I did) so I saw the actual size that things would end up being on 40" and 32".

I doubt you can find an arm for a 40" TV. I had my monitors on arms but couldn't use it with my TV (200mm x 200mm vesa) and I needed it to be exactly at the right height to fit between the view of my touchscreen below it and my TV at the back of the room above it. I've put it on a stack of books. It's not very sturdy and I always worry that it's gonna fall. I'll have to find someone to build some sort of blocks of wood at the right height to put the TV on.


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## Pablocrespo (Jul 23, 2015)

Thanks, Gerhard, the 40" is very tempting indeed 
The thing with the arm is to get the monitor to be lower than usual, with the lower part of the display hanging from a shelf in the desk above the keyboard.

No one else with experience in 32 4k screens?


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## samphony (Jul 23, 2015)

My 40" crossover is mounted on an ergotron lx arm. Works perfectly!


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Jul 24, 2015)

samphony said:


> My 40" crossover is mounted on an ergotron lx arm. Works perfectly!



Did you have to somehow modify the mount? My mounts are 100mm x 100mm while my TV is 200mm x 200mm. Also, the screws on the TV are too big to even fit through the holes on the mount. I've thought about using 2 arms each with only 1 screw and drilling the holes bigger but I'm not sure if its OK to mount the TV using only 2/4 screw.


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## samphony (Jul 25, 2015)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> Did you have to somehow modify the mount? My mounts are 100mm x 100mm while my TV is 200mm x 200mm. Also, the screws on the TV are too big to even fit through the holes on the mount. I've thought about using 2 arms each with only 1 screw and drilling the holes bigger but I'm not sure if its OK to mount the TV using only 2/4 screw.


Here ya go. Just add the adaptor to the equation and then mount the screen.
It simply works.


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## jamwerks (Jul 26, 2015)

Also, dépends if your audio monitors are beside or about the screen. The curved things look great, but if you work often with somebody next to you, the curve might be a problem!


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## babylonwaves (Jul 26, 2015)

Pablocrespo said:


> No one else with experience in 32 4k screens?


i have a samsung 34" curved since a couple of days and i'm totally happy with it. the reason why i went for samsung in the end was that the LG (34" curved) cannot be VESA mounted. as for the picture, they're very close. I can read Logic's menus fine although it is a 4K monitor. And if you switch Kontakt to the larger font, I have no problem reading that too despite that the larger font is totally ugly 

marc


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## Stevie V (Dec 31, 2019)

Hi all - new here, but only because I solved a graphic lag problem!

I recently abandoned a dual screen layout (2 x Iiyama 22") for a single 43" (108cm) because my new customised Mac will only allow me to put the Logic Pro mixer (for example) in one screen or another. I used to be able to stretch it out across two screens. With the 43 inched, I have 70% more screen space and at last I can stretch the mixer UI out full length ...bliss!

I bought an LG OLED 4K UHD screen. Using the HDMI input (note: 1 of 3; it is easy to have two PC's feeding the same screen - just flick between the two like TV channels), I also noticed a lag on the graphics.
My mouse had a delayed action of about 30 milliseconds, and the fluid action of the genie style window animations was lost.

I also checked through the settings in my Mac, believing there was an incompatibility issue.
I spent some time with this, going through the forums to find solutions. All the solutions were to do with software, bugs etc., and Apple being cuffed for not offering a solution.

However, I discovered that it is in fact the way the TV is processing the signal from the Mac...

The TV was set by default to an 'eco' screen. There were other screen settings like 'vivid' (aargh!), cinema, dark room, standard, photo viewing etc. There was also a setting for 'Games'; I noticed that when the TV was set to 'game' mode, the lag effect completely disappeared.

I suggest that trying out different screen settings on the TV itself might alleviate the problem.
The TV after all has it's own software and can interpret signals in many ways these days.

Tech Note: If you are using a 4K screen like this, set your mac/pc screen saver to come on at short notice and keep your desktop photos/pics revolving once every minute or two.
The reason is that after a couple of hours of displaying the same static image, the picture quality can be compromised, and after 5 hours it can be permanent...you can hurt your screen.

I hope this is useful ..... SV


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## DS_Joost (Jan 1, 2020)

Just a handy dandy tip here that I see hasn't been brought up: check first the compatibility of your software with scaling. Not all software scales right and some don't scale at all. Couple of examples:

Studio One: working perfect on any scale setting
Ableton Live: best scaling I've seen yet
Cubase: either 100% or 200%. Useless on a smaller 4k screen (mine is 28"). Has problems with some plugin scaling as well.
Propellerhead Reason: doesn't scale at all. This goes for the DAW and the Rack Plugin. Better put your display on 150 and have it stretch otherwise good luck trying to change absolutely tiny knobs to absolutely tiny values.
Reaper: so far, seems to be working fine. Not all themes are hi-dpi compatible though. Most aren't.


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## shomynik (Jan 1, 2020)

My 44" LG 4k is about 1m or less from me, and I love it. I guess smaller size could work good as well if it's closer, but 32" - I would definitely try before buy as it's very possibly too small. But I guess it could work as well if it's very close.

If you go that route, take care of GPUs, apparently multi monitor setup is not a no-brainer at all. I have 1x4k + 2x1440p and I had problems with Vega 56, Radeon 5700XT, only now to settle with RTX 2600 super, but I had to install separate nvidia utility (nvidia inspector) to stop the RTX card going full throttle all the time with my setup and getting hot and loud fast.


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## Stevie V (Jan 1, 2020)

Hi DS_Joost ... My logic/High Sierra OS allows me to scale down the image; but it otherwise apparently fits perfectly without stretching! I reduce the scale/scan a little to move the toolbars a little further in and away from the screen edge, but I confess I was surprised when it popped up the first time absolutely bang on!
Happy New Year! :oD


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