Review of the MSI MEG 342C gaming QD-OLED monitor

QD-OLED panels that combine the advantages of OLED with Quantum Dot technology are used not only in TVs but also in flagship gaming monitors, such as the 34-inch MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED that we will be reviewing today.

Specifications

Design

The MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED is a monitor with a large ultra-wide screen, so its dimensions are appropriate: the model is more than 80 cm wide and almost 40 cm deep, and the “span” of the stand’s legs is as much as 55 cm, so you can easily place a full-size keyboard between them if you wish. The case is also hardly “thin”: it is almost 10 cm thick in the center.

The screen is made in the traditional “bezel-less” design, when it is framed only by a thin line of the side edge of the case. However, in this case, even in the off state, if you look closely, you can see a black frame around the screen, which is hidden under the protective glass; its width is ~8 mm on the sides and 5 mm on top.

The stand is massive and large, with a combination of black and gold plastic in the design – in addition to it, gilding is also used in the logo and controls on the back panel.

The stand has limited functionality: it allows you to adjust the screen tilt (-5…+20°) and its height (0…100 mm), but not its left/right rotation.

There is a hole in the bottom for cable management, and after assembly, you can cover the stand attachment point and the slot with connectors with decorative plates, so the monitor looks very neat from behind when in operation.

All video connectors are located in a small niche under the stand mount: one DisplayPort 1.4a, two HDMI 2.1 and USB-C; you can also find a USB hub with 2 USB 3.2 ports and a mini-jack for connecting a headset. In addition, two more USB 3.2 and two additional mini-jacks for headphones and a microphone are located on the left side. The monitor has a built-in power supply.

Menu

MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED is controlled by a 5-way joystick located on the rear panel on the right. There is also a separate power button and a Macro button (its behavior is configured in the proprietary Gaming Intelligence utility). You can assign various functions to the joystick’s deflection in any direction, and pressing it opens the main menu.

The first item is the G.I. section, where you can find settings for auto-brightness and color temperature, KVM, activation of noise reduction on connected headphones, and more. Next is the Gaming section, which contains gaming video modes, settings for the alarm clock and the brightness of dark backgrounds in games, displaying the current screen refresh rate, and enabling Adaptive Sync.

The third item is “professional”. Here you can find additional modes for work and leisure, activation of the Low Blue Light function, which makes the picture warmer, and Image Enhancement.

Traditional image settings are collected in the Image item – brightness, contrast, color temperature, etc. There is also a switch for HDR, which allows the user to select either a “completely black” mode (True Black 400) or maximum peak brightness (1000 nits).

Input Source allows you to manually switch between signal sources or activate automatic detection of the active input, in PIP/PBP you can enable the frame-by-frame mode, and in Navi Key you can reassign your own functions to the joystick deflection. The Setting section contains system parameters, such as OSD menu settings, behavior of the power button and RGB strip below the screen, etc.

And finally, the last item – MSI OLED Care – contains settings for OLED panel protection functions.

Features

The MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED uses a 34.18-inch 10-bit QD-OLED panel manufactured by Samsung. The aspect ratio is 21:9, the resolution is 3440×1440 pixels. The dot density is ~109 PPI, the physical size of the dot is 0.2328 mm. For comparison, a more traditional 27-inch 16:9 panel with a resolution of 2560×1440 has almost the same density.

It should be noted that from a typical viewing distance, the image looks dense, the fonts are smooth and clear, and only users with very good eyesight will be able to see individual pixels.

The maximum refresh rate is 175 Hz, and there is support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro adaptive frequency technology. The response time, according to the manufacturer, is 0.03 ms (GtG). HDR support is available – the monitor has a VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certificate. The monitor also has a “console mode” that supports refresh rate adjustment (VRR).

Traditionally for such a diagonal, the screen of MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED is curved, the curvature is 1800R (1.8 m). This is a fairly moderate “curvature” of the screen surface, and it is not noticeable in operation. Moreover, if the screen were flat at this size, it would be less convenient to work on it – you would have to look at the peripheral areas of the image at a rather sharp angle. For gaming, however, the curved screen is very good, additionally creating the effect of “immersion” in the game world.

The monitor is equipped with a light sensor that automatically adjusts the brightness and color temperature of the image to match the room lighting conditions.

MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED has RGB backlighting in the form of a thin line along the bottom edge of the case, which the manufacturer calls SpectrumBar. You can customize its behavior (or turn it off completely) in the system settings of the OSD menu.

You can also use the proprietary utility Gaming Intelligence to control the monitor – it duplicates the OSD functions and offers some additional features, such as reassigning the Macro button above the joystick.

This monitor can receive video signals not only via DisplayPort and HDMI, but also via USB-C. Additionally, there is KVM support, so you can connect two systems to the MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED – for example, a desktop and a laptop – and conveniently work with them using a single set of keyboard and mouse (thanks to the presence of a USB 3.2 hub). The laptop can be charged at the same time – USB-C supports Power Delivery (65W).

MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED image quality

The screen is glossy, making black look “blacker” than on matte displays. There are practically no spurious reflections – the monitor has a very high-quality anti-reflective coating, so it is almost impossible to see the environment on its screen even in a brightly lit room.

The response time is 0.03 ms – traditionally, OLED panels have a significant advantage in this parameter even over fast gaming IPS panels, which have a response time of 1-2 ms at best. This makes MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED a great option for fast online shooters that require instant response to what’s happening in the game.

Also, thanks to the OLED panel, this monitor displays a completely black color: the absence of additional screen glow is well felt in complete darkness, where a turned-on screen with a black background can be confused with a turned-off monitor.

The first photo was taken with a shutter speed of 1/10 of a second, and the second – 10 seconds:

Viewing angles are maximized, and in this regard, the OLED monitor is also significantly superior to the highest quality IPS models: even when viewed from the side, the brightness and color saturation remain at the same level.

Traditionally for OLEDs, the maximum brightness in HDR dynamically changes according to how bright the current scene is. In addition, MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED has two modes for working with HDR content, which are selected in the Image – DisplayHDR menu. This can be True Black 400, in which the maximum brightness does not exceed 400 cd/m², or Peak 1000 nits – here the peak brightness can reach almost 1000 cd/m² (provided that the screen is almost black with a white “window” of 2% of the entire image area).

In the second case, the automatic brightness limitation works more aggressively, and this can be seen when working in Windows – so it’s better to leave this mode for movie sessions, and use True Black 400, which has a peak brightness of 260-450 cd/m² depending on the scene.

The on-screen menu has two different video mode menus at once: gaming, with optimizations for different game genres, and professional, with color space emulation and the usual options for cinema/work. The game menu also includes the Premium Color mode, which, according to the description on the official website, is supposed to demonstrate all the advantages of the QD-OLED panel. Let’s start with it.

Indeed, in this mode, the monitor has the maximum color gamut – it significantly exceeds the sRGB space and covers 95% of Adobe RGB (99% of DCI-P3). The brightness in SDR mode varies in the range of 30-250 cd/m², which is quite enough for gaming in almost complete darkness and for working in typical office lighting.

The static contrast value (18420:1) obtained during the tests, of course, does not correspond to reality: in the absence of backlighting and at least some brightness in the black field, this parameter should be divided by zero when calculating it. Some result is obtained here only because of the measurement error of the colorimeter, which determined the “brightness” of the black field at 0.01 cd/m².

MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED does not have manual gamma adjustments, but the value set by the manufacturer perfectly matches 2.2. The color temperature in Normal mode is also very close to the standard value of 6600K; you can make the image warmer or colder by switching to Warm (4900K) or Cool (9700K).

In the absence of a separate backlight, the uniformity of the color temperature and white field across the entire screen area is also perfect: there are practically no fluctuations in these parameters.

The image in Premium Color mode has bright, saturated colors and looks even more impressive than on “regular” monitors with Quantum Dot. However, this does not have a very good effect on color accuracy – in this mode, the average ΔE value is 3.81, and the maximum is almost 7. Therefore, in our opinion, this mode can be used for gaming sessions, and for work and any other tasks where high-quality and accurate color reproduction is important, it is better to choose another mode.

For example, the User mode in the professional menu. It offers manual settings of all parameters, color gamut is almost the same as in Premium Color, but the image has a generally “calmer” and more balanced look – and the color accuracy is very high (average ΔE = 0.91, maximum – 2). As a reminder, it is believed that the average user is not able to notice the difference between the reference color and the one displayed by the monitor if ΔE does not exceed two.

Modes that emulate different color spaces effectively reduce the coverage to the size of the corresponding spaces: 100% sRGB (77% Adobe RGB, 81% DCI-P3) in sRGB mode, 95% Adobe RGB (92% DCI-P3) in Adobe RGB, etc. Color accuracy is also on par, with an average ΔE value of one in all three modes.

Color gamut, Premium Color modes – Display P3 – Adobe RGB – sRGB:

The game modes differ in color temperature, gamma curve, sharpness, etc. and are visually quite similar to each other – except for the FPS mode, which for some reason has almost no green color.

Game modes, from left to right: Premium Color – User – FPS – Racing – RTS – RPG:

In the professional menu, the Anti-Blue mode, which makes the image much warmer, and the Movie mode, which for some reason highlights dark areas very strongly, are the most visually distinctive.

Professional modes, from left to right: Eco – User – Anti-Blue – Movie – Office – sRGB – Adobe RGB – Display P3: