The *COMPLETE* list of 27" 5K Displays?

[Realityck]

Like I said, I understand the engineering rationale. (BTW I think it's an A13?)

That being said... why doesn't Apple just run the Center Stage software on whatever Mac is plugged into the monitor? And if you're plugging a PC into the monitor, you wouldn't get Center Stage, another reason to buy a Mac, win-win for Apple...


Confusing question, because neither the iMac nor the MBP have "desktop speakers." I'm talking about independent, separate speakers that you put on a desk(top).

The ASD has down-firing speakers, meaning that output above ~300 Hz is crap. If the ASD is anything like the 5K iMac then I'm sure Apple has done a good job with the bass, meaning that it will sound rich and full and impressive if you just listen to some music casually for a minute or two, or compare it to laptop speakers, etc.

But pretty much any speakers you can buy that you can actually point at your ears are going to sound more crisp and clear.

Personally I have a pair of nice passive bookshelf speakers connected to a USB mini-amp. I'm sure most people would think it's overkill. But for under $200 there are some great options for near-field listening these days. If anybody asked me for a recommendation... search Amazon for "HiVi-Swans OS-10".

Because centerstage requires iOS to run. It’s not something you run from e externally connected Mac.

Sure you can easily run https://rslspeakers.com/pages/rogersound-labs-ia255-1-integrated-amplifier plus any unpowered speakers such as https://rslspeakers.com/products/cg3m-bookshelf-speaker

I personally use a kanto ORI pair with 8” sub. See https://www.kantoaudio.com/powered-speakers/ora/

The swan are no where as good for desktop comparably as the Ori which are usb-c with bi amped, and DSP based.

 

[motrek]

Because centerstage requires iOS to run. It’s not something you run from e externally connected Mac.

Sure you can easily run https://rslspeakers.com/pages/rogersound-labs-ia255-1-integrated-amplifier plus any unpowered speakers such as https://rslspeakers.com/products/cg3m-bookshelf-speaker

I personally use a kanto ORI pair with 8” sub. See https://www.kantoaudio.com/powered-speakers/ora/

The swan are no where as good for desktop comparably as the Ori which are usb-c with bi amped, and DSP based.

I'm confused. In the post I replied to, you seemed to not know what "desktop speakers" even were and seemed to be wondering what could possibly be better than the ASD's speakers.

But it turns out that you're already using separates with a subwoofer. Okay. Seems like I was wasting my time answering your question.

 

[Realityck]

I'm confused. In the post I replied to, you seemed to not know what "desktop speakers" even were and seemed to be wondering what could possibly be better than the ASD's speakers.

But it turns out that you're already using separates with a subwoofer. Okay. Seems like I was wasting my time answering your question.

you labeled them as desktop speakers so was’t sure they internally to a computer desktop or they were powered speakers for Apple deployment? Most of us use both.

 

[motrek]

you labeled them as desktop speakers so was sure they internally to a computer desktop or they were powered speakers for Apple deployment? Most of use both.

Okay. I'm having trouble parsing what you've written here.

But I'll stand by what I said originally, that I have a better audio setup at my desk ("desktop speakers" or whatever you want to call them) than what's in the ASD. So if I bought an ASD, its speakers would go unused. And it would annoy me (a little bit) if I paid for something that I wasn't using.

 

[Chancha]

I believe what he initially meant with "desktop speaker" was referring to "speakers internal to a desktop AIO computer or a desktop display". Which does beg the question if anyone else does this better than Apple (IMO no one does, the 27" iMac had it best, followed by the ASD, then the 24" iMac). So the ASD speaker while "bad" in absolute terms, it is already plenty good for being internal to a desktop display. In my experience I have only heard better sound on a 43" LG monitor, which you may as well call it a TV (even though it strictly is not), and clearly it is due to the abundance of space used for subwoofer.

Sometimes, some displays have a soundbar-ish attachment underneath, then sometimes they are part of the chassis not detachable, those can sound good as well.

 

[motrek]

I believe what he initially meant with "desktop speaker" was referring to "speakers internal to a desktop AIO computer or a desktop display". Which does beg the question if anyone else does this better than Apple (IMO no one does, the 27" iMac had it best, followed by the ASD, then the 24" iMac). So the ASD speaker while "bad" in absolute terms, it is already plenty good for being internal to a desktop display. In my experience I have only heard better sound on a 43" LG monitor, which you may as well call it a TV (even though it strictly is not), and clearly it is due to the abundance of space used for subwoofer.

Sometimes, some displays have a soundbar-ish attachment underneath, then sometimes they are part of the chassis not detachable, those can sound good as well.

Yeah, I wonder.

Certainly I have used a few monitors with tiny built-in 2W or 5W speakers that fire out the... bottom? back?... and they're absolutely revolting. Unlistenable.

I've seen AIOs from HP and Dell at the store that have the speakers mounted as a bar under the display. I think the HP models have Bang & Olufsen branding. I imagine they sound okay at least.

I don't know if they sound better or worse than the ASD speakers. I imagine they sound clearer, because they point towards the front, rather than down.

But if the ASD speakers are louder or have more bass, a lot of people might say they're better. It's the showroom floor problem. A lot of people give speakers a quick listen, and if they're louder or have more bass, people think they're better. But they're not necessarily what you want to use to watch YouTube videos or whatever.

I had a 5K iMac for several years. At normal listening volumes, its speakers could put out about as much bass as my huge passive bookshelf speakers. But switching back and forth between them, it's like somebody had put a fabric sheet in front of the iMac. The clarity just wasn't there.

 

[Chancha]

The branded attachments / built-in AIO is what I meant, these can at times be quite good sounding, probably as you said the direct line of sight helps at least the mid to high range, and then the space of the whole bar as a subwoofer chamber ought to have higher volume than even the 27" iMac.

The iMac / ASD method of desk reflection while magical, it has its limits. If we assume all the devices that Apple makes employ the same degree of audio tech and know-how, then it stands to reason to think the best sounding has to be the 16" MBP currently, it is (almost) direct firing, and ample space though not yet 27" volume but still. On the 14" it is already audibly worse, then on the iPad Pros more so.

Apple seems to be on a trend to make devices thinner lately, the 24" iMac and by proxy the ASD are thinner than the 27", and then the M4 iPad Pro thinner than the ones before, anecdotally these are all reported to have inferior sound because of it.

 

[drrich2]

(IMO no one does, the 27" iMac had it best, followed by the ASD, then the 24" iMac).

I had a 5K iMac for several years. At normal listening volumes, its speakers could put out about as much bass as my huge passive bookshelf speakers. But switching back and forth between them, it's like somebody had put a fabric sheet in front of the iMac. The clarity just wasn't there.

Thanks for these observations. A 27" 5K iMac is something probably many more of us have had experience with than an ASD. While sound quality interpretation is somewhat subjective, this is good info.

 

[Realityck]

I had a 5K iMac for several years. At normal listening volumes, its speakers could put out about as much bass as my huge passive bookshelf speakers. But switching back and forth between them, it's like somebody had put a fabric sheet in front of the iMac. The clarity just wasn't there.

Oh come now, the Intel iMacs had slightly more bass then the current 6 way ADP. Clarity is definitely there, just not the volume or deep bass. Below is from rTings ASD review.

The speakers are fantastic for monitor speakers, which would score a 9.5 using the laptop speakers methodology below:

• Max Volume: 83 dB SPL
• Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB): 4.3 dB
• Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB): 1.2 dB
• Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.): 79Hz
• Treble Extension (High-Frequency Extension):20kHz
• Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.: 2.0 dB

 

[motrek]

Oh come now, the Intel iMacs had slightly more bass then the current 6 way ADP. Clarity is definitely there, just not the volume or deep bass. Below is from rTings ASD review.

The speakers are fantastic for monitor speakers, which would score a 9.5 using the laptop speakers methodology below:

1) We have different ideas about "clarity"

2) Saying that the speakers are fantastic for monitor speakers (or laptop speakers) is kinda like me saying that the dumpster at my apartment complex smells fantastic when compared to other dumpsters. It may be true, but...

Check out the Rtings review of the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom portable Bluetooth speaker, which is a small Bluetooth speaker that you can buy at Best Buy for $70 right now.

The Wonderboom knocks the ASD speakers into a cocked hat. For $70. Ugh.

Apple engineering is excellent but there's only so much you can do when you're trying to reflect high-frequency sound off of somebody's desk...

 

[motrek]

... The iMac / ASD method of desk reflection while magical, it has its limits. If we assume all the devices that Apple makes employ the same degree of audio tech and know-how, then it stands to reason to think the best sounding has to be the 16" MBP currently, it is (almost) direct firing, and ample space though not yet 27" volume but still. On the 14" it is already audibly worse, then on the iPad Pros more so.
...

For what it is, I'm extremely happy with the sound from my 14" MBP. Again, for what it is.

Before the 14", I had a 2012 (?) MBP which also tried this trick of reflecting sound off a desk. It was borderline unlistenable.

 

[Chancha]

For what it is, I'm extremely happy with the sound from my 14" MBP. Again, for what it is.

Before the 14", I had a 2012 (?) MBP which also tried this trick of reflecting sound off a desk. It was borderline unlistenable.

Even the retina 15", which sounded pretty good for its time, is now barely acceptable for today's standard. MBP-wise, the touch-bar era had only OK-ish speakers up until the very last 16", at that point Apple took the speaker much more seriously probably due to spatial audio. The later Apple Silicon 16" 14" just inherited the Intel 16" "speaker tech", where the 16" just has more room to further achieve a wider and flatter frequency response than the 14". So yeah like everything else on the 14", to achieve downsizing, they physically compromised stuff here and there, but it still is leagues ahead everything else below. The newer MBA for instance, has too thin a chassis and then relies on reflection off of the screen, audio quality clearly suffers as a result.

 

[Chancha]

Oh come now, the Intel iMacs had slightly more bass then the current 6 way ADP. Clarity is definitely there, just not the volume or deep bass. Below is from rTings ASD review.

The speakers are fantastic for monitor speakers, which would score a 9.5 using the laptop speakers methodology below:

• Max Volume: 83 dB SPL
• Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB): 4.3 dB
• Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB): 1.2 dB
• Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.): 79Hz
• Treble Extension (High-Frequency Extension):20kHz
• Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.: 2.0 dB

I kind of agree both ways. The speaker techs are more than 10 years apart between the ASD and the 27" iMac, so the ASD if you see the teardown they have some really clever ways to stuff the chambers and driver positioning. The mids and highs do sound like they are more precise. But lack of thickness ultimately limits its bass extension, to the point being noticeable even for generic music and YouTube video speech. Therefore to my subjective eras, I still rank the 27" iMac before the ASD, the iMac just sounds more natural overall, perhaps simply due to covering more bass.

If the rumors of a 32" display with speakers or even an iMac exists, we are going to get the one-up experience there.

 

[tornado99]

A new cheaper glossy 5K is now out (not sure when it was launched). Plastic case. 8 bit.

I suspect this may use a new BOE "true black" IPS panel with 2000:1 contrast ratio + custom backlight.

Double the contrast ratio of the ASD, but "only" 450 nits - perhaps better than the Kuycon 600 nit clone in terms of heat generation/reliability.

Anybody want to buy one and report back?!

G27X SE - 5K 27 inch Display

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css="" woodmart_inline="no" text_larger="no"] What’s in the Box Accessories & Cables VESA adapter 1x VESA 100x100 ada

kuycon.it

27 inch 5K display TYPE-C thunderbolt for Mac LCD Monitor Aluminum Alloy 60Hz glossy screen IPS KUYCON G27XSE WITHOUT BRACKET - AliExpress 7

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

https://kuycon.us/monitors/G27X%20SE/

Here is one in the wild:

more photos - https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240620A080F700

https://post.smzdm.com/p/axok47m3/