NEC's PA series of MultiSync monitors have long been the company's flagship line, thanks to their outstanding color and gray-scale performance and killer feature set. The NEC MultiSync PA322UHD ($2,999) continues that trend. This enormous 32-inch, 3,840-by-2,160-resolution display delivers extremely accurate colors, highly detailed imagery, spot-on gray-scale reproduction, and loads of I/O ports. The PA322UHD has a 14-bit Look Up Table (LUT) for precise calibration, wide color-gamut coverage (99.2 percent of the Adobe RGB color spectrum), and a very generous 4-year warranty. If you demand superior UHD performance, the PA322UHD is more than up to the task. That's why it's our Editor's Choice big-screen UHD monitor.

Design and Features

The PA322UHD is one humongous display. The matte-black cabinet measures 17.4 by 29.3 by 3.9 inches (HWD) and weighs a whopping 31.3 pounds, and that's without the stand, which adds another 14 pounds to the total weight and an additional 8 inches to the overall depth. The 32-inch IGZO panel has a non-reflective, anti-glare coating and is framed by 0.8-inch bezels. The bottom bezel holds an ambient light sensor, a Power button, input select and menu buttons, and a left/right rocker button for navigating the menus. On the right-hand bezel are an up/down rocker navigation button and a Picture-in-Picture button that you can use to create and arrange individual windows for viewing content from multiple input sources.

The cabinet has four VESA mounting holes around back and is supported by the black stand with a telescoping arm that provides height and swivel adjustability. The mounting hinge lets you tilt the panel forward and backward, as well as pivot it 90 degrees for viewing in Portrait mode. As with other PA series monitors, such as the NEC MultiSync PA242W-BK and the NEC MultiSync PA271W, the PA322UHD has an auto-rotate feature that automatically adjusts image orientation when you pivot the cabinet.

The rear holds a wealth of I/O ports, including four HDMI video inputs, a DisplayPort input, two DVI inputs, two upstream USB 3.0 ports, two downstream USB 3.0 ports, and a headphone jack. A USB 3.0 port and a second DisplayPort input are mounted on the right side of the cabinet. The PA322HD has a built-in Keyboard, Video, and Mouse (KVM) switch, which lets you control two computers with one keyboard and mouse when used with the two upstream USB ports. The panel will operate with a refresh rate of 120Hz in full HD (1,920-by-1,080) mode, but is limited to 60Hz in UHD mode using a DisplayPort signal (UHD via HDMI is further limited to 30Hz).

In addition to the usual Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, and Color Temperature adjustments, the PA322UHD offers numerous advanced picture settings. The 6-Axis Adjust menu lets you tweak Hue, Saturation, and Offset (brightness) for each color (Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow), and the Gamma settings let you manually adjust gray-scale brightness levels. Picture presets include sRGB, Adobe RGB, Full, High Bright, and DCI (Digital Cinema), and there are settings for Aspect Ratio, Black Level, and Eco Mode. As with most other MultiSync models, there's also an Eco Information menu that measures the monitor's carbon footprint and electricity usage.

NEC covers the PA322UHD with a very generous 4-year warrantly on parts, labor, and backlight, and that includes a 48-hour advanced exchange policy. The monitor ships with two DisplayPort cables (full size and mini), a USB upstream cable, a power cable, a setup guide, and a resource CD containing drivers, color profiles, and a user manual. NEC sells an optional SpectraViewII Color Calibration kit ($299) for the PA322UHD that will help keep the monitor calibrated to your exact specifications.

Performance

The PA322UHD is a stellar performer and offers very accurate colors right out of the box. As shown on the Chromaticity chart below, red, green, and blue (represented by the colored dots) colors are all spot-on in relation to their ideal CIE coordinates (represented by the boxes). The Dell UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD UP3214Q also delivers very accurate colors, but they're not quite as accurate as the PA322UHD. The PA322UHD's In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel produces bold colors and dark blacks that remain intact from every angle, as did overall luminance.

The PA322UHD also nailed our DisplayMate 64-Step Gray-Scale test, correctly displaying every shade of gray with no sign of crushed blacks (where a dark shade of gray appears black) or clipping (where a light shade of gray appears white). Not surprisingly, my 4K test photos looked incredibly sharp, with well-defined highlight and shadow detail.

This panel's 10-millisecond (gray to gray) pixel response isn't ideal for game play, but the PA322UHD is not designed for gaming. I observed moderate ghosting while playing Crysis 3 and while running the Heaven gaming test. I measured an input lag (the time it takes for the monitor to respond to a controller command) of 39 milliseconds, which isn't terrible, but isn't nearly as responsive as a monitor that is actually designed for gaming, such as the BenQ RL2460HT (10.1 milliseconds). That's not to say that games and movies don't look awesome on the PA322UHD's jumbo screen; they do. However, discerning gamers may want to consider one of the new G-Sync enabled monitors, such as the Asus ROG Swift PG278Q, if gaming performance is a priority.

The PA322UD consumed 91 watts of power during testing with Eco mode disabled. That's right in line with the Dell UP3214Q (88 watts) and the NEC MultiSync PA301W (98 watts), but a bit higher than the Asus PQ321 (72 watts). Switching to Eco 1 mode lowered the PA322UHD's usage to 82 watts, and Eco 2 mode reduced usage to 53 watts, but this setting may be too dim for most users.

Conclusion

Everything about the NEC MultiSync PA322UHD is big, from its gargantuan dimensions to its $3K price tag. It also comes up huge in terms of performance, displaying very accurate colors, excellent gray-scale reproduction, and a stunning UHD image. Graphics professionals will appreciate this display's extensive settings menu and 14-bit LUT, as well as its wide color-gamut coverage. It offers better all-around performance than the Dell UltraSharp UP3214Q, and includes a built-in KVM switch and a pivot adjustment with automatic image rotation. As such, the NEC MultiSync PA322UHD is our top pick for big-screen UHD monitors.

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