Hi all! First post, but since L1Techs were kind enough to be the one outfit who reviewed the Crossover 32SS (or posted any real info outside of a for-sale ad) I thought I'd register here and post my first impressions as a new owner:
General: AFAIK, only the AMVA panel in this screen (and a few other models like the BenQ BL3200PT) is capable of 1440p, at 16:9 aspect, at greater than 75hz, and over 28". Those were all requirements for me, and this hit all the marks.
Build Quality/Setup:
Apparently I'm an idiot and couldn't figure out that the feet for the stand go on specific sides (a left and right foot) - once my stupidity was cleared away setting it up was a breeze (2mins, phillips screwdriver, included) - 6 total screws, 1 for each foot, 4 for the VESA Tilt Mount to attach the monitor to the now built stand. I laid the screen flat on it's face on a blanket to ensure no damage while mounting it to the stand. Stand appears very sturdy, no rocking or wiggle either on the screen or mount even with me banging my desk around. Bonus points for having a hollow area at the bottom of the stand, partitioned in 2, for cables running to the monitor, and the bottom partition I'm currently using to keep all my charger cables in 1 spot, looks nice.
Performance:
Just like L1T, I was able to achieve 95hz without frame dropping. 100hz does give frame dropping. I am currently running at 88hz 8bpc color, as the monitor is apparently (just learned this today!) running in DisplayPort 1.1 mode, and has to drop to 6bpc to attain any faster refresh at 1440p. When I get home I will be looking through the menus to see if there is a DP1.2 toggle to fix this and get back to 95hz with 8bpc. Honestly, the color difference isn't noticeable, but I'm picky, and would rather sacrifice 7hz than 2 bits of color info, even with how good modern dithering is. Just like non-overdriven IPS, there is a bit of smearing. Having used standard IPS for years it does not bother me, but dark-dark transitions are particularly slow and may bother some users (especially if you play a lot of space games). The screen does offer 3 overdrive levels (weak, medium and strong), but they all produce coronas (weak is barely noticeable but doesn't cut blur much either). I personally run with overdrive off, but am still playing with the weak setting to see which is more preferable. Higher refresh rate does seem to cut this down a bit (presumably just from the pixels getting signaled to change ~50% faster at 90hz vs 60).
TLDR: It will be blurry, if you've used an IPS or a slower TN in the past and that doesn't bother you, great!
Picture:
Absolutely top notch. I was lucky enough to receive a unit with only 2 "lazy" (half-stuck) pixels. After a few hours burn in those came back to life and I now have 0 visible dead pixels. Color reproduction is vivid, bright, but not overwhelming, assuming you dont dial the brightness/contrast up to a billion or use the HDR preset. I found my personal sweet spot very close to what the "Gaming" preset is at. Static images are gorgeous, sharp, detailed. Motion (noting the above drawbacks) appears smooth, and what previously was very visibly aliased at 1080p (Small geometry like car part edges, fences, etc) is noticeably less staircase-y, even with the larger size/closer viewing distance im now at, though that's just 1440p, not specific to this monitor. I will say that the Matte Filter, as pointed out in the review does not appear to hurt sharpness at all, and looks great.
Pros: Color, Brightness, Sharpness, Price, Nice stand, >75hz 1440p gaming at 32"
Cons: Low response time/Smearing/Blur, poor overdrive with heavy coronas (this can be disabled), defaults (but may be changeable!) to DP1.1 so 90+hz cannot be achieved without dropping color to 6bpc - Again will update this if DP1.2 is toggleable when I get home.
Overall: 4/5 Potentially 4.5/5 if DP1.2 toggle is available (I apologize as I'm posting this from work currently, I'll try and get this updated as soon as I'm home!) or if a firmware patch is made available to improve overdrive. While I haven't seen overdrive on AMVA previously, I've seen some fairly artifact-free implementations on TN panels, if this can be improved, or if DP1.2 is available the monitor is damn near perfect.
Level 1 Review: https://level1techs.com/video/crossover-32ss-monitor-unboxing-testing-play-test-and-review