Ultrawide monitors are a sight to behold and usually come with a price tag to match. Some ultrawide gaming monitors can range well over 1K+ dollars, which is unobtainable for the majority of the sweaty gaming community and starving artist communities of music producers, two communities I, at least in some way, proudly call myself a part of.
So when Monoprice hit me up to check out their 49″ ultrawide gaming monitor, I figured there was no better chance to look at it through the lense of both a music producer and casual gamer. The price point of $649 at the time of writing this article (I’ve seen it listed higher, but it’s almost perpetually on sale) is not too out of league for most people. The question is just if it’s too much of a good thing! So, let’s dive in and find out some of the monitor’s more technical and vanilla aspects before diving into my hot takes, personal opinions, and recommendations.
What Is The Dark Matter by Monoprice 49in Ultrawide Monitor?
The Monoprice Dark Matter 49-inch 43305 delivers an immersive gaming and visual experience with a wide 49-inch VA panel set in a 32:9 aspect ratio. The screen offers a 5120 x 1440 resolution and operates at 120 Hz, ensuring smooth visuals. With features like FreeSync and G-Sync compatibility extending to 48 Hz, it caters to a seamless gaming session. It also boasts a one-year perfect pixel guarantee, providing a replacement panel for even a single dead pixel within the first year.
This monitor is a part of the 49-inch 32:9 class, providing an expansive field of view that comes close to the experience of virtual reality goggles. It matches the pixel density of a 27-inch QHD display and brings extended color, HDR, and an 1800R curvature to the table, enhancing the gaming environment. Although it doesn’t add extra contrast in HDR mode, the monitor still stands out for its high contrast ratio and color depth.
Aside from gaming, the Monoprice Dark Matter offers practicality for multitaskers with picture-by-picture windowing for up to four video sources, a solid build and an excellent lighting effect in the stand for ambiance. The monitor lacks USB ports but compensates with ample video inputs and built-in speakers.
Now, let’s get into the fun part!
What I loved Most About The Dark Matter Ultrawide Monitor
It’s Massive!
Leading the charge on my favorite feature about this monitor is the most obvious one: this monitor is an absolute beast regarding size. It’s 49 inches, but it feels larger than life when sitting in front of this thing. Having always used pretty large monitors but never a true ultrawide one, the difference floored me those extra inches of width can.
While I am a passionate gamer, albeit what most would call a ‘filthy casual,” my main work is as a music producer, and the extra real estate that this monitor gave me for having plugins open, moving clips around, working with audio, and more was next level. It almost makes it hard to work on my laptop when I have to travel for work! In only a month, I’ve become so accustomed to just how massive this monitor is when working in Ableton that it’s hard to go back to being creative and working on beats on my laptop screen, knowing how amazing and fun it is to do on this monitor.
It was a blessing and a curse, I guess.
It’s also self-described as a gaming monitor, and I’d be remiss not to mention how much extra width and size add to my gaming experience. I think a picture is worth a thousand words, but playing good old Classic WoW on this thing makes me feel so much more a part of this game I’ve been playing for close to 20 years now. The extra width and resolution make the world accessible and all-encompassing, and having to turn my head slightly to scan the entire zone or world before me is fun. I could see Call of Duty players getting whiplash having to turn their heads so fast on this monitor, which makes e count my blessing that I’m an old gamer who plays slow-paced RPGs.
It Can Be Two (or more) Monitors.
Monoprice thought of the user experience with this monitor, having the option to easily access two video inputs to be displayed on this single screen, essentially like having two monitors without the unaesthetic break in the screens that we’re all so accustomed to.
But it also does more than just that!
With features like Picture In A Box, you can have a third video input hovering over your main two inputs. I love using this feature to pin my Spotify, so I don’t need to Alt-Tab out to access my playlists and music while gaming. It’s cool stuff that opens up a ton of flexibility and application, which is good because this monitor certainly takes up a lot of space in a room, so it can wear many hats and serve many purposes. It is a real X-factor.
It’s User Friendly
If you’re in any way a part of the wider gaming community, I bet you read that line above about my being a Classic World of Warcraft player and thought to yourself, “Oh look, another dude on the young side of middle-age who doesn’t like to learn or try new things?!” And to be honest, you’d be right!
The last thing I want is to bust open a new monitor, rearrange the studio to accommodate it (which this monitor required a lot of rearranging), get everything connected, and then only find that it needs lengthy and complex calibrations. Luckily, this monitor is about as plug-and-play as you could imagine. Sure, there are some deeper functionalities once you dive into the menus, but 90% of its prowess can be accessible right on bootup (which old and not-to-tech-savvy people like me can enjoy).
What I Wasn’t Crazy About
It’s Not Always A “Morning Person”
I’ll keep this one short, as it’s a minor gripe that doesn’t happen every single time. Still, about 1/3 of the times I turn this monitor on in the morning while it and my computer are booting up for the day’s work, it emits an audible buzzing sound for the first 10-15 minutes that can be pretty distracting.
Once the monitor is warmed up and around the time I’ve gotten used to the buzzing and can completely ignore it, it goes away, but the fact that it’s there in the ninth place is something that I should undoubtedly mention here.
Who Is This Monitor For?
Gamers
The name of the monitor says it all: this screen is, first and foremost, designed to be for gamers. With crisp and clear imagery and warm saturation, it makes games come alive, and I can understand why it’s spoken of so highly in the gaming community. Couple this with the fact that it’s affordable compared to many other ultrawide monitors on the market these days, and you’ve got yourself an excellent option to consider the next time you’re looking to upgrade your setup.
Plus, the dual-screen option would make managing a stream and OBS easier and aesthetically better for your audience, at least potentially. Whenever I’m watching streams, it’s always a little distracting when the streamer continues to look between their two monitors as they monitor chat and play the game. But seeing as the twin-screen option on this monitor seamlessly blends the two video inputs side by side, there would be less back and forth and less head movement, and thus, there would be a less distracting stream and more focus for you to put on your gaming.
Music Producers
Managing screen real estate can make or break your creative flow when producing music. If you’re jamming out on ideas, bouncing between sketches and more, having to close plugins, move your VSTs around on the screen. Moreover, it is a cumbersome dance that can get frustrating to the point where you can lose a hit idea just because you’re fighting with plugins or can’t see all the different ideas simultaneously.
But the amount of screen real estate that the Dark Matter Ultrawide monitor gave me solved this once and for all for me, and as I said above, it makes it hard to want to create beats and mix music on anything else moving forward.
It’s a powerhouse monitor for producers as much as a setpiece for your studio and creative space and is one of my favorite and most-used tools in my studio to date.
Final Thoughts
In summing up, the Monoprice Dark Matter 49-inch 43305 is a clear standout in the ultrawide monitor space, especially at its price point. It’s a behemoth that provides a wealth of screen real estate, enabling an expansive view equally beneficial for immersive gaming sessions and productive music production workflows. The monitor’s ability to display multiple video inputs simultaneously is a game-changer, eliminating the visual discontinuity of dual-monitor setups. Its plug-and-play nature makes it a user-friendly addition to any setup, allowing immediate immersion into its vast visual capabilities without a steep learning curve.
However, it’s not without its quirks. The occasional warm-up buzz, though transient, is a minor hiccup in an otherwise smooth experience. This monitor is tailored for gamers seeking to bring their virtual worlds to life and music producers looking for the expansive digital canvas necessary to manage complex projects. It’s a versatile, functional centerpiece for any tech-savvy user’s desk.
Monoprice Dark Matter 49-inch 43305 Specs
- Panel Type / Backlight: VA / W-LED, edge array
- Screen Size / Aspect Ratio: 49 inches / 32:9
- Curve Radius: 1800mm
- Max Resolution & Refresh Rate: 5120 x 1440 @ 120 Hz
- FreeSync: 48-120 Hz
- G-Sync Compatible
- Native Color Depth & Gamut: 8-bit / DCI-P3
- HDR10
- Response Time (GTG): 4ms
- Brightness (mfr): 400 nits
- Contrast (mfr): 3,000:1
- Speakers: 2
- Video Inputs: 2x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.0
- Audio: 3.5mm headphone output
- USB 3.0: None
- Power Consumption: 43w, brightness @ 200 nits
- Panel Dimensions WxHxD w/base: 47.2 x 18.5 x 9.7 inches (1199 x 470 x 246mm)
- Panel Thickness: 6.3 inches (160mm)
- Bezel Width: Top/sides: 0.4 inch (10mm), Bottom: 0.75 inch (19mm)
- Weight: 32.6 pounds (14.8kg)
- Warranty: 1 year
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
