Philips Momentum 558M1 Review: Legendary audio

This is a huge 55-inch monitor from Philips. The monitor, of course, targets consoles, but the PC scene will also find some details they might like. So, from the outside, it looks like a classic 55” TV with thin edges and 4K resolution. When you unpack it, an interesting detail is that it already comes completely assembled and you just need to take it out of the box, put it on the table and you are ready for action. Since it’s already stacked, the box it comes in is also a little bigger than the standard. They use enough styrofoam that you don’t have to worry about delivery, especially since there’s a soundbar under the monitor that proudly carries the Bowers & Wilkins brand and design. Be careful not to raise the monitor by receiving the soundbar. Once you unpack it, you can see the first new difference from a classic TV, and that is the fact that the screen is matte, it softens the reflections of the environment so that the lighting bothers you less during gaming.

Although Philips Momentum 558M1 is a gaming monitor, the design is very subtle and will fit perfectly into any living room. At the back, you have a plastic black case with support for VESA 200 rack mounting. The edges of the top, left and right has a series of ARGB LED and supports the Ambiglow standard from Philips, similar to Ambilight used on their TVs, but the effect is still a bit dimmer. The silver metal stand comes already attached to the monitor and only allows you to adjust the tilt of the monitor, which we consider sufficient given the use of this monitor. As we have already mentioned, under the monitor you also get a soundbar that extends with the monitor and offers a sound far better than integrated speakers. The soundbar has built-in tweeters, two mid-range speakers and one subwoofer. The initial settings are quite neutral, but of course, you can adjust the sound to your liking via the monitor menu. Soundbar is part of the monitor and has no separate inputs.

Before the specifications themselves, we must emphasize again that this is a monitor. This means that there is no classic function of the TV, you have nowhere to connect the antenna, nor is there a “Smart” system built into it. To watch any content, you will need to plug something into the monitor. As the box itself points out, the monitor is designed with consoles in mind and will fit perfectly with the new PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S/X console, as both finally support native 4K resolution. If, on the other hand, you want to use it as a classic Smart TV, you just need a TV Box with AndroidTV system and congratulations, you have one of the better 4K TVs. The difference between the monitor and the TV is significant in the quality of the panels and the design of the pixels themselves, and the small text is very easy to read on this monitor. Although the standard use of PCs may not yet be at this size, we have also talked about mobile phones, and now we do not have a problem with carrying twice as big mobile phones as we did a few years ago.

More on the specifications themselves. The monitor supports a 4K resolution with 120 Hz on the DP slot and 60 Hz on the HDMI input. The screen also has a 10-bit matrix, which means over a billion different colors, which will be recognized by computers as well as consoles. In addition, the monitor is HDR1000 certified, which means that in HDR mode it achieves over 1000 nits of brightness, depending, of course, on the scene. As it is a VA panel, the native contrast of 3000:1 gives a superior gaming experience, and the monitor itself raises that ratio to over 4000:1 for a great separation of dark and light scenes. It achieves this by implementing as many as 144 backlight zones for a better HDR experience. To make gaming as smooth as possible, the refresh rate is variable with the implementation of FreeSync Premium Pro technology, which of course consoles can also use. You also get a remote to access the OSD menu, but there is also a stick in the corner at the back for navigation. You can adjust the properties of the screen, sound and, of course, Ambiglow lighting, which we think is best left to accompany the video content.

The test of the monitor took place first on the Xbox One X console, which automatically recognized all the functions of the monitor and adapted to them. Of course, the last generation of consoles has a small problem with spinning demanding titles at this resolution, but FreeSync has ensured at least that we play without screen tearing and with a superior HDR display. Then this monitor was ideal to test the new RX 6800XT graphics card and we have to say that 4K 120 Hz gaming on a monitor like this can be feasible even at a short distance if you ask us. Finally, the new Playstation 5 came to our test, and with upgraded games like Godfall, all the details and attractive HDR effects come to the fore, and once you combine everything with the Ambiglow effect, you get a top experience. Of course, it all comes down to the price of the monitor, which is slightly higher than comparative TVs because of the implementation of higher quality pixels.