Spyder X2 Ultra Review – Identical Yet Upgraded

Datacolor’s newest colour calibrator doesn’t look much different than its predecessor, in fact the only way you can tell them apart is the X2 moniker on the top, and the USB C connector at the end of the cable. Otherwise, you’d easily mistake the two. Both have the same white finish, the same tripod mounting threads on one of the three lobes, and the same lens-based sensor style. There is one important hardware difference in here though, which is the actual sensor itself. Now, assuming you get the new “Ultra” version, you’ll have access to the high brightness option in their software, allowing you to calibrate displays with up to 2000 nits of peak brightness. With more and more displays – especially colour focused ones – offering increasingly high brightness levels, especially to aid HDR experiences, having a sensor to measure and calibrate them is rather helpful. 

To be specific, the SpyderX uses a now discontinued sensor from ams OSRAM, an AS7264N. The discontinuation is why I believe Datacolor are offering this new X2 package – and in here is a slightly different sensor, an AS7341 or AS7343 – I’m not 100% sure which. Either way, they’ve moved from a straight XYZ colour sensor to a wider range of wavelengths, but I imagine requires more complicated processing of that data. Still, the big highlight here is a much wider supported brightness range – up to 2000 nits! The other change, the USB C connector, will make it easier to use with more modern devices from Apple, and does come with a Type C to Type A adapter in the box – although it’s not attached to the cable so if you aren’t using it regularly, expect that to go missing! Otherwise, that’s it for hardware differences.

On the software front, Datacolor has revamped their program with a more modern UI. It still houses pretty much all the same features, but in a bit of a different look now. The primary function, colour calibration, is the same process. You tell the software what display you’re testing, what type of backlight it has, and what controls you have on the monitor. That bottom brightness function, “High brightness”, is, as far as I’m aware, the only difference between the SpyderX2 Elite and Ultra versions – the hardware is the same, it’s just the software that limits what the tool can do. That also means that once something like DisplayCal adds support for the X2, you should have full access to the hardware capabilities. Still, in Datacolor’s software, once you’ve picked your settings, you can then pick your calibration settings. You can pick what gamma curve you’re after, what white point, and even brightness. You can also switch between a full calibration, a recalibration and a calibration check. Then you stick the SpyderX2 on your display, hit go and let it do its thing. 

The X2 is noticeably faster per colour swatch. It’s taking maybe one second per colour, with 76 total steps, meaning a full calibration, excluding the setup time anyway, takes about one minute. That’s a damn sight better than the older Spyder5 which was the sort of leave-it-and-make-a-cuppa type tool. This should barely interrupt your workflow at all. Once it’s complete, it requires you to save the profile and set a reminder to recalibrate your display again – the default is a month. Then it brings you to the preview window where you can toggle on and off the newly calibrated profile – and possibly more importantly, use the “SpyderTune” settings to tweak white point, gamma and brightness to your liking. Lastly, it gives you a complete report, showing you the gamut coverage – in this case it’s 100% of the DCI P3 spectrum – although you do now get four new options: Rec202; ACES AP1; ACES AP0; and Davinci. They’ve also moved the detailed information to this view too, showing in my case the 918.7 nits of peak brightness with local dimming turned off on this STRIX SCAR 16 – review in the cards above – and things like the white point, RGB xy points, and gamma values. 

If you’re looking to test your displays – like I regularly do – the Display Analysis mode is what you’re after. This, sadly, hasn’t had the same touch of paint that the main app has – this is the exact same window, settings and test as the SpyderX. Still, with the new high brightness support you’re able to get more accurate readings with displays like this Scar 16’s MiniLED backlit one. The SpyderX reported around 920 nits of peak brightness here with local dimming on, but the X2 reported 1,315 nits increase, with a much higher contrast ratio of 26940:1. It seems the X2 can measure much lower black levels too, which aids that contrast ratio reading. As for the gamut coverage, it reads the same, although you now have the option to compare to all eight of the spectrums, rather than the base four on the SpyderX. Interestingly, the SpyderX2 was able to make sense of the full array local dimming mode during the colour accuracy test – the SpyderX reported off-the-charts levels of inaccuracy, whereas the X2 was able to measure a much more reasonable set of results. Actually, now that I think of it, I suspect that’s down to the brightness limitation of the SpyderX. 

One thing you should know is that neither the SpyderX, nor SpyderX2 officially support calibrating OLED panels. The listing on Datacolor’s website makes it clear that they cannot guarantee results on an OLED panel, although you can contact their support team to see if your particular OLED should be ok. While I haven’t seen any official reasoning for this, my suspicion is that a number of OLED panels – namely LG – use an RGBW pixel layout, that’s red, green, blue and white, which I’d imagine can confuse the sensor somewhat as white light is a mix of every wavelength. That might throw off some measurements, so instead of listing every display that might not work, they say as a blanket statement that they don’t guarantee results. Still, it’s something you should be aware of before buying!

I feel it’s important to note that, beyond the high brightness option and extra gamuts to compare to, all of this is still the same functionality you can find in the SpyderX. The only thing that’s changed is the styling and layout. With that said, the new look is better, although some of the “smooth animations” like the option to list what display you’re actually using can be more frustrating than anything as you have to wait for it to slowly load before entering the information. I have also found that certain features like the Display Analysis mode which I make use of in my monitor reviews now takes a considerable time to load – to the point where I thought it was broken or I hadn’t clicked the button to launch it. That’s a little disappointing in a tool that costs up to double over the outgoing model.

Actually, to touch on the price a little more, the SpyderX can be had for £120 on Datacolor’s own site, whereas the lowest price SpyderX2 you can get is £250. The new Ultra version – which again is the same hardware, just with an extra option in the software enabled by the now internet-activated licence key, is £300. That’s a hefty price increase, so for those prosumers who would still like to calibrate their displays for their home photo or video editing, you’ll either want to pick up a SpyderX now before they run out, or look at the myriad of other colour calibrators on the market that might suit your needs – and price point – better. If you’ve got a SpyderX already, unless you find yourself testing and calibrating 800 nit or higher displays regularly, you don’t need to upgrade. But, if you fall into the category of money-is-no-object, and need to calibrate high brightness displays, the X2 Ultra looks like it’s for you.