Projectors Tests Reviews

XGIMI Horizon S Max : test / full review

Published on: 07-12-2024 / Modified: 07-12-2024

The Horizon range has been around for a few years now, and until the end of 2023 you could choose between the Horizon FHD and the Horizon Pro. The range was extended with the arrival of the XGIMI Horizon Ultra in 2023, and this year two new models were added: the XGIMI Horizon S Pro and the XGIMI Horizon S Max. I'm going to take a closer look at the Horizon S Max to help you understand its positioning and see what it's capable of

On paper, this new XGIMI Horizon S Max comes to occupy the top spot in the Horizon range with a number of more than tempting features. I'm thinking in particular of brightness, because with 3100 ISO lumens, you should be able to use this projector in a moderately lit room. The dynamic contrast claimed seems surreal to me, but if it works as it does on the XGIMI Aura 2, it will add a plus to the image. Color fidelity is also highlighted, and although reaching a delta E of 1 seems ambitious to me, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra had really good colorimetry out of the box.

Light, contrast, color and good sound...Is it missing anything?

Price XGIMI Horizon S Max

Not yet available / tested

Timeline

December 13, 2024: estimated date of arrival of the XGIMI Horizon S Max, I'll try to complete the test as soon as possible so that you can make a decision before the festive season.

Why this projector?

The XGIMI family grows every year with new models, building on the success of the past and adding a few new features. I believe that the arrival of the XGIMI Horizon Ultra in 2023 marked a turning point in XGIMI's history. Product design changed completely, and XGIMI entered the hybrid led/laser spotlight race. While this is probably only of interest to testers, for the general public it's surely a different story.

When I see the questions I get about projectors, I realize that potential buyers ask a lot more questions than they would when buying a TV. I think XGIMI is trying to change that to attract a wider audience who usually go for a TV. XGIMI uses lots of reassuring arguments to avoid headaches with projector configuration. This XGIMI Horizon S Max focuses on these elements with enormous brightness, huge contrast and other strong arguments usually reserved for the world of televisions

Will this projector be able to replace your television? That's what I'm going to tell you in this test.

Unpacking

The XGIMI Horizon S Max box is almost as imposing as that of the XGIMI Horizon Ultra, yet the projector is considerably lighter. The projector is protected behind a thick layer of foam and the box contains only the projector, a large transformer, a power cable, a manual, the remote control and 2 AAA batteries

Operating system

Not yet available / tested

Finish

The XGIMI Horizon S Max is very much inspired by the Ultra model, losing some of its bulk and gaining a rotating support on both the vertical and horizontal axis. The choice of materials is the same, and this projector also uses a motorized cover that protects the optical compartment when the projector is not in use. So here we have a slightly lighter XGIMI Horizon Ultra with more flexibility for image orientation

I tested the XGIMI Mogo 3 Pro a few months ago, and for me it was the first XGIMI with a vertical rotating mount. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to position it vertically for direct ceiling projection. This Horizon S Max may be larger than the Mogo 3 Pro, but it's much more agile. It can easily be positioned vertically for direct ceiling projection. The vertical axis can be tilted up to 135°

It can also be tilted downwards, but at a lesser angle. But don't be too quick to be tempted by this apparent flexibility. If your screen isn't perfectly perpendicular to the optical compartment, you'll create a perspective effect that will require image correction. A shallow angle won't pose a problem, but if you tilt it to the maximum, the distortion will be significant.

You can easily combine the projector with a photo tripod, as the screw thread in the rotating base is perfectly stable.

Connectivity on the rear is rather limited, which is surprising for a projector in this price range. There's a single HDMI eARC port and two USB 2.0 ports. The projector is equipped with two 2x12 watt speakers, almost as many as the XGIMI Aura 2.

Behind the optical block we find the usual DMD 0.47 chip found in just about every XGIMI projector priced over €1,000. The special feature of this projector is that it offers two light modes. There's the hybrid LED/Laser mode as on other models from the brand, but you can also switch to triple laser mode. This is the first time I've tested a projector where the user can choose the light source. XGIMI promotes their hybrid technology, arguing that it produces a richer, more colorful image with less laser-related grain. I'll come back to this point later in the review

This XGIMI Horizon S Max broadly takes up the features of the XGIMI Horizon Ultra launched in 2023, with the S Pro model following the same trend. The projector is well finished, simple and elegant. It offers more interesting placement possibilities than the Ultra version, and also offers a few new features that I'm going to share with you

On the underside of the projector is a horizontal rotary axis that allows you to rotate it as you wish, the only restriction will be linked to the power cable, which is attached to the projector and not to the rotating base

As usual, XGIMI has called on Harman Kardon for sound.

Projection room

My projection room is rectangular, 4.6m by 2.9m (height 2.2m). I have two projection walls, one white wall 2.9m wide with just white paint with a possible 4m setback. I then have a 133 inch ALR screen on another wall with a possible setback of 2.8m. I mainly use the ALR screen except when the layout or type of projector is not suitable for this situation.

Battery autonomy

This projector is not equipped with a battery.

Power consumption

This projector is very bright, and when a projector is bright, it often consumes a lot of electricity. This is not at all the case with this projector, as XGIMI has mastered the relationship between light output and power consumption. This isn't the first model I've found this to be the case. I've measured power consumption at between 130 and 140 watts at maximum brightness (excluding "high power" mode, which is unusable). If I lower the brightness to minimum, I get a ridiculous consumption of about 50 watts.

This projector has a dynamic lighting feature that adjusts brightness according to ambient light, and unlike the XGIMI Horizon Ultra, these changes in brightness have a direct impact on consumption. The Ultra consumed almost 200 watts with the light at maximum, so the S Max does considerably better. If you use the projector in total darkness, brightness decreases, but only acceptably, and it's at this point that power consumption plummets to around 50 watts. With this level of consumption, this projector does better than the Formovie Xming Episode One, which sends out just 150 lumens

So this is clearly one of the projector's strong points!

Operating noise

XGIMI projectors are generally quite quiet, this one generating less than 40 decibels at close range and if I move a meter away, the noise emitted by the projector is inaudible. The only scenario in which this projector is noisy is when you switch it to "high power" mode, and then it switches to hairdryer mode. In principle, this doesn't matter, as this ultra-bright configuration is absolutely unusable, as the white becomes greenish.

Image quality

To illustrate image quality, I've put together a video made up of several movie trailers with a variety of moods. You can see for yourself what this projector is capable of. The camera sometimes struggled to keep up with changes in brightness, so there are passages where the brightness is a little off, but this is obviously not the case with the projector. Laser projectors of this type also produce an image that is sometimes too red for the cameras, so certain portions of the video are too reddish.

This projector is capable of producing an excellent image, in all types of lighting conditions (bright, dark, animated, etc.)

Colorimetry

More explanations on colorimetry

Measuring color fidelity (colorimetry) is not a subjective question, it is something completely measurable. This measurement is carried out with a device (colorimeter, spectrometer, ...) which measures the difference between the real color and the displayed color. This difference is expressed in delta E (abbreviation: dE). A dE greater than 3 indicates a deviation perceptible to the human eye.

The dE must therefore be as low as possible but projectors rarely have a dE lower than 3 out of the box. They are often between 5 and 10, only a calibration can correctly adjust the colors.

For a perfect calibration, you must call a professional. I give you my parameters which correspond to my situation. These settings might work for your situation but it is not a guarantee, so take them as an indication of the direction to follow.

I have two screens in my projection room at all times, one white and one gray. I sometimes vary the models, but I keep at least one screen of each type. To test colorimetry, I thought I'd start with my ALR screen, because this projector is theoretically bright enough to withstand a drop in brightness. I do a first series of tests and get really bad results with an ultra-cold image. I know that my ALR screen tends to chill images, but not to this extent. So I turned the projector towards my white screen and repeated the test, with the same result but with a less pronounced coldness. Most of the projectors I test have colorimetry that's too cold, but not to this extent...something wasn't right.

With a little research, I realized that when the light is pushed to the maximum, it severely degrades color quality. When I left boost mode and aimed for a brightness of 8 out of 10, I got a completely different result. So the first thing you'll need to do is make sure this boost mode is deactivated, unless of course you want to use this projector in daylight.

The special feature of this projector is that it works with two different types of light source:

- a hybrid laser/led light

- a triple laser light

I won't go into technical details, but to illustrate the difference between these two types of light, I made a white measurement with my spectroradiometer with these two types of light

Triple laser measurement:

Hybrid measurement:

If you look closely at the two graphs, you'll notice a difference with the hybrid source where a curve appears between 2 peaks. This is what XGIMI "promised" in its sales pitch, so it's not just marketing. What does this mean for you? With this technology, you can achieve greater color richness and visual comfort. XGIMI offers you the choice between these two light sources, emphasizing their hybrid technology, and I'm going to show you that they're right to do so.

I measured color accuracy for each light source and for each configuration, which means I have to do all the tests twice...as if once wasn't enough to give me work. I'll save you the trouble by presenting you with my conclusion

Result of color measurements in "film" mode with the hybrid source:

Result of color measurements in "film" mode with the triple laser mode

In both cases, I find that the result is good for factory colorimetry. We're a long way from the delta E promise of 1, but it's not too bad. I obtain a delta E of 4.39 with the triple laser source and 2.53 with the hybrid. Colorimetric differences are also greater with the triple laser source, and the white is clearly too cold.

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra offered good colorimetry out of the box, and it's the same with this model. Selecting the "film" mode, the hybrid source and lowering the brightness to 8, you get an average delta E of less than 3. For the vast majority of buyers, this is a strong argument, as you get a good image with just a few clicks without going into complex settings. If you want better, it's possible and here's what it looks like after calibration:

I should point out that I calibrated the white with my spectroradiometer for finer adjustment, the rest I did with my colorimeter to be able to test the projector more quickly.

I obtained a delta E of 1.64 for colors, 1.1 for white (temperature of 6484K) and 0.44 for grays.

Calibration parameters

I'm sharing with you my calibration settings for my white screen, my ALR screen and both light sources. These settings will undoubtedly require some adaptations for your setup, but this will give you a direction for your settings. I've only indicated the settings to be changed

White screen / hybrid source

Temperature

red 9

green 8

blue 5

Gain

red 49

Hue

red 51

Brightness

red 40

magenta 40

White screen / laser source laser

Temperature

red 8

green 7

blue 4

Gain

red 52

blue 52

Hue

red 54

green 35

Cyan 49

Brightness

red 24

green 70

Cyan 75

magenta 36

Screen ALR / source hybrid

Temperature

red 9

green 7

blue 8

Gain

red 49

green 51

blue 49

Hue

red 52

green 33

Cyan 56

Brightness

red 40

green 63

magenta 40

Display ALR / source laser

Temperature

red 8

green 7

blue 8

Gain

red 51

green 51

blue 54

Hue

red 52

green 33

cyan 56

Brightness

red 25

green 63

cyan 60

magenta 40

Brightness

More explanations on brightness

The brightness for a projector is absolutely crucial. The brightness is measured in ANSI lumens and the values provided by the manufacturer are very often higher than reality.

I measure the brightness with a lux meter and I convert my measurements into ANSI lumens in relation to the projection surface. You thus obtain a real value.

A video projector, even if it is bright, cannot compete with a television. The contribution of light (natural or artificial) will have the effect of drastically reducing the contrast of your image. With a brightness lower than 1000 ANSI lumens, the projector must be used in total darkness.

The XGIMI Horizon S Max has a theoretical brightness of 3100 ISO lumens, which is enormous and far superior to the Ultra version that came out a year earlier. Now don't take this for granted, because projectors are almost always less bright than advertised. I measured brightness in all available configurations and obtained the following results:

With light at 10/10:

Standard: 1786 lumens

Film: 1513 lumens

Sport: 1765 lumens

Gloss: 1716 lumens

Soft: 1272 lumens

"High Power": 288E lumens

The "high power" mode is therefore pretty close to what was promised, but this configuration is absolutely unusable because the projector literally spits out its lungs and the white becomes greenish. With a real luminosity of between 1500 and 1700 lumens, you get a fairly bright projector that will enable you to use it in a semi-lit room.

Here's an example

The image is therefore clearly visible and viewable with ambient light, but it's much richer in color and contrast in total darkness. I've used an ALR screen designed for UST projectors, which works without a hitch. With a white screen, the image will be more washed out

The brightness is therefore good, but you also need to look at the black level to see if the image depth will also be good. I measured a black level of 0.4 cd/m² on my white screen and 0.06 cd/m² on my ALR screen. The loss of brightness is significant on the ALR screen, as it's designed for ultra-short-throw projectors, but it allows for deeper blacks, as in this photo. I'll come back to the choice of screen later in this article, but luminosity gives you greater latitude in your choice of screen.

Sharpness

XGIMI tends to overdo the sharpness settings. As a result, the image is a little artificial and some grain is visible. By reducing the sharpness setting, you can significantly alleviate the problem. This is true of most XGIMI models, and has never bothered me, but if you're sensitive to this, it may be an important consideration for you

Here are a few images to illustrate the sharpness level. As this is a freeze frame, the image is not necessarily totally sharp, but it gives you an idea of the accentuation of features and the grain that may appear

Contrast

More explanations on contrast

Contrast (on/off) is used to measure the difference between white and black. This measurement gives an indication of the ability of a projector to produce a good rendering in dark scenes.

A contrast lower than 500:1 should be considered as a very low contrast and the consequence will be especially visible in dark scenes where you will lose details. This is less of a problem for sports, bright films or even cartoons.

A low contrast ratio does not mean that a projector is not usable, you just have to be aware that for films like Aliens, dark scenes will no longer allow you to distinguish details.

Contrast is one of the arguments used by XGIMI to praise the qualities of this projector, and XGIMI sets the bar very high by claiming a contrast of 1000000:1. With a figure like that, you might expect infinite contrast like on some OLED screens, but on a projector, I don't believe it.

I measured the native contrast in all configurations and in the best case, I obtained a contrast of around 1000:1. This projector has two options for activating dynamic contrast, and by engaging these options, the contrast rises to around 1700:1. After calibration, I obtain the following:

With a contrast of 1519:1, this is already much better than the native contrast, but this figure left me a little perplexed. After testing the same film clips over and over again, I can quickly see whether a projector is capable of producing good contrast. Before measuring, I had this subjective impression that the contrast was going to be higher and yet I'm sure of my measurements so this 1519:1 contrast corresponds well to reality.

But I still had a doubt and I thought I'd try something else. Dynamic contrast is an artificial process and not necessarily linear. If I test white and black sequentially, the dynamic contrast won't act in the same way as in a film. I therefore tried to transpose a test pattern onto a film image, comparing the results with the black vs. white contrast. I noticed a slight difference in the intensity of the white, but nothing extraordinary; on the other hand, the black level had fallen sharply. I repeated this test on several images and observed the same thing each time, but with a different intensity

What does this mean? It means that dynamic contrast takes into account what is being displayed to intervene on black and white. I imagine there's a logic on the software side that defines the level of intervention, but as I don't know what it is, it makes things very difficult to measure. What I can see with these measurements is that dynamic contrast plays a more important role than the separate measurement of black and white. I can't estimate it exactly, but sometimes the intensity of the black was halved.

I don't think this would achieve a contrast of 1000000:1 but the contrast is well over 1500:1

Here's a dark sequence shot with this projector. Even if I have a loss due to the camera, the contrast makes it possible to distinguish between light and dark areas. The reality is better than what you can see on this video

Motion compensation

Image size and projection distance

More explanations on the projection distance

The projection distance determines the size of the image and the size of the image is determined by the projector's throw ratio. If a projector has a throw ratio of 1.2, it will have an image width of 83 cm with possibly a gray border.

The distance also plays a role in the brightness because the brightness decreases with the square of the distance. A projector placed at 4 meters will therefore lose 4 times more brightness than a projector placed at 2 meters.

Keystone image correction does not modify the projection cone, it resizes the image inside the projection cone. This means that in the event of a significant correction, you will see a large gray border appear around your image.

With an actual brightness of around 1500 lumens, you'll be able to see a lot of the screen. This graph shows the crossover point of screen size depending on the lighting situation. The red line indicates the limit for a totally dark room, the yellow line indicates the limit for a moderately bright room and the green line for a bright room.

In complete darkness, you could theoretically aim for a screen over 4 meters diagonal, with a bit of leeway for HDR. I don't know whether the image will still be of good quality on this type of screen size, or whether focusing will still be possible. You can easily fall back on a more reasonable size, such as 120 or 130 inches. With an ALR model and a gain of 0.6, you can aim for a 110"

This projector has a projection ratio of 1.2, which means that for every meter of distance from the screen you get a width of 83 cm (with a small gray border)

Screen choice

The brightness of this projector will give you a wider choice of screen types. I'd say any type of screen will do, but some are better than others. A white screen with a gain greater than 1 is useless because the projector is bright enough, and this kind of screen risks distorting the image if you use it in daylight. A gray screen is therefore more appropriate to enhance the impression of black depth. I tested this projector with a NothingProjector ALR screen designed for ultra-short-throw projectors.

It's not an ideal combination because you lose the benefit of light concentration, so the loss is greater than with an ultra-short-throw projector. Despite this loss, luminosity is more than sufficient and blacks are much deeper. If you're ever thinking of upgrading to an ultra-short-throw projector, you can buy one now for this projector and save the screen for later.

The best solution is to use an ALR screen designed for this type of projector. The loss of light will be less and the positive effect on black will be quite present. I have several screens of this type in my comparator.

Audio quality

More explanations on audio quality

I use several types of music tracks to illustrate the sound quality of the projector but the rendering will always be limited by the recording device. Since I always use the same device, you will be able to compare the difference on the same basis.

I regularly use well-known songs protected by copyright to illustrate the sound quality of a video projector. It therefore sometimes happens that YouTube decides to block my videos for these reasons. In this case, you can listen to the soundtracks directly on YouTube and hope that YouTube has not completely blocked my channel.

I put together a 3-minute soundtrack to test my projectors, using royalty-free tracks. I used to use Spotify, but my videos always ended up being blocked by YouTube. With these tracks, that shouldn't happen anymore. I've tried varying the styles to see how the projector copes with these different musical styles. XGIMI equips most of its projectors with Harman Kardon speakers, and this is once again the case with this projector, which is equipped with 2 x 12-watt speakers.

The sound produced by this projector is of excellent quality, at ease in all registers. The echo effect in the soundtrack comes mainly from my projection room. The sound is quite similar to that of the XGIMI Aura 2, with less power and less depth in the lower registers.

Video games

Encoutered bugs

Not yet available / tested

ALR/CLR Projection screen

Are you looking for a good ALR/CLR screen for your projector? I may have what you need:
ALR/CLR NothingProjector Screen

Test / Review conclusion

When the XGIMI Horizon S Max came out, I didn't immediately understand its positioning. I thought it was expensive and didn't offer much in the way of new features compared to the XGIMI Horizon Ultra. So I started out with a rather mixed impression, but when I started testing it, things quickly became clearer. I went from a state of doubt to unbridled enthusiasm. It's not so much the technical side of things that appealed to me, but rather what XGIMI has managed to do to ensure that technology is not a hindrance to the user.

By this I mean that projectors are more complicated products than TVs, and when they come out of the box, you sometimes have to make tons of adjustments to get a picture of acceptable quality. The Horizon Ultra already offered good basic colorimetry, and this is also the case with this Horizon S Max. With just a few clicks, you get a very good quality image, and with the few simple settings suggested in this test, you can take this projector to the next level without too much headache.

This XGIMI Horizon S Max is very bright (even if brightness isn't at the advertised level), allowing you to project a large image without necessarily being in total darkness. Nor will this brightness make your electricity bill soar, or give you the impression of having a diesel-powered generator sitting next to you. The projector has an excellent brightness/consumption ratio and is also very discreet.

From a technical point of view, this projector brings a little novelty in the choice of light type, but I don't really see the point for the average person. I don't know who will be wondering whether to use the triple laser or the hybrid source. Most buyers will probably stick to one choice, and I'd recommend the hybrid source, which will give you a richer, more natural image.

On paper, the contrast of this projector is delirious. In reality, it's not, but it's still pretty good. I measured a much higher contrast than the Horizon Ultra and I get a similar figure with the XGIMI Aura 2, but with dynamic contrast, the contrast is higher than the figures say. Dark scenes are perfectly rendered, so that's another strength of this projector.

The rotating stand works quite well and offers greater placement flexibility than the Horizon Ultra, the projector is also lighter than its predecessor. There are also more automatic image adjustments

Does it have any other strengths? Yes! Game mode latency is ultra-low at just 18 ms, so you can use this projector with a games console. Sound is another of the projector's strengths, although it's less powerful than on the Aura 2, but does very well in all registers

After this test, I understand better the price positioning of this projector, and I also understand better why it's a commercial success. It's a flexible projector that doesn't require too many modifications to get the best out of it. I've tested projectors that offer even better rendering, but at the cost of some configuration complications. I find this one brings a more accessible balance to the general public

If I had to look for flaws, I'd start with XGIMI's eternal weakness with native Netflix compatibility. XGIMI has also remained on Android TV while the new projectors use Google TV, which isn't dramatic but it's a shame. I find some of the locks in the settings a bit annoying for those who want to play around with them. I'm thinking in particular of light management, which locks whenever you want to customize the rendering. Connectivity is also a little tight, with only one HDMI input and 2 USB.

In this range of projectors, this is the best XGIMI. I find the Aura 2 even better, but it's more expensive and uses an ultra-short focal length format

Strengths

Brightness

Efficient automatic brightness adjustment

Very moderate power consumption

Quiet

Good contrast

Basic colorimetry perfectible but good

Excellent colorimetry with just a few adjustments

Good contrast

Sound quality

Low latency to play

Flexible placement

Motion compensation

Weaknesses

Netflix compatibility

Android TV instead of Google TV

Some locks in settings

Limited connectivity

LAURENT WILLEN
Head of myself on this blog

I share my passions on my blog in my free time since 2006, I prefer that to watching nonsense on TV or on social networks. I work alone, I am undoubtedly one of the last survivors of the world of blogs and personal sites.

My speciality? Digital in all its forms. I have spent the last 25 years working for multinationals where I managed digital teams and generated revenues of over €500 million per year. I have expertise in telecoms, media, aviation, travel and tourism.