JoakimFlorence
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2016
- Messages
- 137
When I initially saw this, I thought it might be mistakenly labeled, or that it was just some cheap off-brand that was being deceptive about the specifications. The product overview did not really seem to make any big deal about the fact that the CRI was so high. So I had to try it. The 4000K version claims to be 96 CRI. Interestingly the 3000K version only claims to be 93 CRI.
So here's what I thought about it. When I first turned it on, I noticed that the light seemed just a little bit more crisp and in focus than usual LED lights. It kind of reminded me of some 96 CRI Oslon bare emitters I test reviewed a while ago, but not quite as good as that. The light has a good color tint. The color rendering for red colored objects is not quite as good as one would expect for 96 CRI, the red color rendering for this light is maybe more comparable to a 91-93 CRI LED. But other than that, it does make things look colorful.
Looking at the spectrum of this light source through a diffraction grating, I notice a few things. First, there's still a gap between blue and green, the gap does not appear much different from other LEDs. The blue however appears like it might be 5 nanometers longer in wavelength than a typical LED, judging by its color hue. I don't know if this is because the type of emitter that is being used or if the emitter is being drastically underdriven and that is causing the color shift. This could explain why the light appears just a little more crisp and why the color rendering index measurement could be bumped up (an underdriven blue LED can have a slightly wider average bandwidth emission in some situations). Looking at the red part of the spectra, the red seems to suddenly drop off. This makes me think there's a possibility it might be utilizing a narrow bandwidth emission red phosphor. This is kind of a new technology for LEDs, and result in better efficiencies.
Is the quality of this light "museum quality" ? I would say... almost.
I suspect the red color rendering was not higher because that can result in an efficiency tradeoff. Is it really 96 CRI ? Well, it could be. It certainly appears to be higher than 90. It's amazing that 96 CRI downlights are now appearing for standard home use, although maybe the LED chips inside these downlights were rated "94" or "95 CRI typical", and then the finished downlight was measured at 96.
Well, this is certainly better than your standard "high CRI" Cree TW series downlight.
Imagine one third regular LED light, one third cool fluorescent light and one third natural daylight pouring in through a skylight, mixed together, and that's what this downlight is like.
4000K is a good color temperature too, at lower lighting levels the color appears very white.
So here's what I thought about it. When I first turned it on, I noticed that the light seemed just a little bit more crisp and in focus than usual LED lights. It kind of reminded me of some 96 CRI Oslon bare emitters I test reviewed a while ago, but not quite as good as that. The light has a good color tint. The color rendering for red colored objects is not quite as good as one would expect for 96 CRI, the red color rendering for this light is maybe more comparable to a 91-93 CRI LED. But other than that, it does make things look colorful.
Looking at the spectrum of this light source through a diffraction grating, I notice a few things. First, there's still a gap between blue and green, the gap does not appear much different from other LEDs. The blue however appears like it might be 5 nanometers longer in wavelength than a typical LED, judging by its color hue. I don't know if this is because the type of emitter that is being used or if the emitter is being drastically underdriven and that is causing the color shift. This could explain why the light appears just a little more crisp and why the color rendering index measurement could be bumped up (an underdriven blue LED can have a slightly wider average bandwidth emission in some situations). Looking at the red part of the spectra, the red seems to suddenly drop off. This makes me think there's a possibility it might be utilizing a narrow bandwidth emission red phosphor. This is kind of a new technology for LEDs, and result in better efficiencies.
Is the quality of this light "museum quality" ? I would say... almost.
I suspect the red color rendering was not higher because that can result in an efficiency tradeoff. Is it really 96 CRI ? Well, it could be. It certainly appears to be higher than 90. It's amazing that 96 CRI downlights are now appearing for standard home use, although maybe the LED chips inside these downlights were rated "94" or "95 CRI typical", and then the finished downlight was measured at 96.
Well, this is certainly better than your standard "high CRI" Cree TW series downlight.
Imagine one third regular LED light, one third cool fluorescent light and one third natural daylight pouring in through a skylight, mixed together, and that's what this downlight is like.
4000K is a good color temperature too, at lower lighting levels the color appears very white.
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