I think I should have said in my last question that I was comparing the monitors out of the box with no calibration (software or hardware). With the same 8-bit output from the GPU they should have the same range of colours to work with, that is until the monitor LUT is calibrated to show a different value for a given input value. I'll try and do an example:
sRGB
Software (8-bit) -> GPU (8-bit) -> LUT (8-bit) -> Monitor (8-bit) -> Monitor LUT (14-bit) -> Display (8-bit sRGB)
adobe RGB
Software (10-bit) -> GPU (10-bit) -> LUT (8-bit due to current driver limitation) -> Monitor (8-bit) -> Monitor LUT (14-bit) -> Display (8-bit sRGB)
Uncalibrated 8-bit lookup
GPU output (128, 0, 0) -> monitor LUT (8192, 0, 0) -> Same red
Calibrated 8-bit lookup
GPU output (128, 0, 0) -> monitor LUT (8195, 0, 0) -> slightly more red (can't be represented in 8-bit)
Does that make sense?
Something along the lines of,: the software calibration can only adjust for normal differences but the monitor hardware calibration give finer control and requires a specific i1 Display Pro calibrator.
Why are you saying that in sRGB the monitor's LUT is only 8 bit? A 14bit LUT will be 14bit whether it's parsing a 8bit signal or a higher bit depth.
You are correct in assuming that the same un-calibrated 8bit output will be passed to the display without any modifications, yes, but the LCD panel/backlighting/overdrive and processing circuitry in the monitor will add something to the final image. NO monitor is perfect out of the box (even Dell's suposedly pre-calibrated screens.. in fact, they're awfully calibrated).
The reason 8 bit software calibration is the poor relation to "hitting the metal" is that the 8bit signal/workspace is already full (although cheaper screens are actually 6 bit with dithering). In order to shift anything around in that 8bit RGB workspace to change colour or gamma, there is no room to manoeuvre... something has to be thrown away in order to change it. This usually results in banding in subtle tones when the results are sent to the 8bit panel. However, if you manipulate that 8bit workspace within a wider 12 or 14bit space, then you won't need to lose anything. The wider workspace is then remapped correctly back into a 10 or 8 bit space and fed to the screen.
This is exactly how colour profiles work. Just because you have calibrated your monitor in it's native gamma mode (99% of Adobe RGB in the case of the 2413) doesn't mean your sRGB images will have more colour when viewed so long as they are correctly embedded or converted to the sRGB workspace. They will look exactly the same as they would on a sRGB screen because the ICC profile is remapping the colours to display correctly. If your software and OS is correctly colour managed, then a wide gamut screen should still be correctly showing the more limited colourspace of a sRGB file.
Wide gamut screens only cause problems with non colour managed applications like games, video, TV and some web browsers (but unfortunately, most web sites) and then they will display with too much saturation in colours. This is why you convert your images to sRGB if you intent to publish online. For instance... I often see images posted on here that are in Adobe RGB1998 and they look fine to me, as I have my workflow colour managed in Adobe RGB (or at least 98% of it), yet other people have said it looks washed out... because they are viewing it in a sRGB workspace that's not colur managed. Conversely, I often see sRGB gamut images that have not been embedded with the sRGB profile that look really oversaturated here because there's no profile... my wide gamut workflow just expands the colourspace to fit... yet others with sRGB monitors simply do not see the problem.
If you get the 2413 and i1 combo.. you can hardware calibrate it in sRGB if you want, and that solves any potential conflict, but you don't have to run in sRGB to correctly view sRGB images... that's what the whole concept of ICC profiles is for.
Do some research on colour profiling, and colour management. If it confuses you.... run in sRGB. Calibrate the 2413 in sRGB and embed all your images with sRGB and you'll never have a problem.
If you do understand it, make use of the wider colourspace available, because many printers can exploit it.
If you never print, chances are you'll never need anything other than sRGB. Most commercial labs insist on sRGB embedded images anyway... not because that's all they can handle, but because they can't be arsed trying to sort out badly managed files with no or incorrect profiles.
If you print yourself to a decent printer... there are many advantages to a wide gamut workflow.. which many high end inkjet printers can handle.
