It’s curved. Sitting this close to such a wide screen probably requires some curvature (as far as I know, all ultrawide monitors over 30″ are curved).
I don’t know the exact technology behind them, but I can’t see any distortion.
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I’m not in the market for the Studio XDR anyway, but this bugs me: the nice stand is an upcharge over VESA on the Studio Display. The nice stand is included in the XDR base price. But choosing VESA on the XDR doesn’t reduce the price. 
I recently bought an MSI 34" ultra wide, I was looking for one without a curve as I thought it would bother me, but they’re few and far between, so I bought one with a curve.
I’ve been using it now for a week and I barely notice the curve, and when I do it doesn’t bother me.
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Did you spend any time thinking about getting the VESA version and a monitor arm? I am curious how people who decided to go with VESA feel about their decision over time.
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Did you spend anytime thinking about getting the VESA version of the Mac Studio Display with a monitor arm? I am curious whether people who bought a VESA version feel about their decision over time.
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As standard most large non Apple Monitors come with the option to Vesa Mount out of the box just by removing the stand. This MSI is the same and I’ve bought a Monitor Arm to install once I’m comfortable with my new setup and where everything needs to sit.
If you have 2 ASD’d side by side, does the left audio come out of the left display, and the right audio come out of the right display speakers?
I would expect that you’d need to select one display or the other.
Update: I picked up my 2026 Studio Display earlier today and am happy with it so far. It’s definitely a big upgrade from the Dell I purchased about ten years ago. The 5K panel is incredibly sharp, and text looks dramatically clearer than on my old display.
The audio is impressive, and the built-in webcam is better than I expected (I’ll likely use it for some of my video calls).
I did look at several third-party alternatives, but kept coming back to the Studio Display. It’s a good fit for my use cases, and I couldn’t justify the Studio Display XDR’s significantly higher price.
I’m still getting used to the glossy display. My Dell is a matte display, so I expected it would take some adjustment. I briefly considered the nano-texture option, but decided to start with the standard glass and see how it goes.
I’m also experimenting with a few scaled resolutions using BetterDisplay. Right now, I’m using 1920×1080 for most work and switching to 2560×1440 when I want more screen space.
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You could route left and right audio to different monitors with Loopback. Drag L to left monitor L, cmd+drag L to left monitor R. Then do the same with R for right monitor’s L and R. You’d have to select the new custom audio device as the output and make it default, but the default should stick once you do it.
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I’ve seen that advice before, but I’m actively not doing it. I want a native, non-hacky solution.
On top of that , Rogue Amoeba and I had a falling out some years ago, so I won’t use their products.
I’ll let you know if I come across one.
Annoyance solved!
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Can you please post a new annoyance?
(VESA not being cheaper than including a stand on the regular Studio Display)
Maybe Apple will listen to you again… 
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Does anyone have any experience with (and opinions about) the ASUS ProArt Display 27” 5K HDR? It’s under $800 and looks pretty solid to me.
-Eric
This was smart PR on their part. Instead of “the stand isn’t included?!?”, the story is now “the price is $400 cheaper if you only need VESA.” Nobody had an opportunity to get mad about the stand costing more. Apple gets both wins.
Smart.
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