I can see that, and there is the potential monitor differences which could mean my choice of gamma setting would look "worse" on your computer...
The web really sucks as a place for critiquing color/exposures...
I just got an Asus PA248Q that is supposed to be factory calibrated. I turned the brightness down as low as it would go. So I can only guess that the image is fairly accurate, I know it looks a lot better than it did on my old crappy Acer 23" cheapy...