The quality of light is a critical parameter, typically measured by CRI (Color Rendering Index) or the more comprehensive TM-30 metric. Incandescent bulbs naturally excel in this regard, offering what is often considered 'optimal' light quality. However, replicating this with white LEDs remains a technically complex and costly endeavor.
Not really. IKEA sells LED bulbs with quite a nice CRI for €1.99 per two. As I understand it the main trick is not to use the LED light directly, but pass it through a phosphor.
The official IKEA specs for [1] says nothing about CRI nor TM-30 AFACT, but I found a Reddit thread [2] that says the CRI is 90, which is indeed quite nice, but not excellent. Also, CRI is flawed, especially for sources below 5000 kelvin (K), so I will buy those IKEA LED bulbs and measure TM-30 out of curiosity. Really good price, so the quality/cost ratio has potential to be impressive.
For most people, CRI 90 is probably fine. I just thought it was important to point out that the color rendering quality of light sources is important and something to verify when buying lighting. It's incredible how the quality/cost has improve for LED lighting over the years, and hopefully it will continue to improve in the future.
[1] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/solhetta-led-bulb-e26-450-lumen... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/BigCliveDotCom/comments/ujdvr4/new_...