High CRI Lighting vs Low CRI: Why Light Colour Alone Isn’t Enough | D.Bianco Lighting

When choosing lighting for your home, most people focus on colour temperature — warm white (2700K), soft white (3000K), or cool white (4000K). But colour temperature only tells you how warm or cool the light appears. 

This means two lights with identical colour temperature can create completely different atmospheres depending on their CRI. A low-CRI LED can make whites appear dull, natural materials like timber and stone look lifeless, and skin tones appear grey or flat. High-CRI lighting, on the other hand, enhances clarity, richness, and vibrancy by showing colours as they truly are. This is why D.Bianco uses only high-CRI LED technology across all our handcrafted lighting—ensuring every material, every texture, and every room looks its absolute best.

It does not tell you how accurately colours will look under that light. That’s where CRI (Colour Rendering Index) becomes essential. CRI measures how faithfully a light source reveals the true colours of objects. High-quality lighting typically has a CRI of 95 or above, while lower-cost LEDs may sit at 70–85, causing colours to appear washed out or unnatural—even when the colour temperature is the same.

To truly understand how dramatic the difference can be, we recommend watching the short video below that compares low-CRI and high-CRI lighting side by side. You’ll see exactly why colour temperature alone can’t deliver beautiful illumination. Once you experience the clarity and warmth of high-CRI light, you’ll never go back.