8KX User Reviews

[Heliosurge]

@evertec received 8kX

@evertec

I just received my 8K X yesterday and after initial trouble getting it connected (I ended up having to plug the 2.0 USB plug into a 2.0 port, not a 3.0 port), then having issues getting it to track (I had to wipe SteamVR and reinstall), I finally got up and running. For reference, I’m running on an i7 8700K with a 2080ti GPU, 32GB RAM.

FOV
This is the big selling point of the Pimax headsets and the 8K X certainly delivers. I did some A/B comparisons with my HP Reverb and even on Potato mode the 8K X has a bigger FOV than the Reverb The options on the Pimaxes are Potato (100 degree FOV), Small (120 degree FOV), Normal (140 degree FOV), and Large (160 degree FOV). Despite the huge difference in FOV between even the previous Pimaxes and any other mass market headset, I still preferred the Reverb prior to the 8K X even though it has about a 95 degree horizontal FOV because of its high pixels per degree, but it really is jarring to go back to the small FOV especially after just using the 8K X; the Reverb looks like binoculars or swimming goggles until you get used to the small FOV again and even then it doesn’t provide nearly the same level of immersion in this category. The Index is a bit higher FOV than the Reverb, but even the Small FOV on Pimax is still wider.

Screen Quality
The screen is very good quality and completely blows away the Index in terms of pixels per degree and SDE, and matches it in colors and black levels. I used Sweviver’s recommended contrast setting of +2 and brightness setting of -2 and that really made the black levels quite good for an LCD headset. The brightness of the panels at those settings aren’t as high as the setting I was using on the Index, but it’s certainly acceptable on all the titles I tried. Compared to the Reverb, it isn’t quite as sharp, even when I cranked up the supersampling so the pixels per degree are likely a bit lower. However, the fill rate seems a tad higher so the pixels are very hard to detect, and gives a nice solid feel to objects. The Reverb had a good bit of a perceivable mura effect, and the 8K X also has this to a certain level, though not as bad as the Reverb, and it’s really only visible on very bright areas.

Lens Quality
This is where the 8K X falls down a bit. The wide FOV Pimax headsets have always had a bit of distortion, primarily on the edges of the lenses, but also some warping in the middle. The middle distortion has been largely fixed on the 8K X, it looks similar to the Index in the middle now, and better than the Reverb (The Reverb has some barrel distortion). The edges are still blurrier than either for me, and have a bit of distortion as well, but it’s not significantly worse than the Index for me. I know some people have said they have edge to edge clarity on the Index, but I could never get that and it actually has worse edge to edge clarity than the Reverb. The bigger issue for me is I can’t get the lenses adjusted quite narrow enough for my low ipd (~58mm) so I have more eye strain than any of the other headsets I’ve used. It’s not terrible during the short sessions I’ve used it for, but it remains to be seen how it does with longer sessions. God rays/internal reflections are very minimal, much less than the Index and similar to the Reverb.

Audio
As others have said, the SMAS audio is not good. I really don’t know why they’re making the default audio for a $1300 headset Rift S/Quest level audio (Both of which I couldn’t stand so I added headphones or a DAS to them). It’s serviceable to a minimum level, and is loud enough to hear, but it just doesn’t immerse with bass like the Index or even Reverb audio do. Hopefully the DMAS comes soon and brings it up to Index level or beyond.

Comfort
Compared to the old Pimax 5K+/8K straps the comfort kit is much better. Mine came with the thin foam preinstalled, but no other foam options. Compared to the Reverb it is a good bit less comfortable, it is much heavier and front heavy and needs to be ratcheted tightly to keep from sliding around and to keep it in the sweet spot. Compared to the Index, it is still less comfortable but it is more similar in weight. The face foam also doesn’t quite fit my face right, it needs more foam or to be curved more to fit my face better, I may try bending the plastic or adding some foam to the left and right edges to get a better fit. I like the concept of the open speakers like the Index, since they are more comfortable, so hopefully the DMAS is better quality while still being off ear.

Software
This is another area that needs improvement, and according to Pimax will soon be greatly improved with the introduction of their VR launcher/cloud profile/settings app. As it stands, it’s difficult to know which apps work best with which settings. Things like Parallel Projections are required for some apps, but not others, but it is too much hassle to figure out which ones work and which don’t so I just leave the setting on all the time, which sacrifices performance in the apps that don’t need it. I do like the level of customization available, with settings to change the render resolution, field of view, motion smoothing, IPD offset, upscale mode (118 hz), and fixed foveated (dynamic foveated supposedly coming in the next couple weeks), and 6dof/3dof tracking options, but it would be much better to have the profiles automatic for each game and an interface in VR to launch those profiles (which is also supposedly coming in a few weeks). The 8K X definitely needs as much GPU as you can throw at it, even with my 2080ti I have to run most games at less than 100% Steam supersampling to get a stable 75 fps to match the refresh rate of the native mode. I’ve settled on keeping the pitool set at 1.25 resolution, and just bringing the Steamvr resolution down to where it’s stable, and most games need to go down to 50% or less. Hopefully the Dynamic Foveated Rendering with eye tracking will fix some of the performance issues.

Conclusion
I have or have had just about every consumer VR headset made to date, and I can say that overall, the 8K X is the best one yet. It’s not perfect, and has flaws like any other headset, but the benefits outweigh the minor issues. Playing Half LIfe Alyx in the 8K X brings the already high immersion with headsets like the Index and Reverb even higher and really makes me feel like I’m in real life at points. I also have the Reverb G2 on preorder, and it will likely be a better value for most people at a third of the price, but I feel like it will be hard to top the 8K X for enthusiasts who want the absolute best immersion in a VR headset.

[Heliosurge]

@Darkcyde Receives 8kX!

@Darkcyde

OK, so these are my first impressions after removing the Pimax box from the shipping carton…

The box is good. It’s of a solid construction, well made, and doesn’t seem cheap at all. There is no fastening catch or anything to keep it closed, but the carry handle kinda does that for you.

First thing you see after opening the box, is an A4 sized page. It’s a note of special thanks from the CEO Robin Weng. It’s personally signed by him too. Not just a printed copy of his signature, no, this is a real penned signature. Either his hand must have hurt after doing one for each 8K-X, or he really got some intern to forge it. Lol!

Next there is a square board resting on top of the items inside. The board has some foam sections, so it’s kinda like a lid to help protect the HMD, but is separate from the rest of the box.

Removing that lid, on the very top is a D-shaped box that has the 5m cable in. It’s wound around an insert that helps to keep the cable tidy. The insert slides out easily, and then you can unwind the cable. The cable is already attached to the HMD, if you were wondering.

Under the cable-tidy in the central cavity, there are spaces for other items, although I’m not sure what should be there. Maybe the eye tracking? Or something else? The slots are not big enough for the hand tracking though. Also in the centre is a round cardboard tube that contains the silicon protective sleeve, tightly wrapped up in the tube. The cardboard is of the same quality as the rest of the box, so nothing like a toilet paper tube!

The insert that forms the inside part of the box is glued in, so don’t go trying to pull it up to see if anything is underneath, as it won’t come out.

Plugging the three connectors in is a breeze. 1x DP, 1x USB 2.0 and 1x USB 3.0, as expected. Seems my HMD was already turned on, as when I plugged it all in, my PC immediately started to install drivers for the HMD and USB audio, and the displays came on. I already had the latest PiTool running, so that probably helped.

The only ‘instructions’ in the box were some quick ‘get PiTool here’ & ‘get support here’ in rather bad English, on a piece of card used to protect the lenses in the HMD.

Adjusting the Standard Modular Audio Strap (SMAS) was a little ‘odd’ for me. I’ve never tried anything like this before (only ever used the cloth strap from the loan 5K+) and with no instructions, I had to figure out where the back part was supposed to be on the back of my head. At first it didn’t seem to want to go low enough and was quite high on the back, but after a bit of fiddling about I realised that the cable grip on the left side was stopping it. After feeding the cable through a bit more, the back part lowered down to a comfortable position.

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So, what does it look like inside?

As yet, I’ve not changed any settings from the default, so I’m sure things can be tweaked to look even better. I did find that the vertical sweetspot was quite small, a fraction up or down could put things slightly out of focus for me, so the HMD needs to be in just the right position on my head, but that’s just me and I may need to do some more adjusting.

I’ve tried things in both the Native 4K @75Hz and the upscaled @118Hz. I would have liked to see options for lower refresh rates in the upscaled mode as I have some older hardware, but things still ran well.

Oh, just so you know, I’m running an old AMD FX9590BE and a Sapphire Pulse Radeon Vega 56 GPU. Not great I know, I’m just waiting for the new stuff to come out later this year to upgrade. Still, even with this spec, my experiences with the 8K-X were fine. When starting PiTool, it does popup a message telling my GPU is, ahem, a bit crap.

I should also note that I don’t have any lighthouses or controllers, so my choice of testing titles is limited.

OK, so, the clarity is amazing, much better than the 5K+ loaner I had. SDE is ‘almost’ gone. I say almost, because I can still see it on bright areas sometimes, like the sun in the default planetscape, but only just. In all other areas, it’s invisible to me.

I do see aliasing, but like I said, I’ve not changed any default settings yet. To be honest, I’m not even sure what to change or where to change them to make things look better. (Yes, yes, I’m a noob! )

Blacks are about what you’d expect for an LCD panel. Not perfect, but after playing for a while I didn’t notice anymore. Colours are also pretty good. I’m red/green colour blind with certain shades, but I found things to be fine for me.

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First, I tried Bigscreen Beta, and some of the smaller text can be difficult to read in both modes, but definitely easier to read in native than upscaled.

In upscaled mode, I quickly tried watching the Doctor Who channel in the TV section, and it was playing an old fourth Doctor episode, so the image quality wasn’t going to be DVD quality. The auditorium theatre I was sitting in though, was very clear and felt like I was in a cinema, watching Tom Baker on the big screen. I didn’t notice any SDE though, so that was good. I then tried the new Jackie Chan movie (The Iron Mask) and that was fine too.

In native mode, I tried The Iron Mask again. Picture quality was way better, so I tried a 3D movie, Alita: Battle Angel. Again picture was great for a VR headset. Still not quite as good as monitor, but only just.

As for audio, music in the movies was ok, but not great, and voices were a bit flat. I tried the freebie software ‘Sheef - Together EP’ (a VR music video), and the music sounded good in that.

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So, next I tried Elite Dangerous.

In upscaled mode, again small text was difficult to read, but the game in general looked ok. Maybe a little better than the 5K+, and the absence of SDE helped a lot.

In native mode, again it was way better, with small text quite readable. Frame rate inside stations wasn’t very good, but outside and dogfighting was fine.

In-game audio was terrible though, definitely not enough bass. I’ll need my good pair of headphones for this game for certain. I hope the KDMAS headphones are good too, as these basic ones are not great at voice and game sounds, at least for the ones I’ve tried, and not for my ears.

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Now, after a while writing this, I decided to give Elite another go, and played around with some settings to see if I could improve visual quality. Short answer is, oh yes I can! In both modes, I upped the Supersampling and HMD Quality settings. I set Supersampling to x1.25 and HMD Quality to x2.0. If I put supersampling any higher, I started getting weird frame rate anomalies with the picture jumping around the screen. Again, I’m assuming this is down to my old Vega GPU. Well, all text was vastly improved in both modes, to practically monitor level of ‘perfect’. This seems to be mostly due to the HMD Quality setting, but the supersampling helped with the general graphical quality overall, and reducing aliasing. I think tweaking settings in PiTool and Steam will also help with this, I’m just not sure how to go about it as I’ve never done it before.

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When I was first playing about with the HMD, there were a couple of times in native mode, where if I turned my head too fast, the image would move ok, but a line of bright pixels would be shown on the leading edge. So if I moved my head up fast, a line of bright pixels would show at the top. Only for a fraction of a second though. It was like the frame rate didn’t keep up, so when the frame moved down the display, a blank line was shown. It wasn’t often, and I don’t remember what I was trying at the time, but I’m going to put it down to my Vega 56 GPU not quite being up to the task. It never happened in upscaled mode, and didn’t happen in Elite Dangerous in either mode. (Note: After trying Elite again with the supersampling settings, this problem returned in native mode, so yeah, I’m sure it’s due to my GPU).

The other thing I noticed very quickly is how hot it gets. Not the usual face sweats, I mean the HMD itself (although it getting hot makes my face hot too, while the 5K+ never did). It gets hottest just to the left of where the top head strap loops through it, but with prolonged use (30+ mins) I found the heat would spread over to the other side as well. Now I live in a (somewhat) temperate country (the UK) and the temp today was around 22C where I live. I can imagine if this is used in hotter countries, and/or for long periods, it could potentially cause heat damage to the HMD itself. I would certainly recommend using it in cooler climates or a colder, air conditioned room.

The face foam is comfortable, but I think I have a smaller head, as light was leaking in on the sides where the foam was too wide for my face. It wasn’t much, but noticeable when you looked for it. In game, and watching a movie, I didn’t notice it at all though. Thankfully, I’ve had no light leak from the nose area like some others have reported.

I also think I need the thicker face foam, as the picture clarity was better if I moved the HMD away from my face by a small amount.

I did see a weird ‘mirroring’ effect on the very left outer edge of the left display. I believe some others have also reported this. It was like the image had started to repeat. I suppose it could be a problem with the very edge of the lens, or the lens profile not quite right, but it wasn’t easy for me to tell what the cause was by looking to my extreme left. However, while it was bad when I looked for it, it didn’t bother me while playing, and I forgot about it. But I know it will bother some people, so I’m just letting you know what I’ve experienced.

Well, that’s kinda it really, my first impressions.

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TLDR;

Pros

1. Personally signed note from Robin Weng.
2. Box is well made.
3. Only the HMD, with 5m cable, and silicone protective sleeve.
4. Clarity is amazing
5. ‘Almost’ zero SDE. Rare and very situational.

Cons

1. No other items in the box. No cleaning cloth, no real instructions.
2. Sweetspot seems small.
3. Aliasing is apparent at default. Can be greatly improved with settings tweaks.

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‘Frame shift’ in 4K native mode, leaving bright pixels at edges. It’s due to my old GPU though.
Some kind of ‘mirror’ aberration on extreme left of the left panel, like image is starting to be repeated. Very noticeable only if you look for it.

HMD gets quite hot on the top side, just to the left of the central head strap.
Light leaks at sides, but could just be my smaller head.
No light leak at nose for me.

Sound is good/ok for music, just about acceptable for voices, but wasn’t great for game sounds.

[Heliosurge]

@Milopapa Receives 8kX

@Milopapa

Hi everyone,

I received my 8K-X a few days ago (Jul-23), and although I didn’t have too much time to spend with it, I thought I’d share my initial impressions and maybe do a follow-up later on (which is exactly what I did with my original 5k+ 1.5 years ago: quick 5k+ impressions and detailed review after two weeks).

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My background and test rig:

Original Vive pre-order, Kickstarter Pimax backer with both an 8K-X and a 5k (originally 8K), and I’ve kept the loaner and passed it on to a friend. I’m a simulator enthusiast but got to love roomscale with my Vive. I roughly spend half of my gaming time in VR (more than 4000 SteamVR hours). I have a simulator rig with a high spec machine:

• 8700k @ 5.3GHz
• 32GB DDR4 3200@CL14
• 2080 Ti @ 2000Ghz
• M.2 SSD
• Latest Win 10 on v2004
• Pitool 262
• SteamVR maxRes tweak done

All of the below impressions are from only using the 8K-X, I didn’t bother to do any side-by-side tests yet. I’m moving the 5k+ to the living room setup though, so I’ll have two setups going on in the house, which will make it easier to compare the two headsets in a way that is less relying on my memory.

A disclaimer there – when I did my 5K+ review, I wasn’t initially blown away by the FOV until I put the Vive back on, so I suspect the differences are even larger than my initial impressions would suggest.

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PACKAGING… World class

Pimax really did a great job with the packaging , very high-end impression, nice materials, secure. Including the signed letter from the CEO was a nice touch, turned the whole unboxing into an exclusive experience as an original 8K-X backer.

Not gonna waste too much time on it, here are some pictures if you’re interested but you’d better watch an unboxing video.
Unlike some others, I seem to have everything included in the box, including the wipe cloth.

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SETUP AND SOFTWARE… finally consumer ready

Simply plug in the Displayport and two USBs, it powers on, screens show the Pimax logo with the starry background.
I had to redo my playspace setup and pair my Index controllers with the new HMD but that was to be expected and both went without a hiccup.
As a long time VR veteran, I didn’t even need to look at the included booklets but for a first timer, those seem to be useful and a necessary inclusion.

I have to say Pitool 262 is the best version so far : immediately detecting the 8K-X, everything works, settings stick, and the performance is flawless. I’m finally getting max GPU utilization with no stutters. Well done! My only gripe is the lack of frequency selection in native mode, but I just heard they’re planning to implement those so keeping fingers crossed.

I imagine for someone looking at the software package for the first time, it must be intimidating - there is still a lot of work needed to make this more consumer friendly as the settings are not exactly well documented still. Again, for someone with Pimax experience, easy.

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CABLING… simply works, extensions are a challenge

Details

I loved the fact that I don’t need a seperate power cable anymore, USB is so much simpler. Well done there! A side effect of this is that the headset only switches on with the PC – this makes bootup a lot simpler. When I wanted to use VR before, I used to have a routine of powering down the PC, switching on the HMD, booting up the PC: this guaranteed headset detection. I no longer need to worry about this (although I’ve yet to try what happens when I manually power down the HMD while the PC is on and then power it back on).

On extensions: I tried using my existing setup, which included 3m extension to help with my playspace – unfortunately even with the officially recommended Club 3D cable (which worked well for my 5k), I’m getting some pixel snow on the screen when extending the 8K-X . I tried switching ports on the video card, only marginal improvement. It’s very slight and only visible in dark scenes, so for the moment I decided to ignore it (cable comfort was more important). I tested it unextended and the snow was gone, so it’s the extension. Also, by trying another extension cable, the snow was a lot heavier, so it’s definitely cable related.

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COMFORT… almost there

Details

Let’s get it out of the way: I’m not totally convinced by the comfort kit yet. It’s the foam and the whole forehead setup – I have a feeling that it has a larger eye-to-screen distance than in my old setup, where I put in a custom foam and cover salvaged from a $20 mobile VR headset I got from Alibaba.

Side by side with my 5K+:

I’m getting more and more used to it, but I’m not as impressed I expected to be. I find the foam to be too thick and dense and the feeling on my skin is not the best. Also, the curvature of the shroud is designed for people with wider faces than me - this is why I had to put in some extra padding on the sides in my previous mod.

However, I absolutely love the rigid „halo” – especially after I discovered that I can get it to fit a lot lower than the Vive DAS on the back of my head. That made a lot of difference in weight distribution. I’m giving it a few weeks to see if i can get used to the foam or I’ll mod it similarly to my 5k.

Also, the nose flaps are excellent in totally blocking out the real world – to the point that I can no longer peek at my monitor or keyboard. I guess you have to choose between immersion and convenience there.

Few words of advice:

• Make sure the shroud is all the way in – I probably popped it out accidentally (when playing with the tightness and trying to take off the headset without loosening the back knob) and something got halfway out and caused a weird feeling.
• Adjustment is key – this is no surprise to experienced VR users but I’d still recommend making sure you try lowering the back strap and playing with the top strap. Having it pull on my forehead slightly more than my chin gave me better results but head shapes are different. Play with it.
• Loosen the knob before trying to take it off.

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SOUND… meh

Alright, the built-in sound is… not so great. It’s better than not having anything (like the original Vive) but having used a DAS since they were available, I’m really not happy with these squeakers. Very tinny sounds, not enough volume and obviously no sound isolation. Basically, just imagine you have your smartphone on the top of your head with speakers on – that’s what these sound like.

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OPTICS… very similar to 5K+

Details

I find the lenses very similar to those of my 5k+: distortion is also similar, maaaybe slightly better than the 5k+ but it’s hard to tell. I’ve gotten the 5k+ so dialled in (plus I got used to it) that I hardly noticed any distortion on the normal FOV that I used all the time.

The sweet-spot also feels the same as the 5K – pretty huge when properly dialed in, getting blurry to the sides but not to the point where it would be distracting. Basically nothing new there.

You do get some glare/circular god-rays if the headset is not well adjusted but dialled in, it’s barely there.

One thing that was brought up recently: chromatic aberration. Not sure why this was not talked about, but I could clearly see CA on the sides of the screen in my 5K and it’s not much different on the 8K-X either. This is my biggest complaint when it comes to the optics of the Pimax headsets, more so than geometric distortion, which I personally find to be a non-issue. If we could solve for this, I’d give it a 10/10.

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PANELS… The way VR is meant to be played

Details

Ok guys, this is it: there is zero SDE on the screen . I tried and tried and I can’t see it. Now there is still visible aliasing on lines and until we can get even more resolution (I think the human eye needs 20k?), it’ll still be there – but only on the edge of vertices. You can’t see any pixels in the textures themselves or inside any objects.

In other words, the pixel density is finally good enough to defeat the eye , but the resolution could still be improved.

I haven’t noticed any big differences in contrast or colors to the panels of the 5K+, although again, I haven’t done any side-by-side tests. Enough to say that I didn’t immediately notice any difference. As I’ll do more Elite:Dangerous and Alyx testing, I’ll be able to add more impressions on the black levels and contrast - both games are very demanding in that aspect.

There is a slightly more pronounced mura than on my 5k but only visible on very bright, uniform scenes (like a white wall). Not distracting, but a gentle reminder that you’re still looking at a screen.

And that brings me to the really important point: this screen finally makes you forget about having screens right up against your eyes. Wearing the 8K-X is like looking at my 1440p monitor – fantastic sharpness all around, to the point that I no longer feel disadvantaged by VR.

This is what VR was always meant to be.

• If you can afford it, this is the HMD to get.

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GAMING IMPRESSIONS… simply wow.

Details

I spent most of my time in DCS so far (only had about 20 minutes for quick tests due to work when it arrived), but let me share those inital testing impressions with the games I’ve tried in that 20 minutes (with default settings, including Pitool 1.0 quality, SteamVR res around 3000 vertical):

• The Lab : holy sh*t, this looks sharp. Everything is visible, the detail on the gloves is fantastic, Vesper’s peak looks stunningly realistic and the Robot repair lab probably can’t get any better. Mindblowing.
• Onward : Wow – I can see everything in the distance. I tried the Bazaar and about 30 seconds in a sandstorm blew in… great, now I can’t see anything. I played for a few minutes and was totally immersed in the game and that tells you everything.
• Elite Dangerous: Unfortunately, parallel projections. Having 1.0 supersampling with 1.0 HMD quality rocks, but the horizontal lines in the hangar produce really ugly shimmering effects due to aliasing – there wasn’t much I could do about that as any higher setting would break the 75fps and I hate any form of reprojection (including Smart smoothing), so I won’t compromise on the fps. My GPU was fully loaded (97%), so it’s a fill-rate question, next gen cards will hopefully allow us to push the screens even further with supersampling. Having said that, the game already looks fantastic, everything in the cockpit is easily readable, along with all the tiny details in a Coriolis station or other ships. I’ll need to spend more time with this (and I have a few hundred hours in ED both with the Vive and the 5k, so I do have a baseline).
• DCS: Ermahgerd. I was on the point of crying when I loaded up a Huey and I could read all the instruments INCLUDING the co-pilots! I mean, this is absolutely stunning. All the loving care that went into the detailing in the Tomcat’s cockpit is shining in the 8K-X, everything feels very real and clear. Again, no SDE to worry about, you simply fly around the virtual world, sitting in your crisp looking virtual cockpit. A simmer’s dream come true. On performance though, I had to do a lot of tweaking to get a consistent 75fps on a completely empty single player mission (no AI) in Nevada. When I tried a free flight mission on Caucausus, the framerate stayed mostly in the fifties – and when I checked the GPU load, it barely hit 60%, so it’s the goddamn ancient engine bottlenecking the CPU that’s the barrier of entry to completely smooth flying here. Frametimes are shot to hell by the CPU, so the graphics card doesn’t stand a chance. (I’ve always imagined this goes like this: CPU: „here, I was done in 19ms, now your turn – and remember, we need to hit 13ms for 75Hz”. GPU: „WTF, dude.”). Anyway, flying around in glorious 4k when the fps is at full 75fps is a feeling that’s got to be experienced.

Overall, I was really impressed by the gaming experience of the 8K-X and the 75Hz refresh rate of the panels seems more than enough - although I’ve been routinely using 72Hz and 64Hz on my 5K+ so maybe I’m not the best test subject for judging this.

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PERFORMANCE… runs on today’s hardware, will fly on tomorrow’s

Details

Overall, the 8K-X runs remarkably similar to a 5K+ , even with native resolutions. Depending on the games, you might need to reduce the supersampling somewhat, but I managed to stay near 3000 pixels in most of my tests (expect DCS, where I had to go down to 0.9 pixel density) and the results look great. Now I have a feeling that the 8K-X will age well, as current hardware is simply not able to push it to the limit. By increasing the supersampling beyond 3000 pixels, I could see visible improvement in sharpness, so I can’t wait to get my hands on a 3080 Ti to be able to truly push the HMD to the edge.

Unfortunately, with simulators, the real bottleneck today is the engines’ multicore performance (or lack of), and what we really need is a CPU with 7+ GHz to eliminate the bottlenecks, as the developer teams cannot be counted on to make reasonable multicore optimizations anytime soon (looking at you, ED, Frontier and Laminar Research).

Definitely more potential in the screens than what can be unlocked today but even on today’s high-end hardware, it’s perfectly playable and a great jump forward.

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SUMMARY… the premium VR headset for those who care

The 8K-X was totally worth the wait of nearly 3 years and definitely worth the $649 I paid for it through Kickstarter (although customs and VAT put another whopping $260 on top of that), not to mention all the fun I’ve already had with my 5K+ for more than 1.5 years.

I believe that the high resolution and fillrate of the panels combined with the wide FOV is the best visual experience you can get today in VR. I really hope Pimax can overcome the amateurism as a company (in customer service, marketing and logistics) since the 8K-X is undoubtedly a groundbreaking engineering achievement for VR and I’d like to see it finally propel them to well-deserved recognition.

Pimax - thank you for being couragous and persistent enough to make the 8K-X happen - I’m sure it will make a lot of people experience VR the way it was meant to be.

Let me know if you have any questions or requests - I’m planning to do some more testing with roomscale games (HL:Alyx is obviously high on the list).

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SMAS poor Audio Fix Based on @Fresco

• Vive DAS Mod.

SMAS with Vive Das Audio

@Milopapa

Hi everyone,
this guide is fully based on Fresco’s post, showing that the HTC DAS speakers can in fact be added to the SMAM. After finding the default SMAS speakers underwhelming, I decide to try to mod my SMAS, following his footsteps. Since a lot of people were asking for pictures, I documented the process and now sharing the results.

1. Removing the SMAS speaker is very easy: you need to peel off the foam padding on the sides, and this will reveal a single screw holding the speakers in place:
   

   

2. I have to give it to Pimax, these really are modular: all you need to do after unscrewing that single screw is pull the speakers out:
   

   

3. They pop out very easily:
   

   

4. Be careful not to lose the original screws - my solution was to screw them right back in to the speakers which went back to the 8K-X box:
   

   

5. Next up: removing the DAS speakers. This also starts with removing the foam padding:
   

   

6. Again, you need to remove one screw to free the speakers (leave the side screws alone):
   

   

7. They come out easily - hold on to the screw, it will be important!
   

   

8. Next, we pull out the cabling, including the little T-junction (I used a small screwdriver to pop these out):
   

   

9. Out you go:
   

   

10. Other side, same deal:
    

    

11. Notice how the screw sizes differ between HTC and Pimax:
    

    

12. So now we have the whole DAS assembly out:
    

    

13: This is where it gets complicated. The central core of the HTC solution relies on this metal thingie to go into a crevice on the speakers, which the Pimax solution completely lacks.

14: You can proceed and simply screw it on with the original HTC screw, but the result will be quite wobbly - the speaker will only be held in place by this central core and lacks proper support. Also, this damn little thing can move in and out on its own, so on top of sideways wobbliness, you get later movement also:

15. The solution (also mentioned by Fresco) is to put some washers around the metal thingie. How big? You need 10mm of thickness:
    

    

16. … and 22-23mm diameter. The core is rougly 6mm in diameter:
    

    

17. I first tried these:
    

    

18. Looks like a great fit, doesn’t it?
    

    

19: They also stack up nicely but go over the central rise and don’t eliminate the wobbliness. Not to mention the little plastic pin which is responsible for the swivel range on the original DAS design (completely useless here):

20. As a normal human being, I should have gone to a hardware store to find bigger washers… but as a family man, tinkering time is when everyone’s asleep and shops are closed, so I’ve decided to create my own custom risers from this hard rubber that I had lying around from a previous project (anti-swivel mechanism for swivel chair pedal action… don’t ask):
    
    

21: I cut it up into nice 25x25mm squares:

22: Then came the custom made butchering. It would have made great entertainment (for you) to record this process but holding a smartphone while attacking thick rubber with an Exacto knife is recipe for an accident so I decided not to. The result was this:

23. Neat, huh?
    
    

24: Only took me about an hour to carve them all up. Luckily, for the second and third layer I only needed a hole in the middle:

25: Now the real fun began: trying to hit the metal thingie with the small screw and remember - the metal thingie can be pushed inside very easily. The process was not unlike trying to dock a steam locomotive to the International Space Station, but I eventually succeeded:

26. Now repeat for the other side, and we’re almost done! Few cosmetic tweaks to secure the cables:
    
    

27: Had to unplug the original cables and plug the DAS cable in on the left side only:

28: Right side was much cleaner, no twisty cable:

29: I simply twisted the original plugs around the swivel know until I can think of something cleaner:

30: The cable connecting the two speakers go under the back foam:

31. And so after a mere 4 hours of painstaking work, I now have a fully functioning Pimax 8K-X with Vive DAS headphone:
    
    

Couple of things:

• The speaker work great, as anyone with DAS experience will tell you, it’s a night and day difference
• I no longer have volume issues, the DAS are loud enough so I could finally turn it down to about 50% (I’m on the latest 2004 version of Win 10)
• The swivel mechanism kinda works… it’s stiff but you can rotate the speakers back and forth
• I do NOT recommend making your own “washers” unless you enjoy hours of meticulous work and take pleasure in ugly solutions

Summary:

• The DAS replacement is relatively simple process, no advanced mechanical or electric skills are needed. The only catch is creating some sort of spacers to prevent the speakers from wiggling around (due to the differences in the mounting solution HTC and Pimax respectively chose).
• The audio upgrade is HUGE. I finally have my aural immersion back.

Enjoy!

PS: It’s f*cking 3am here so I won’t reply to questions for the next 5 hours minimum.

[Heliosurge]

@Eagleshadow (Serious Sam DeV) Review. July 31, 2020

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/comments/i15q5q/backer_1426_8kx_impressions_after_a_day_of_use_by/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

[Heliosurge]

@Genesis receives 8kX. August 2, 2020

@Genesis

I just recently got my Pimax 8KX set up running with various modifications and I thought I would document some of my findings here in case it was useful for anyone else.

End Result

https://i.imgur.com/2ou4Byw.jpg

Unboxing the Pimax 8KX

https://imgur.com/a/nvE5ZoE

Unboxing and installing the eye tracking module on an Pimax 8KX with original rubber front cowling used from a Pimax 8K

https://imgur.com/a/luXHim9

Designing a new Vive DAS adapter that supports the eye tracking module, installing the VR n CHILL fan modules and USB-C hub

https://imgur.com/a/5WXM278

Parts List
1x Pimax 8K or 5K+ Rubber Front Cowling
1x Pimax / 7invenson Droolon Pi1 Eye Tracking Module
1x Sitecom CN-388 USB Hub 4 Port | USB 3.1 Male to 4x USB-C 3.1 Female Ports
2x Maxhood (2-Pack) 90 Degree USB C Type C Male to Female Adapter
1x USB C to USB 3.1 Adapter - USB C Male to USB Female
1x VR n CHILL
1x HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap
1x VR Cover for HTC Vive
1x VR Cover for HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap (Thick 20mm)

Eye Tracker Compatible DAS Adapter
Download

https://i.imgur.com/Ev2UQY7.jpg
Credit for the original design goes to Drcube

---

@Teigue

Do you prefer Vive DAS to SMAS? Any particular reasons? Please elaborate more on this.

@Genesis

I definitely prefer the Vive DAS over the SMAS.

The speakers on the SMAS sound awful (think like turning an AM radio on in the background), don’t isolate you at all from outside audio, and blast audio into the open environment.

The MAS headstrap itself feels cheap in build quality and does not hold the headset securely enough on my head without the headset shifting out of the sweet spot when I turn my head even slightly during use, no matter how far up or down my head the headstrap is positioned, or how much I can tighten the headstrap. The instability is due to a huge gap between the side of my head and the side of the headstrap which is large enough for me to stick my whole hand through, so it has no support at all from the sides to keep the headset secured. With that aside, the headstrap doesn’t even feel more comfortable compared to the Vive DAS with all of its added complexity.

I was excited to eventually buy the KDMAS later after backers received theirs since I opted out of stretchgoals, however after trying out the SMAS I have no plans to get the KDMAS now.

[Heliosurge]

Another DeV review on Reddit in r/pimax! August 18, 2020

r/Pimax - Backer #1815 / Pimax " 8k x " impressions

[Heliosurge]

@Tom_2 Receives 8KX Aug 18

@Tom_2

(Edited to include impressions of upscaling mode)
Just bought an 8Kx.
Previously owned the Pimax 4k, and the Pimax 8k.
I have a semi decent pc, AMD ryzen 3700x, RTX 2080ti, 48 gig of memory, a couple of ssds.
Currently running pitool 263.

Build Quality:
So much better than the 8k, but that is a low, low hurdle to clear (glares at cracks on 8k case).
It seems to be heavier than the 8k but the better head strap helps mitigate that.
I will need to fiddle a bit with the head strap, and perhaps add some sort of counter weight to get it closer to perfect for me.
But for the first few hours it has been pretty comfortable.
The rubber case protector included seems like a good idea, but it is not as aesthetically pleasing as the headset is on its own, in my opinion.

Vision:
Very, very good.
I was always quite aware of the screen door on the 4k and the 8k, though neither were terrible. It was just I could see the effect easily on light areas like text.
I have good close up vision so I can still see the pixels in the 8kx on non-moving text, but only just.
It is like putting my face closer than 6 inches to my 4k tv, the pixels are there, but only really noticeable when a flat white area is displayed.
I would imagine most people would be barely aware of any SDE with the 8kx, especially when playing a game as opposed to staring at a still image in order to nitpick.
But the greater resolution and smaller pixel size enhances the crispness and clarity of the images enormously.
It is beautiful.
I have just been staring at geometry and textures in games in a way I have not in quite some time.
Objects close to our point of view, and those further away all benefit from this added detail.
Trees and plants and things on the horizon now look crisp and clear in No Man’s Sky, in a way I’ve never been able to get in VR previously without a slide-show framerate.
The higher quality models and textures I’ve modded into SkyrimVR look really good for a game which is over 400 years old now.
And Project Cars 2 really looks crisp and clean.
Bear in mind I have turned down the supersampling in Pitool, as my 8k settings were barely playable on the 8kx.
But you don’t need to crank up the supersampling to get a crisp clear image if it is already 4k.
(Of course once I get a better graphics card I probably will crank it up anyway, as with the old 8k settings it was remarkably good, but the framerate was sub-optimal, even by my somewhat low standards).
And any text in games or the FPSVR overlay look clear and clean in ways I have not previously seen.

I’ve played a few minutes of some 3d movies, all of which look better than previously, but now I want higher resolution than 1080p in 3d films. There is just no pleasing some people.

There is the distortion in the far reaches of the lenses, and if you turn your eyes to that and stare at it, it is noticeable.
But is in the peripheral vision for the most part, and nobody in their right mind is going to keep their head facing forward while forcing their eyes to the maximum left or right in order to stare at something off to one side for any length of time.
And unless I do that, for me it is barely noticeable.
But other people seem to find it more noticeable and irritating.
It seems barely there at all in normal FOV, which is a mere 140 degrees horizontal.

Upscaling Mode
Today I’ve tried the upscaling mode and it is good, actually better than I was expecting.
There is a trade off of resolution and image quality for frame rate, so depending on where your priorities lie, you might pick upscaling or the 4k native.
The image quality was better than the 8k, but there was a bit of the softness that upscaling a lower resolution image can bring, (unless you use DLSS 2.0. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it in action it is close to unbelievable how good it is. I sorely wish a few VR games could/would use it).
Running Pcars2 was very nice in the upscaled mode. Because of my taste for graphical fancyness, I couldn’t hit 118 fps, but was on a solid 59fps with a better image than I had on my 8k.

And this might be something to convince people it is worthwhile getting the 8kx.
They somehow give us a much better image (better resolution, so it is sharper and clearer, with almost no Screen door), at much better frame rates, particularly in the upscaled mode.
But even in the native 4k mode, the image was much, much better, and the framerates about the same as the 8k, sometimes better.
So you can have a much better image and about a 50-80% better framerate in upscaled mode, or a hugely improved image at about the same framerates in native 4k mode.
All this relative to the 8k, of course. Some of the other models (5k, 5k+, 8k+) look to have a less noticeable SDE than the 8k, so the jump in image quality wont be quite as high as I experienced it.

All in all, it is a visual feast, a treat.
Is it worth the money?
If you have the money to spare, I think yes, definitely.
But if you have 5k, 8k, or one of the other models and money is a bit tighter, it may feel like a luxury rather than a necessity.
Does anyone really need a 4k per eye VR headset?
Probably not. But I definitely wanted one, and am very glad to have obtained one.
I have no buyers remorse, and would very much like to add the eye tracking modules if they work well.

So yes, very happy with my new toy.

[Heliosurge]

8kX Compared to 8k+ on r/pimax (Boris owned Both) August 30, 2020

r/Pimax - Pimax 8K Plus vs 8K X, owner of both

[Heliosurge]

@seattime Initial Thoughts 8kX. Sept 1, 2020

@seattime

So I have been using my 8KX for a few days, my initial thoughts…:(just don’t have the time to write a long review)
Please note that this is all purely personal, ‘your’ mileage may vary:

The Good: - Great clarity, and less lens distortion then my 5K+, certainly the best that I have seen in VR, although for me it is still not as good as it could be due to my low IPD (60mm).

Not So Good: - Sound is not good and as they only sent me the thin foam face interface it is just too big for my head with uneven pressure points (the whole thing wobbled on my head ) - see image below were it sat on my head with terrible light bleed from the sides. Gave up and swapped it out for my Vive/VR cover setup which was much much better as it wraps around my head - pressure more even + better sound.

The above setup is working quite fine for me. Will I keep it long term ? Undecided at this time.

[Heliosurge]

@rsbell Quick Impressions 8kX; Iracing. Sept 1, 2020

@rsbell

Just received the 8kx this afternoon. I am a pre-order from 10-30-19.

A little background on me:

I have owned a Vive, Vive Pro, Odyssey, Index, Quest, KS 5k+ (bought it from KS backer), 5k+ V2, 5k+ XR, and 8k+. My gaming machine is an i9-10900k, 2080ti FE (both mildly OC’d), 32GB 4800 RAM, 2TB NVME drive.

All this, and I exclusively play iRacing. That’s all I use the machine for.

I love the 5k+. Returned the XR (too much SDE and very dim). I’m not a fan of the 8k+ as I could never get it to look very sharp. I did EVERYTHING on the ‘How to make it sharp” thread, and the image was always soft. Sure, the 5k+ has some SDE, but otherwise it has been my favorite HMD so far.

8kx Arrived today. I opened it up and put it on. The MAS was terrible. It doesn’t fit my head at all. The strap itself doesn’t swivel down far enough to allow the back of the strap to reach the back of my head. If I pulled the back down far enough, the bottom of the HMD would tilt up leaving a .5 inch gap. The back of the strap looks like it’s designed to kind of cup the back of your head, but the hinges don’t let the strap swivel enough for the back of the strap to get low enough on the back of your head to hold the HMD secure. I took apart the hinge thinking there must be some adjustment or something, but there isn’t. The MAS is basically unusable, at least for me. Not a good start.

Swapped out the 8k+ for the 8kx on my driving rig. Easy swap, and I especially like that it doesn’t need a power supply. The first thing that came onscreen was the Pimax Experience screen (I’m beta testing).

Gorgeous.

Every letter was clear and completely readable. It was nothing short of stunning. Absolutely beautiful and crystal clear.

Then I noticed sparkles everywhere. I reseated the cable but to no avail.

Then I realized that I was using a display port extension on the 8k+, so I bypassed the the extension and tried again. No sparkles-only tack-sharp image quality. It looked like I was looking at a 4K monitor.

So I booted up iRacing to try it out.

The sound on the SMAS is terrible. Just not good at all. I turned up the volume both in-game on my computer but nothing helped. I tweaked Voicemeeter as welI, but nothing helped. I plugged in some decent headphones to check if I could get away with using only one plug (the MAS uses a 3.5mm plug on each side of the HMD), and, fortunately, one plug worked perfectly fine and provided stereo audio.

I have the Vive DAS on my 8k+ and 5k+, so I pulled it off the 8k+ and replaced the SMAS on the 8kx. The DAS fit perfectly, and the audio was good.

Re-booted iRacing. The image was nothing short of incredible. The spec map on my Skippy glowed. I could see things I’ve never seen before, both in cockpit and at distance. Everything was incredibly sharp. I can see a VERY slight SDE in the sky, but it’s minimal, and didn’t break the immersion for me at all. No SDE anywhere else.

I sat there in awe in the pit at Zandvoort (this week’s Skippy track) just looking around. I was hoping the 8kx would be a step up in clarity, but this was so much better than I had hoped for. I didn’t touch the SteamVR settings.

Also, I only use Normal FOV. There is no distortion that I could see, although I might be so used to using the 8k+ and 5k+ that I’ve adjusted to it and just don’t see it anymore. Or it doesn’t exist. I didn’t try Large FOV, so I’ve got nothing to add there.

I took the car out for some laps, and was blown away by how much better I could see braking and turn in points. The tachometer was crystal clear. I oversteered into the grass, and I marveled at how clear the grass was on my front tires. Driving was so much easier now that everything is so much clearer-no guessing at exactly where a braking point or apex is.

All numbers and text everywhere were extremely clear and readable. That includes gauges, signs, meters and timers onscreen-everything. I could see fences clearly that I didn’t even know were there.

I have all graphics settings on “high”, and the FPS was locked on74/75. Zandvoort might be a low graphics track, I don’t know, but it was glorious. I would run the 8k+ at 90 FPS, and the 5k+ at 110, and I was a bit worried that 75 wouldn’t cut it for iRacing. It’s just not an issue. 75 looks fine and is perfectly playable.

So:

• The visuals are next-level. Nothing compares.
• The MAS is poorly designed. It might be ok if the hinges allowed for the strap to come down further on the back of my head, but as it is it’s unusable for me.
• MAS audio is also terrible.
• DAS fits perfectly, and the audio is great.
• I ordered the DMAS, and the audio might be great on that, but since the MAS doesn’t fit my head, I won’t be able to use it.
• How are the blacks in ED? Not a clue.

Final thought: Pimax absolutely killed it visually for my use-case: sim racing. Nothing that I’ve tried even comes close (no, haven’t tried the G2). The clarity is stunning. I imagine Virtual Desktop would be completely usable. I will fire up DCS at some point to try it out, but I have every reason to believe it will be incredible. MAS? Can’t believe how bad it fits.

The 8kx is absolutely worth the wait.

Hope this helps.

[Heliosurge]

@cazman321 8kX After Almost 3 weeks. Sept 1, 2020

@cazman321

TL:DR - Amazing picture in terms of nearly no SDE and extra detail in games, along with being able to “focus” on things in the distance vs older headsets where it’s more like looking “through” pixels. The trade-off is requiring sub-sampling for performance until new cards come out, however, the aliasing, if any, isn’t as distracting as it is on other headsets. Sense of speed and car control were instantly improved after putting the 8KX on, while previously using mostly my Index for a year. 75 Hz is pretty smooth with no flicker, and this is coming from someone sensitive to the Quest at 72Hz. Fitment is an ongoing process… See below for details on how I dialed it in. The headset (like every headset) is not perfect.

8KX and Gang:
https://i.imgur.com/cDuYxpM.jpg

Also have the Vive and Go, but no reason to bring those out…

Disclaimer, I think I’m a VR snob at this point and I’ll probably be more critical than others. To me, a headset like the Quest is nice, but looks absolutely terrible in most games(why the heck is the render target LESS than the screen resolution, so dumb), along with noticeable reprojection…good for people who LOVE it, but I don’t. My favorite moment with the Quest is playing the Half-Life 1 port…

For the Index, I’m annoyed by the pixel diffuser making everything a bit greasy…also the sound is nice but I’d rather have more bass.

Picture (Native)
I think these screens are awesome. I can now focus on objects in the distance with the same ease as close objects. Persistence seems very good, because I don’t really mind playing at 75Hz. I may catch a flicker in my peripheral for a split second in the corner of my view, but it’s not a consistent thing, whereas on a Quest I’d see flicker constantly, even in non-white environments, same for the 5K+ in 72Hz.

The SteamVR recommended SS is around 50-70% (Small FOV) depending on parallel projections with a 1080Ti. This isn’t ideal for some games because aliasing does show(Project Cars 2 for example, lots of aliasing in that game no matter what headset is used), however, the sheer density of pixels make the aliasing not a big deal, and you see a more detailed image overall.

In terms of looking around with the eyes and moving my head around, if fitment isn’t right, the FOV isn’t very useful, and more distracting. With good fitment, it’s still not absolutely perfect, but usable. I’d definitely recommend the headset for sims, but you may end up needing tweak more things with the headset/software for a good roomscale experience.

The one imperfection is that there is at first glance a “dirty” screen effect, almost like dust, on bright backgrounds. It’s not distracting like SDE, but it’s more noticeable if just observing an environment. They’re the infamous “black dots,” except they’re translucent/gray and small. The 5K+ had obvious black dots on mostly red textures, like the Index does too, but I guess these 8KX screens mask the dots differently as best they can, and they’re most noticeable on white. Again, not noticeable unless keeping your head still. In fact, I didn’t notice them today while messing with my headset before finishing this review…

SDE is not there when trying to look for it, however, I may sometimes see small clusters of pixels on white backgrounds, maybe almost like the scanline effect the Index has, but not consistent or noticeable enough to actually call it SDE or an issue. Could be the angle of the lenses showing off the SDE easier, not sure, but not an issue.

Picture (Upscaled)
This is unplayable for me.
I only have an option for 118Hz and it flickers a ton, along with constant “scanlines” (bigger than what I notice above, I guess 5K+ pixel size) that look like software SDE. This is similar to the Index that requires users to do manual “column correction,” however, the scalines in the X in upscaled mode are constant.
I will never use this mode if it stays like this. Waiting for a 90Hz option so it’s not overclocked so much.

So 75Hz is plenty for the X, more is always better, but I don’t want to sacrifice the smoothness/solid picture for more Hz and a ghosty picture due to over-driving the panels. Also, I don’t think people can handle something like 90Hz/fps natively performance-wise…maaaybe with a 3080Ti and eyetracking, who knows.

Colors/Brightness
I didn’t mind brightness/colors on default values. I didn’t even think about them until after playing for a few hours. On the OG 202 5K+, I absolutely needed to change the contrast/brightness to get good colors. I could still use some more vibrance.

After a while, I realized some things seemed a bit too washed, and now I play with either
0 Contrast/-1 brightness
+1Contrast/-2Brightness
+2Contrast/-4Brightness.

I hope we can eventually change the contrast/brightness values even more, like increments of 0.5 or even 0.25. Something like +1.5C/-3.75B or something. That way we can really dial it in per game.

Blacks seem better than the Index.

Games played so far:
Project Cars 2 - the sense of speed was instantly more noticeable, along with car control, even while using small FOV. Focusing down the track isn’t an issue anymore either. I really want to play Project Cars 3 for the career, but I can’t see myself beta testing for bugs since it just launched, so I will be waiting for a big patch before I grab it.

DiRT Rally 2.0 - same thing, great sense of speed and car control (this is probably my favorite VR experience in general).

Pavlov - I no longer have to make my eyes “fish” for a sight, it’s just there.

Alyx - just did a few tests walking around the beginning areas, but the extra detail is awesome.

Vader Immortal - Worked well using Revive instead of through PiTool. Looks great a +2 contrast, -4 brightness, while applying that gamma fix to 3.3 or so. Black colors were not distacting like they are in the Index, so it was more immersive.

Distance - always fun but extra detail with the X makes it better.

iRacing - very nice and crisp. iRacing has the best VR support of any sim by far, so I was not surprised it still looks good in the X.

Down the Rabbit Hole - everything is crisp and readable. Neat little game. These types of seated games are what I hoped would look good in the X, and they do, however, still messing with fitment, so not as enjoyable as it could be with perfect geometry through the lenses.

Tetris Effect and Thumper looked great (no aliasing, yay!), but I will finish them when I get a better set of headphones (KDMAS or DMAS upgrade).

I’m very excited to play Star Wars: Squadrons and Medal of Honor in the X.

My through the lens pictures and videos that I’ve attempted with my Galaxy S7 were terrible, so let’s play “guess the headset” to show you how hard it is to get good through-the-lens pictures with a cell phone:
One is the X, one is the Index, and one is the Quest + Link(Guess which is which, best viewed on Desktop opened up in a new tab):
https://i.imgur.com/vFCcWLU.jpg

Fitment
This will be an ongoing thing, because I can’t get perfect settings, and therefore my presence/immersion is interrupted by the lenses crushing or distorting things, and sometimes it seems to be game-to-game. It’s almost like the lenses have different focal lengths within itself, since:

1. With glasses on (near sighted, but still need glasses in VR), I can see well straight ahead, but things in the corner are blurry/out-of-focus.
2. With glasses off, I cannot see well straight ahead, but the corners are actually in focus.

This is not good because the image is inconsistent throughout the lens.

The first thing I noticed when putting on the headset is that the headset wobbles when turning my head. What I did was cut up the circular foam in the Pimax box and shoved them here, which helps a ton:
https://i.imgur.com/USNEP4Z.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YnxzZqn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/w1FgxJ6.jpg
While this seems bad, the headstrap at least isn’t rigid with 0 ability for modding it.

My goal is to use minimal padding, because it gives the best clarity when close to the lenses. I used to use a very thick (double) pad for my 5K+ loaner, and I really don’t feel like I should be required to do this to a VR headset nowadays. There was a point where I had the X great for sims, but then I tried roomscale and it was not great at all, or it used to feel good one day and not the next. Without much padding, things can get pretty decent, but there’s that last 10% on edges (vertical and horizontal edges) that aren’t perfect, and it’s annoying me that I can’t fix it. For extra padding, I used some cut up sealing foam strips, which are about the same thickness and width as the face foams, and also Velcro to keep it in place on both sides, which helps, but it’s still not perfect.
https://i.imgur.com/hmOIJgm.jpg

FOV doesn’t actually change too much when adding padding, I measured something like 118 on small FOV vs 120 without.

IPD settings
This is a big deal! Most people should know that a Pimax headset is not plug and play(yet), but I understand people’s frustration if they don’t have a lot of time to deal with it. To ensure the software IPD moves with the lenses, I suggest going to the limit of the IPD adjustment(all the way to ~60 or all the way to ~71), and then continuously moving the knob to your number.
However, I felt like my focus on objects could be improved. Now for software offsets.

I suggest people use that custom Pitool Home wallpaper found here: https://i.imgur.com/ysnjA8o
Put it in C:\Program Files\Pimax\Runtime\resource and rename it to pimax_default AFTER you make a copy of the original:
If your eyes aren’t focusing near the center square of the image when you put the headset on, shift it so the center square is relatively center. That last part is basically a test to see if maybe your head shape isn’t perfect and you need to shift things a certain way or add padding somewhere.

Now for horizontal IPD offset, if you close both eyes and open your right eye very fast, your right eye should be looking to the outside of the right square, same with the left to the left of the left square:
https://i.imgur.com/191iVpF.jpg
If they aren’t, then you should experiment with the IPD offset.

If you also notice you’re not focusing onto the green line, and instead focusing in these spots:
https://i.imgur.com/Cyjj8PR.jpg

then you should change the vertical IPD slider.

World Scale
I always noticed the 5K+ had a bit of a “zoom” factor to it. Things were slightly bigger and looking near, far, or to the ground didn’t feel right. The 8KX has the same thing, but I fixed it. My hands seemed big in SteamVR Home along with the floor boards of the SteamVR Home House, looking at the ground didn’t seem natural… cars seemed unusually big in PCars 2. I’m going down to -4 IPD offset to help this. It really does change the scale. A good way to test this is to load up a scene that has objects close, middle, and far, and change the IPD offset until you’re actually focusing and perceiving those things close, middle, and far away. I was testing this while on one end of the Hijacked map from CoD in Pavlov.

Sound
The SMAS is usable when messing with Windows Sound settings (go find that thread). Quest is worse, and I’m used to the Index with less bass, and the SMAS is in the middle I guess. I really didn’t care too much for the Vive DAS headphones, they seemed a bit tinny, while the SMAS has to be loud, so at ~80% the SMAS is usable with 3D surround working good enough, but this may depend on the game and your environment.

Tracking Jitter
I also sometimes see some jitter like others are reporting. Either I get used to it or it goes away sometimes, because it doesn’t bother me all the time. No issues with Index.

Comparisons:
After playing with the X for a while and then putting the Index on, I noticed the face plate was sorta “hard” on my face but the headset sturdy. People say the Index is super comfortable, but I disagree, it needs a wider face plate. The FOV was a bummer, since I got used to the FOV of the Pimax. Keep in mind I’m only using small FOV of the X too. The Index can definitely get brighter with no color crush, however, I think the Index is too saturated in terms of colors. The Index vertical line “SDE” was even more prominent than I remember.

Looking left/right with the Index is better, since there are no geometry changes due to the lenses. Looking above and below may not be as clear as an Index either, but again, not a huge deal when settings are dialed in. So the X is great for looking where your head is pointed, YMMV with moving around if you don’t have the right settings. The extra FOV is best for peripheral information, but that’s the case with just about every headset, since lens clarity to the edge is not perfect with every headset.

Of course the SDE of the Vive and Quest are distractions, but obviously the colors and brightness are better than LCD headsets.

Some Issues
One thing that seems a bit weird, and I’m not sure if it’s just lens design, but the inner right lens seems to have an imperfection when worn a certain way, where it can be a bit distracting when trying to read things while moving my eyes to the left(look at the 3 lights):
https://i.imgur.com/bdjcEil.jpg

Compared to the left inner lens:
https://i.imgur.com/WSSFtID.jpg

This could be fitment related, because the angles do change the look, but for me, that’s how it looks when I wear it wrong.

In addition the screens seem shaded differently, which I noticed in my 5K+ as well.
https://i.imgur.com/07hF8e6.jpg

Compared to my loaner 5K+ (no longer with me)
https://i.imgur.com/B7d0C3B.jpg

Why is it designed this way? I think it’s distracting when looking at brighter objects.

I sometimes see white sparkles in dark loading screens, but they’re not really noticeable while playing.

Also, not a huge deal, but I didn’t receive the silicone sleeve or an instruction manual in my box. Maybe because I’ll be getting the sleeve in my backer box they didn’t give me one this time? Who knows.

Overall
I’d like to thank Pimax for keeping their word on delivering a headset. It seems obvious that they’re a small team trying to do big things, and I hope they keep improving everything in the company. I think a lot of people see them as “smaller,” and considering they directly communicate with users, it’s easy for people to demand things and be extra critical. The constant goal post dates are annoying, but transparency of things going on behind the scenes is more than most companies, so unexpected things happen, and Pimax got unlucky many times…

Every day I put the 8KX on I get more used to it. FYI, although I experimented a lot with different IPDs, pad thickness, etc, I never got eye strain. I think people who tried to get it to work and got eye strain either didn’t try enough changes, or the lenses just aren’t for them.

Pimax needs to iterate on the lenses to make things easier to set up. Currently, it feels like I need to go to an optician with the headset to help dial in good settings, and that’s not user friendly, even at an enthusiast level.

I think Pimax should have made lenses for 120-130 Horizontal MAX FOV so there’s no distortion, better PPD, and perfect geometry throughout the entire lens, so the 5K+/8K/XR would have had better SDE and 0 distortion. After that, slowly iterate to make the FOV bigger. Too late now obviously, but hopefully they learned from going “big” with everything to make their next headset perfect. Who would have thought that there STILL isn’t a 120 Horizontal FOV headset after all these years. Maybe that’s why Pimax went for 160-170, thinking it would happen soon, yet here we are after 5ish years and FOV hasn’t improved very much at all in other headsets.

Even so, I’d rather make my 8KX work as well as possible instead of going back to the Index. I just love the “freedom” of just a little more horizontal FOV and don’t want to feel claustrophobic in VR again.

While the extra clarity is nice, FOV helps with things like car control and sense of speed, something simmers would enjoy, which is why I don’t care to downgrade to a lower FOV experience anymore.

Maybe testing things with Wide FOV will help dial in settings so I can go back to Small FOV to save performance.

Worth the Kickstarter price, maybe worth $1200 if you have no visual/clarity issues with your current 5K+/8K. Maybe I’m now a VR snob(like a lot of us here, haha) but it’s unfortunate to know that everyone with any VR headset will probably still be an early adopter with imperfect headsets for another 5 years or so…We’ll see…

Feel free to ask more questions!

Edit: forgot some things.
-Pimax called me to see how my headset was doing/made sure it was shipped. That was nice.
-I get better 3D effect in my Pimax vs Index.
-Removed the answer to my through-the-lens.
-Performance is pretty good in most games @ SteamVR recommended settings.

Per request from @drowhunter I used my crappy phone pictures for another through-the lens guessing game(open up in a new tab on a Desktop)… this time your choices are:
Quest
5K+
Index
8KX
https://i.imgur.com/7xobAV4.jpg

The joke is on you guys, Rec Room doesn’t look great in general, but figured this was a decent worst-case distance shot. We all know we don’t see those lines/blotches with our eyes, so this is again a lesson to say you can’t judge or trust through-the-lens pictures, they’re sort of relative, not necessarily what your eyes see.
Even @Tyrielwood 's videos, while awesome, aren’t what we see with our eyes, and even he puts that disclaimer in there. Figured I’d just have fun to show off my amazing(terrible) camera skills, considering it’s just a cell phone.

[Heliosurge]

@MReis Silently Receives 8kX Sept 7, 2020

@MReis

So yesterday my 8K X has arrived - silently.
I guess most is known, and well Pictures say more than words, so I’ll keep it short.

The 8K X Improves on every aspect - period.

The Image supersedes the 8K+ even if I reduce from 1.5 or 1.25 to 1.0 in the 8K X. Its sharp like a monitor to me in most cases. Racing is beautiful (Dirt 2.0, Asseto Corsa competizione)
Packaging is very nice, and the Head Strap is quite usable - its comfortable - I would have liked just a few adjustment possibility’s more - but its good none the less.

The 8K XY is the BEST, no points in arguing - I would say get the Artisan if you don’t want to burn so much money or save up for the X - period.

So here some images

My cat loved the box the minute the X was out

Family union

Funnily I ran the 8K X just using USB 3.0 and no power on the 2.0 (I forgot to power on the plug strip) and it ran… will try again tonight WITH both powered up

Extras In Box

---

@MReis

Ok my bad - the flyer is in the box, just checked everything and shook the box. I heard something and ( if you love boxes skip this line) forced the inner part off - and there it is

if you look in the fifth picture (all the way up on top) where you can see the whole HMD in the box - there is a cable going into the box in the rear left. I guess the small package was in there and got shook down into the lower parts of the box (where not man should go )

EDIT:
Inside stuff out:

[Heliosurge]

@blitze Thouggts on 8kX After some Testing. Sept 8, 2020

@blitze

Ok,

A collection of thoughts on the 8K-X for those still waiting or wondering about issues the headset might have.

• Initially with default settings - image was not good. I couldn’t get the HMD positioned on my head in a way to give a consistent clear image.

• MAS is interesting - thought it weird that the back section didn’t come down lower on my head when fitting it. Rear weighting though balances the HMD nicely though.

• Experimented with PiTool and found Vertical Screen Adjustment to -1 on with sides made a huge improvement to my image quality. For IPD settings, using =2 on measured IPD which was tested in Il2 Hangar on objects across the other side (drums and lathes).

• Found with the MAS that one doesn’t need to have it too tight, also easy to get in and out of using the hinged rear. Place HMD to face and drop the rear down into position. Makes sense when you get the hand of it.

• Above Ear Speakers are not much to write home about but one can hear through them and it is nice to have as a alternative to cans if you want to use the HMD but need to be aware of things going on outside of your virtual experience.

• With a RTX2080, I find PiTool 1 with SteamVR 50% to give a reasonable experience in Il2. In DCS I can bump PiTool to 1.25 with ingame VR 1.2 and Medium Settings and get decent performance. This with FOV in Normal.

Now, the verdict. After getting used to the HMD - it is a great step up on the 8k I had prior. clarity of text, video in Virtual Desktop and VR Sims is huge. It can still use high SS values to make it shine with rich detail but even at lower settings, it is much improved on the 8K.

Should outlive a few generations of GPU updates and I really drool over Il2 and DCS planes now, not to mention the effects and detail I am seeing. I haven’t even bothered with the Scaler Mode as 75Hz is fine by me if the detail is there.

I also did sit the face foam up a little higher on the top of the headset for comfort purposes. With the Vertical Offset -1 and learning to place the HMD front first in place and back down , I get consistent placement and clarity.

[Heliosurge]

@delevero 8kX Arrives no Notification; pleasant surprise. Sept 10, 2020

@delevero

Dear Reader.

I ordered the Pimax 8kx in end of October 2019, and today 10 september 2020 it arrived to my big surprise since I never recieved any track and trace information but only some letters about they where getting ready to ship my 8kx vr headset… It was actual a nice surprise to wake up and see there was package and it said pimax on the side

The packing of the product was good and it have nice black protective foam in the box that kept the vr headset in place and the cables where rolled arround a circular device.
There was plastic arround the box so water/rain could not damage the product during transport.
I instant notised that compared to pimax 5k+ i no longer needed a power adapter and only had to pluging the Hdmi, usb 3.0 ( blue usb connector ) and usb 2.0 cable. ( black )

Actual pimax vr headsets are not new to me, i had pimax 4k and pimax 5k+ and now pimax 8kx and to let you know the pimax 8kx is really the best in the series since it feel better, the tracking is a bit better and ofcourse it have a much better picture, and its actual like looking at a monitor but in VR. I have personaly had vr equipment for many years and im so happy that FINALY the image is like looking on a monitor with no pixels visible and that i now ingame actual can read even the smallest text.

Dont get me wrong the pimax 5k+ i thought was really great, but i could not in dcs world read the small white text in the main menu about dislaimers… But the when i tried the 8kx i could read it clearly.
My render quality is set to 1,5 and i used normal field of view and dident turn on forward rendering or smart smoothing, like i sait i just got the headset today and dident tweak it yet ).
In the cockpit of the F16 ( that is a bit small cockpit compared to other planes/heli ) then i could read 99% of all the text without leaning forward or anything… The only text i find difficult to read are on the navigation screen inbetween my legs where you tune heading and can read distance… these tiny numbers i have to lean forward 20cm to read the text, but that is no big deal at all. Els all labels in the cockpit is readable and ofcourse looking out the cockpit window is like looking like if you played on a monitor. Well im so happy about the quality FINALY a vr headset that have “monitor quality in a vr game”.

The performance…
My computer ryzen 9 3900x ( 12 cores/24 threads ) 3800mhz boost up to 4700
Nvidia 2080rtx oc from gainward
32gb ddr 4 ram 3200mhz
m.2 and ssd harddisk.
windows 10 pro, 64 bit.
Steam VR Beta.

Regarding performance i configured pimax 8kx to run in Normal view mode and i was able to run dcs world at 72hz, ( the build in fps counter say 32-36fps and i imagine its pr eye. )
In case you wonder pimax is working on 90hz and 120hz for pimax 8kx but its not quite ready yet.
To me it felt fluent especially flying, while parked on the ramp in airport it felt a little slower. I like to say I did not fly a real mission yet with many enemys or in multiplayer, but i imagine that fps will drop especially in multiplayer.

My recommendation…: The 2080rtx is a great card that can run almost all games on ultra, however for the 8kx i like to recommend to invest in a nvidia 3070rtx or higher for the very best experience. By the way nvidia 3070rtx is like double the speed of a 2080rtx by the way and will be out in about 10 days from now.

The negative…:
1). i think the IDP ( distance inbetween eyes ) is wrong and it only goes to 70mm.
I have a big head and i am lucky i did not have to go any higher… I think my IPD for pimax 5k+ was like 63-65mm so there is some difference. I dont know if its a software problem or if its a hardware design problem.
2). The new comfort head strap on is really great and it fell good to wear it and it dosent feel cheap as the rubber band straps on pimax 5k+ that actual is pretty decent by the way.
However the foam/strap that where you tighten to the back of your head feel like its sitting up way to high, but i know pimax in another forum topic is offering a free metal/plastic thing that changes the angle of headset and you can get this for free if you write in the forum and tell them your order number.
I dont know if i need this but i have ordered one.
3). The vr headset and cable feel more heavy than the pimax 5k+ and maybe i will add some weight to the rear of the headset for a better balance.
4). regarding the purchase process and waiting time… sorry to say i think it was a mess. I have been a client for years and i have two different login pages where i can see my orders one on pimax.com and on pimaxvr.com and its not the same “thing”. I did along the way refund my base station and controllers and bought the valve index once instead, reason i could get them here and now, while i belive pimax still havent send out theirs just saying im glad i dident wait for them.
5). To get the best picture its very important to find the sweet spot of IPD and to possition the vr headset correctly on your face… It have quite a low tollerance… And just like with 5k+ and now 8kx i advice people to push your vr headset a bit up/down/left/right and also tilt it forward until you find the best setting for you.
So it do take a little setup time for best experience.

All in all pimax have become better since it was really a mess, and backers have really kept up with allot of stuff. ( ps… i dont understand why i cannot login while im connected to a vpn on one site, but not on the other…)
What i like most about pimax is the wide screen, but also that no pimax headset have EVER made me VR sick from using it… I had allot of problems with this in Ocolus rift wich was my first vr headset.

Anyway long story short im happy about the 8kx this is how VR should have been from the start 8-10 years ago its really a game changer BUT VERY EXPENSIVE… anyway the future for Vr look very good now and if the 8kx will be the new standard in the future for vr then we are all in for a very good future.

PS… now i look forward to the eye tracking module getting shipped, and that i can buy hand tracking and especially that the hand tracking can be used in flight simulators.
PPS… I doubt that reverb 2 will be better than pimax 8kx the image and widescreen is fantastic and i can read all instruments clearly in cockpit of dcs world.

Added

@delevero

And Update to my original review ( there is not Edit button i could not change my review. )
After spending more time with the 8kx i like to add.

Negative…: I have the 8kx version with the standard earphones. To be honest i think the frame with the earphones its pure junk. They do not touch my ears, and i cant lower the frame further down to make them touch my ears.
Dont get me wrong its nice they are build in, however when i put on the headset the earphones are 5-7cm above my ear and 2cm from my skull ;-( And if i dont use them and put on my normal headphones then the frame part where the earphones are build in almost block the option to wear my external headphones.
I think if you use standard Earcups that are not so big you can use an external headset… But if you use example a wireless headset from ROG with big earcups there is a risk you wont be able to wear them.

To be honest it feel a bit like they dident think about that when the headset was designed, it would have been better if they made a version without earphones vs standard earphones. OR you could remove the standard build in ear phones.
Also the the rear of the headset where you tighten it firmly to your skull should be lower… In my case its sitting in the top-rear of my skull but it would have been better if it sit on my rear middle skull.

All in all i really cant recommend the Frame system and standard earphone version, i am truly dissapoined that the build in earphones are 5-7cm above my ears it just look and feel stupid and like a prooduction error or terrible design. Also these earphones cannot be removed so the frame become flat so i could use external earphones instead. ( look image )

[Heliosurge]

@Akuma540 receives 8kX. Sept 11, 2020

@Akuma540

Alright, got my 8K X and tested it out. This is my own subjective exp. So keep in mind

My Setup: Intel I9900K with an RTX 2080 and 16 GB Ram. It’s a Gaming laptop and with the 3D Club cabel its working with no problem for me.

Comfort:

The angle of the Smas is too short for my head but I could get it work and it feels way better than the Rubberband.

Screen:

The Sweetspot is noticeably smaller than the 5k+ or XR, I had to fiddle it to get the picture sharp but after that it was amazing. Had a little eye strain at the beginning but it was gone after a while.

Screendoor effect is way better, you really appreciate the details in the games! I could still see it in bright skies but u probably will not see it while gaming.

The 75FPS were no problem for me, played Beat Saber on expert to expert plus and it didn’t felt too slow but u will feel the difference when played with higher FPS.

The Colors are a little bit better than the 5k+ ones. I have the new firmware and the backlight is set to 1. Can check it via PE. The Black is better than the 5k+ but not on the Oled level.

For me after 1 Hour gaming with only the USB3 cabel put in, it gets as warm as the 5k+.

I felt more immersed in the games I played with the 8K X

Sound of the Smas is ok and with a better setup actually enjoyable.

If you want to know something specific, just ask

[Heliosurge]

@Djonko’s 8kX Impressions! Sept 14, 2020

@Djonko

So today I received my 8k-X, still haven’t gotten any tracking number for it, not via email, not via the store, but who cares if you have it in your hands

I only had very brief time to play with it today, about 90 minutes, so I’m just giving my first impressions. Let’s start with the bad - the comfort. I’m not sure yet if it’s because of the hinge problem or what really causes it but this thing is highly uncomfortable to me. Will have to figure out how to make it more comfortable and that’s going to be worth it, because, damn … this resolution is just WOW!!

There’s a lot that’s not perfect to me about this headset. Comfort is horrible (maybe due to the hinges), audio is quite bad (although doable I guess if you have very low expectations). Distortion might be slightly improved over the 5k+ but it’s still there. Colors are also slightly improved over the 5k+. They’re good enough for me, although I still think they don’t match the index colors (let alone oled of course). And somehow the feeling of presence is definitely lower than my index. But man … this resolution!! There’s just no way I can go back to the Index after having tried this headset. I’d take this headset over the index, over the starVR and all the other headsets I own. Just the ‘church’ environment in the steamVR room is so freaking awesome… Oh and if you’ve tried 8k SBS ‘adult’ content on this thing you’ll never put on your index again neither

So, the king of them all at the moment, although there surely is a lot of room for improvement. I wish we could combine the StarVR’s FoV, the non-distorted lenses of the StarVR, the StarVR OLED colors, the StarVR feeling presence and then this resolution. If I could sign a contract now that in the next 10 years I can’t use any other headset than that one right now, I’d probably do it haha.

So for now, the 8k-X will be my default headset, without a doubt. Let’s see how it compares to the Reverb G2 next month though!

[Heliosurge]

@saraki receives 8kX. Sept 20, 2020

@saraki

Please note that I am basically comparing the 8K X to a 5K+ that I have.
Also for context, please note that I haven’t read most of the other people’s posts about their experience.

1. Hinges

The short answer is yes, there is a problem.
I haven’t read much about the hinges from other people so this is based 99% on my personal experience. Basically, if you look straight down to your toes standing, the HMD will fall off of your head since the backside of the strap rests too close to the top side of your (well, at least my) head. Also since the HMD’s weight makes it wobble around when you look left/right swiftly. So let’s say if there is an FPS which asks for quick head movements and asks you to pick up ammo from the ground, that would give advantage to other headsets in terms of gameplay, not to mention the chance of the headset being damaged.
I wear glasses, so I tried without my glasses and see if I can further tighten the strap to have it more securely mounted, but tightening the strap more resulted in the headset lifting off my head.
As a side note, it came with plastic hinges and not the metal ones (unit shipped on Sept 15th).

2. Face foam

Seems Pimax has decided that they will only include the thin foam? Mine had the one attached to the HMD and no other foam.
People that wear glasses might have a problem with this. I do wear glasses, but basically there is no clearance between your eyeglasses and the lens of the HMD. Depending on the design of the eyeglasses you wear and the length of your eyelashes, this may be a problem. My eyelashes barely touch my eyeglass lens when I have the HMD on, but if any closer, this could be distracting/annoying and might smear the vision while gameplay.
In comparison to my 5K+, the lens has definitely come closer to the eyes.

3. Pitool

The Pitool with the 8K X is still a bit buggy (1.0.1.263).
The most frequent problem I ran into was that even though Steam VR will show you the “Display VR View”, the 8KX will not show any image (black screen) from time to time. At the moment, I would say close to half the time I tried to have it working. Mind you that I have only have used it for half a day or so. As time goes by, I will likely develop a ritual (do and do not) to avoid the cause so this rate should go down as time accumulates. Not to mention bug fixes from Pimax.
As a side note, I have found out that the headset does not like it when you plug the display port before the USB ports.

4. Inherited Quirks

There were quirks from the pre-Vison models but they are also here to stay.
I have one base station fairly close to my playspace (seated VR) but the 8K X still needs some distance from the base station to recognize it, as if it has a minimal focal distance. Also, the lens side still seems to recognize the base station easier than the shell side. This may not be an issue if you have a large room with two or more base stations.

5. Build quality

The build quality is improved from the 5K+. The HMD’s shell has less flex but doesn’t feel robust enough to the level of some headsets that will withstand multiple drops from standing heights. No, I have not done the drop test.
My 5K+ had cracked even though I have never dropped it, but likely the 8K X’s shell will survive my handling.
I also must add that my 8K X had it’s left cap fall off from the MAS. Nothing that a bit of glue can’t fix, but you might want to check them prior to using them when received.

5. Visual quality

The visual quality is definitely improved from 5K+. I can still see the pixels, but my brain will not perceive it as I am seeing it through a screen door. The god rays and the distortions are still there. I have not noticed any improvements if the lens were revised. Personally, I do not mind the distortion/god rays, but if you were looking for improvements with these particular issues, skipping this generation could be a choice.
One new issue is that when your eyes are off the sweet spot of the lens, the blurriness of your vision stands out, not because of a fault, but because of the improved clarity from the 4K per eye native res.
As of the 4K per eye resolution, I feel that there is a need for even a higher resolution for optimal visual quality (not to mention advancement in lens technology and such) perhaps in the level of 8K per eye and above.
If we speak of let’s say audio quality, old school amps from the '70s can compete and in some cases surpass current models, but I do not see that this is the case with a 4K per panel resolution.

6. Impact on (my) PC’s Performance

I have a Ryzen 1800x with a 1080ti atm, but it runs Elite Dangerous with close enough FPS that I cannot really see a difference between the 5K+ and the 8K X. As a measurement, I would say few frames might be lost (from mid-high 30s fps in a crowded environment to mid-low 30s). All the settings are left as it was on the 5K+ and unchanged in this tryout. The HMD was always running in native res.
As a side note, my M/B (Asus 370 prime something something) seemed to have a problem to run the headset on the top USB 3.1 port where the USB-C port is next to.

6. Conclusions

If you are expecting a near-perfect experience out of the box, Pimax is still not for you.
Just for the record, if you want prompt delivery or support, Pimax is still not for you.
If you are willing to bite the bullet for seeing the future for a hefty price tag, and if you don’t mind crafting/modifying certain elements, this is a very good base kit to get a hold of. I’d say I fall into the latter group.
Do I like it? HELL YES!

Hope this helps.

[Heliosurge]

@glassy99 receives 8kX Sept 29, 2020

@glassy99

I just received my 8KX today from FedEx and spent a few hours with it.

FedEx delivered it to me with no import tax or other fees needed.

MAS Hinge

I think my hinge is plastic but I’m not sure. At first it seemed like the headstrap wouldn’t come down low at all. When I first tried it on the back was very high on my head and the only way to keep the MAS on my head would be to tighten it very tightly which would be very uncomfortable.

But then I realized that I had to loosen the top strap. Then it came down enough to cup the back of my head and was pretty comfortable. So I am satisfied with MAS comfort for now.

For people who get your 8KX, don’t forget to loosen the top strap. I had to loosen it up a lot.

MAS Audio

The integrated audio quality is just serviceable. Once you get used to it it is somewhat OK. Playing beat saber with it was pretty bad though.

The positive thing is if you are ok with it then no need for earphones or headphones. Nothing touches your ear, so better for comfort. And you can still hear what is going on in the real world (which I like).

I have ordered the DMAS too, so I’m sure that will be a great improvement.

Resolution and Clarity

OMG the resolution!! The center, maybe 90 degrees fov is super clear and high res. Like looking at a monitor. Using it it feels like this is a 360 degree monitor on your face.

From an 8K user it was pretty amazing and I was really astonished by it.

It feels the 8K+ (which I got to try previously) is way behind in terms of resolution and clarity.

Just looking at the game banner images in the Steam VR UI they felt so crisp to me.

You are able to notice more details in everything and everything seems much more real.

Sweet Spot

The most important thing to get the clarity and see the amazing resolution is to make sure both your eyes are in the sweet spot.

With 8KX it is extremely easy to know when your eyes is in sweet spot or not because when they aren’t everything will be blurry. Maybe even blurred is better than some headsets, but the difference from when it is in focus is a lot.

If the 8KX is blurry for you then you need to move it around to find the sweet spot. As many people said now, it should be like looking at a monitor.

Once sweet spot is found, tightening the MAS will keep sweet spot in place pretty well.

Distortion and Edge Blurriness

The 8KX I got came with thin foam. The 8K+ I tried earlier had thick foam.

The experience for me is that the thick foam was better for distortion and edge blurriness. Because I remember the 8K+ had almost no distortions and edge blurriness, while my 8KX with thin foam has noticable distortion and edge blurriness for me.

I feel distortion is still better than my 8K. But I think with thin foam my eyes are too close to the lenses and it causes the outer and inner edges of the image to be blurred by the lenses. It is not so bad because the main central 110 fov is not blurry and still with sharpness of center image it is still a lot better than my 8K.

So I think thick foam should improve my experience a lot as when I tried 8K+ with thick foam distortion and edge blurriness was a non issue. This will likely vary according to head shape.

Mura and Cleanness of Image

There was a lot less noticable mura than the 8K+ that I tried previously. It is a non issue for me on this 8KX.

Additionally, it seemed there were less horizontal lines noticeable. I can still see them in white backgrounds, but they don’t jump out at all. In all other experiences I couldn’t see them. I could easily see them in the 8K+ in The Blu.

So overall I felt the image was even cleaner than the 8K+.

Oh I almost forgot to mention SDE … because there is none! (At least for me.)

Overall from an 8K user, this is really amazing and the cleanness of the image makes everything seem more real.

Together with the improved resolution the presence is improved a lot.

Colors and Brightness

I think the colors are pretty good. Overall better than my 8K.

The comfort kit and nose flap block out light very well (almost completely) so this helps a lot with perception of colors and immersion.

I think to further improve 8KX image, having OLED colors and improved lenses would bring the biggest gains.

Glare

There aren’t “god rays”, but glare seems to be the most noticeable / immersion breaking image imperfection.

It happens only when surrounding area is dark and center of view is bright.

This is the main reason watching movies in 8KX might still not be the best experience because surroundings are dark.

I think maybe with thick foam this would be improved for me though.

75 Hz

I used the 8KX only in native 75hz mode. I haven’t tried upscale mode at all.

I have to say that the 75hz felt completely fine for me. Beat Saber was completely smooth and playable to me.

Applications

Desktop use: It is the first time that the image resolution is good enough that I think it can be used as a monitor for work. You could put virtual monitors all around you and you’d be able to easily read everything in them. Just using the steam vr desktop view everything is readable crisp and sharp like looking at a monitor.

DCS F18 cockpit everything clear and readable (except that lower monitor more due to the colors). Things in distance easier to see such as when doing carrier landing you can see the runway on the ship easier.

Onward: Image very sharp and clean. Didn’t play too long, but everything was fine. I think for immersion, the game’s graphics is the limiting factor now. This may be true for a lot of vr titles (which I have not tried yet).

Big Screen movie watching is pretty good. The modern cinema felt surprisingly realistic. Main downside is the glare as mentioned, but if you pick a seat that is a bit closer to the screen so that it fills more of your view then it is less of an issue and once you get into the movie your forget about it.

Conclusion

Everything is a lot more lifelike and thus more immersive and more presence inducing due to resolution, clarity and image cleanness. Also being able to notice so much more details in the VR worlds around you together with clean no sde image makes using VR a lot more satisying.

Hopefully a thick foam will improve image for me and DMAS should make the audio amazing.

Improvements for future models would be oled colors and better lenses.

Overall I am currently extremely happy with my 8KX.

[Heliosurge]

@NextGenVR Stay Tuned 8kX Received Sept 21, 2020

@NextGenVR

My Pimax 8KX is finally here

It came with the thin comfort foam attached that has cutouts for glasses. I don’t see any thick comfort foam in the box though. It also came with a microfiber cloth and instructions manual. Build quality looks really nice.

Stay tuned for a full review on my channel! It’ll probably take at least a couple days to try it out and make the video but I’ll get it out as soon as I can.

Subscribe and hit the bell button for notifications:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChLDzAfTbE7hv0ipGTkHV2Q

[Heliosurge]

@kazansky22 receives Sept 23, 2020

@kazansky22

@Heliosurge

So I just got the 8kX a couple days ago. It did sit in Shanghai for 2 weeks before being shipped because I guess I had to pay taxes on it (and I was never notified). Why the taxes weren’t taken out when I ordered it I’m not sure, but that caused about a 2.5 week delay in shipping, 2 weeks before I found out it was ready and a few days going back and forth with customer service to figure out the issues and get the correct amount of $$$ sent.

Now on to the good stuff.
My prior vr experience has been with the DK1, DK2, Vive, 5k+, Reverb Gen 1, and 8kX.
And 99%% off my VR time over the past 3 years or so has been in DCS and IL2, mostly DCS.

The Good:
Clarity, amazing, if not the best on the market, then its within margin of error of being the best.
FoV, Pimax’s selling point; the FoV is nearly the same as wearing typical sunglasses (on large).
The comfort kit is a great addition, works as advertised.
SDE is a thing of the past… I just can’t find it anywhere, even in bright environments. I think I can maybe see it? But can’t tell for sure, so I’m gonna say SDE is eliminated for me at least.

The Bad:
I swapped out the comfort kit strap for the vive DAS that I had been using with the 5k+, the comfort kit strap is really nice, but I found the speaker housing to be very intrusive while trying to wear my audio headset.
I ordered the deluxe audio, but it came with the standard audio, and… it sucks, no other way to put it, but I am a bit of an audiophile so take that into consideration.

The Ugly:
Still no automated process to find the correct IPD AND IPD offset… I still don’t know why after years this is not a thing. Its probably the single biggest improvement Pimax could make to the user experience, as opposed to the trial and error way of doing it now which for me at least results in lots of breaks, Naproxen and Excedrin, that is just not something you should put customers through.

Extra notes:
Please get some units sent to developers. Very few seem to even know wide FoV exists.
And please get some thinner foams sent out… the stock one is too thick for my liking.

Rig Specs:
i5 8600k 5.1ghz
32GB 3200mhz CL14
GTX 1080ti 2100mhz core, 5900mhz mem
3x Samsung Evo 860s