Unboxing skipped, and no, there was no extra thin foam included.
One thing to note is that Pimax has improved their presentation.
None of that even matters to me, what does matter is how does it physically look?
Physical Appearance:
It looks good and even after trying to squeeze it in various places to listen/feel it’s sturdiness, it felt pretty solid. The rubber coating looks good for now but after a while in warmer environments, it’s possible it can peel away.
Will cross that bridge when the time comes.
The included foams will soak up sweat & PU leather alternatives will be welcomed.
Comfort/Fit:
After trying the HMD on, the comfort kit along with the MAS has really improved the comfort/fit.
Glasses wearers may want thicker foam on the face cowling to avoid collision with the HMD lenses.
My go to method is to force the user to have/wear 3 headbands at once or bust.
My 8K was decked out with the HTC Vive DAS within 1 week from my initial posted impression along with a makeshift counter-weight consisting of an 1.0xlb battery pack.
Unfortunately, this was still not heavy enough to keep the HMD off my nose.
With the X, no longer does the HMD feel weighty on my nose and it’s been an relief.
There is no light leakage for me when tightening the head-strap, considering the glasses cut out, another relief.
No more being able to look down and see the real world through the bottom of the HMD.
Literally have to physically lift the HMD up to see now.
Setup:
No more external power, yet another relief.
Considering the 8K just needed to be swapped and the Index controllers paired followed by the quick room setup, this went smooth with no issues.
Possibly unnecessary:
X:\Program Files\Pimax\SteamVRSupport\drivers\aapvr\resources\settings
GPU: 1080 (Unfortunately, the 2080Ti is not with me)
CPU: 8700k
Ram: 32GB
X IPD: 64
PiTool:
FOV(small)
Vertical Offset: 4.5
Rendering Quality: 1.5
Contrast: 2
Brightness: -2
Upscaled Mode @ 118hz
Native Mode @ 75hz
Image Quality:
Well, this is where Pimax has absolutely blew it, but wait… they blew it by continuing to rely on the terrible Pimax VR Home Planet Environment.
Sure, the FOV must be demonstrated but the image quality needs to be vastly improved.
The image still looked quite bad to me in Native Mode and let’s just say un-impression was setting in.
Before continuing further, the SDE may be there but it’s become a non-issue as it’s very faint to see.
Now, the colors and the brightness are still not great but they are also not bad.
Distortion:
My description would be when my head turns while keeping the eyes looking at the same location, does the world remain fixed or does it begin to weirdly bend?
For me, it bends but overtime, this does not become bothersome.
Although, when it has been observed, actively looking to see it may bother some.
Adjusting the vertical offset and messing with the HMD position on the head improves this but it never actually goes “fully” away.
Ghosting:
This is something that was noticed in bright scenes but it wasn’t substantial or even bothersome to me.
Chromatic Aberration:
This was noticed in my brief play of Arizona Sunshine, mainly, the grill in Horde Mode in the Canyon.
There was some sort of prevalent rainbow effect? (Even the Standard 8K has this).
MAS:
The sound from the MAS speakers are not unusable but they skirt the line as passable for what they achieve considering their placement.
Mic:
Reserved
Time for some actual content:
Using the .bat method to skip SteamVR and the reliance on Parallel Projection that should be known by now.
Just a few impressions in mainly “Native Mode” without listing the magnitude of content that was actually tested…
American Truck Simulator:
After holding the HMD higher than head height and launching (For some reason this places you in the seat and not way above it).
Native Mode:
Graphics on Low
Graphics scaling set to 200%.
This one has always been hard to get looking/performing good but the X pulls the win over the 4K, 8k, and my Odyssey+
For me, the clarity on the gauges/interior and in the distance has now reached acceptability and the refresh rate of 75 does not bother me.
Upscaled Mode:
Something that was noticed is that the brightness seems to decrease & a good 2 notches were taken away from clarity.
The refresh rate is soo high that it was not possible to get anywhere close but it performed acceptable considering the overall settings.
From here on out, Native Mode will have been in use & fpsVR for SteamVR on-the-fly super-sampling adjustments.
One way to know it’s working in desired title is to crank the values down and if it looks more terrible.
There’s the answer…
Project CARS 2:
Reserved
Using SteamVR with Parallel Projection:
Elite Dangerous:
For this one, SteamVR with Parallel Projection is currently unavoidable but even so, the image clarity was very good.
Text, textures and distance viewing were acceptable to me.
Shame about the colors, especially the sky, but it is what it is.
ContractorsVR:
Text, textures & aiming down the sight has been more blurry than desired but with the X in native, this is in the past.
Again, the X pulls the clarity win over the 4K, 8k, and my Odyssey+.
It also looks even better when avoiding SteamVR/Parallel Projection.
As expected, the colors do not stand a chance up against the Odyssey+.
The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners:
Great clarity but the colors take away from the atmosphere when A to B comparing with O+.
SteamVR without Parallel Projection:
SteamVR Home:
The clock on the right, the dials appeared sharp as well as the text on the screens.
Facing the clock and moving backwards until near the back-wall, the clock and the front-facing screen were still sharp.
Going outside and looking at the bigger screen directly in front of you, the text remained quite readable.
The Standard 8K could not that pull off.
The Lab:
Bare with me, you know how the whiteboard and the clipboards have that fuzziness from a distance?
Well, it’s reduced in the X to the point of it looking “very” un-fuzzy.
DCS:
Never seen the instrument panels looking this good, just having the enhanced clarity makes a big diff. to me.
Distant objects & aircraft are no longer as blurry.
Assetto Corsa:
Reserved
DiRT Rally 2.0:
Reserved
Serious Sam: The Last Hope
This game has lots of opponents to mow down and sometimes from a good distance is preferred or else you get overwhelmed and become extra dead.
With the X, it was possible to land shots from quite far away, opponents could be seen further into the distance and they were getting mowed down with a maniacal grin…
VRMark:
This is something that’s been kept around for this exact moment.
If anyone remembers the Blue Room with the small display panels?
The clarity of most other HMD’s was never up to par with the ole 4K but once again, the X pulls the win.
Virtual Desktop:
There is nothing more to say other than, it looked very good and it killed my Standard 8K.
Just to verify how good it was looking, it was possible to reduce the screen sizes and still have an quite decent looking result while the Standard 8K taps out early.
Flat 4K videos on YT looked much better than the Standard 8K and the clarity exceeded the Odyssey+.
VR Video Apps:
Reserved
VorpX:
Reserved
My perspective:
Whomever had/has the (Non BE) Pimax 4K?
The X has defeated the ole 4K in clarity, colors, ghosting, SDE…
Although, brightness is not exceeded when the 4K’s filters have been removed but this is not the norm.
Conclusion:
Took a long time to get here but the X looks better than the 4K and kills the Standard 8K, that’s a win for me.
The Odyssey+ wins in colors and “audio”, however this does not make me want to use the Odyssey+ in “anything” over the X in “Native Mode” and that’s saying something.
Wants:
Get rid of the Distortion
Eye Tracking
Improve the image quality of Pimax VR Home or dump it entirely
Thinner & thicker face foam
PU leather face foam
Brightness & color improvements
Bring on the Pimax Experience, it’s something that has been needed for far too long
Better audio sooner rather than later’
The ability to adjust height
The ability to enable boundaries when using Oculus titles
The ability to allow adjust controller angles
Wireless…