(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.