My 8kx Impressions

Pimax Hardware P2: 8kX
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Well, lets get started.

When I first got the headset, I opened the box, took in some of that new electronic smell then closed the box to do some a final bit of studying and take an exam. After the exam I came back to the headset to get it all set up and use it for a bit.

Comfort:

Despite ordering Vive DAS ahead of time, I tried the headset on with the MAS briefly before I swapped it out. MAS worked fine, it had no range of motion issues with the hinges. Regardless, I found its comfort to be quite lacking regardless of its positioning, when compared to the Index. After fitting the Vive DAS to the headset it became a significantly more comfortable experience. Only thing right now that isnt great is the how the comfort kit feels on my cheeks due to the weight distribution, definitely a pressure zone for me, I dont get pressure really on my nose like some people are reporting. A small counterweight would be sufficient for that. Wonā€™t go too far into comfort as itā€™s a pretty well documented thing and can be changed easily via aftermarket.

Sound:

I did not try the speakers on the SMAS

Visuals:

This is the one that I think matters the most. Especially since sound and comfort can be changed easily. Once the headset is PROPERLY dialed in, it looks insane. (I will come back to configuration at the end). Remember the first time you ever looked at a 4k screen out in the wild? Yeah it was like that. It didnā€™t happen to me in the SteamVR home or the pimax home, it happened to me when I started DCS World. I spawned in the F-16 and I almost teared up. From a resting position, I could read EVERY, SINGLE, NUMBER CLEARLY in the cockpit, I could read ALL of labels in the jet. I then moved on to the the F-14, I could read the numbers on the engine instruments (near left knee) EASILY same goes for the airspeed indicator (these numbers were BARELY visible in the index, basically blobs).

I never owned a pimax headset before, I was worried about the distortion and sense of 3D from some of the comments on here. As far as distortion goes I noticed some warping towards the edges, kind of akin to the image you get when wearing swim goggles where the plastic starts to curve on the edges and warp reality. I noticed this on/off for around the first 30 minutes. Then after playing for a bit more I stopped noticing it and I guess my mind tunes it out? Honestly not as bad as I thought it would be.

Colors were good. To me they were basically equivalent to the indexā€™s colors maybe even 5% better (once set up properly).

FOV was pretty nice, visually didnt really notice a difference between Normal and Wide FOV personally. Performance at normal FOV was def better than wide though so Iā€™ll keep it there. Iā€™m 66 IPD and I set the IPD on the headset to 66 ipd and itā€™s clear to me. No offset or additional tinkering needed.

3D immersion was fine for me, didnā€™t notice a difference there from the index, no adjustments needed other than setting the headset to my IPD (66). I read up on how Hidden Area Mask on/off could affect this, but tbh I didnt notice a difference with it on or off in terms of 3D effect. So I just have it on now because it boosts performance.

As far as refresh rate goes, the 75hz doesnt bother me in the slightest. I almost forgot to mention it here lol. I use 165hz monitors (LG 32GK850G-B) and I can go from those to the HMD no problem. It could be that Iā€™m just not sensitive to Hz changes all that much. Bad ghosting and pixel response times are what bother me in a display, the 8KX has none of those issues.

For the lenses and overall clarity, I was worried the ā€œsweet spotā€ would be smaller than the index, which would make having a hi res screen pointless since it would be blurred out. Saw some people saying itā€™s small and can be challenging to find. Idk man, to me theres a MUCH bigger ā€˜zone of clarityā€™ in the lenses than there is in the Index. I dont have to turn my whole head as much to see stuff.

Conclusionā€¦
Taking time to get the comfort and audio fixed/optimized/replaced is key for a great experience and well worth it. The visuals are great.
I will not be going back to the Index. I will not be buying the Reverb G2 (something I was seriously considering if the 8kx turned out to be no-bueno).

My 8KX setup:

8KX (installed)
Vive DAS (headphones removed) (installed)
VRcover Vive DAS leather foam replacement (installed)
Studioformcreative balance kit (200g) for DAS (not installed yet)
VRmust leather comfort kit replacement (not installed yet)

Software:

pitool version

8kx firmware version

I set my pitool as follows

  • Render Quality 1 (default)
  • PP OFF
  • Hidden Area Mask ON
  • Contrast (L/R) +1
  • Brightness (L/R) -1

I used @BNP 's program
to configure the steamvr files
-took like 2 seconds, worked like a charm

I set SteamVR as follows

  • SS at 150%
33 Likes
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Thanks for the impressions. Overall sentiment from most reports so far is that it is a very good headset. Good to hear that you arenā€™t tempted to go back to Index after getting it dialed in.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Iā€™m pleased your happy with the clarity and colours. :0)

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The headset seems to be all I hoped for. Canā€™t wait to receive mine in a couple of weeks!

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thanks, i was wondering what people was complaining about with small sweet spot of clarity because to me it is pretty damn huge but i donā€™t have an index to compare with.

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Yeah, I donā€™t have an Index to compare either, have just been going off reports.

Colours seem pretty great on mine too. Defo seems better than the 5K+.

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Have to agree on the sweet spot. Some perceived it as less than the 5k+, but I canā€™t say Iā€™ve noticed this. However, for me, SDE is still a concern. Guess I was expecting too much. Itā€™s way better than the 5k+ though, but itā€™s still there, especially in foggy\bright environments. My eyes need native 8K apparently :roll_eyes:

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Your eyes need native 16K really, to get to human resolution

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More likely that my eyesight deteriorates enough before that happens to allow a natural SDE-filter :rofl:

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that too is true, but i challenge you to notice sde on any kind of moving image that isnā€™t pretty much uniformly light. what i mean is that iā€™m not seeing it at all when gaming but i still see that the pixels are pretty big.

so yes, 8k or even better 16k for the next headsets please and thanks

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Thank you for sharing

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