Awesome to hear this news… Thanks so much for sharing your experience, especially for folks here in the US who can’t demo it! []-)
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I’ll be the dissenting voice, and make the case that the only ways the 8k+ could logically be almost as good as the 8kX, much less a greater improvement over the regular 8k, than the 8kX over itself, is either if the optics of the devices are so bad that they blur all the difference, wasting the resolution, or if the render resolution used, when people have tried the devices, has been insufficient.
There is a perversely reckless little voice inside my head, that tries to plant there the notion of experimenting with the lenses from my $540 Index, in my $1300 (minus tradeins, but plus shipping, import duty, taxes, and fees) 8kX, when it arrives… :PPP
EDIT: Aaaaand on that note: I just got my “promo” code for trading in the 10m cable I ordered extra with the kickstarter pledge, annnnddd… Was there a resolution to the problems people were having with codes not working in the Pimax store? When I enter mine, nothing happens; Then when I click: “I have a promo code” a second time, the string input box comes back up, this time accompanied by an urgently red notice, informing than my code is supposedly from an: “Invalid partner”… -Retry later, and see whether things have propagated through the system? -File yet another support ticket, and ask for a replacement code? (EDIT2: Tried with Edge and Firefox.)
Ho hum… :7
EDIT3: @Matthew.Xu : I guess I might as well take this up with you, right here, since that seems to be an effective way to elicit a response (EDIT4: …and might inform others as well): Have you got a suggestion on how to proceed with my coupon snag mentioned above? I have now a $70 coupon, in exchange for a 10m cable extra order from the kickstarter, and am trying to add it to an 8kX order through backer plan C, but trying to apply the coupon only yields a: “Invalid partner” text box. Nothing written “on” the coupon suggests that it would be restricted in any way, such as being non-combineable with other offers, like the backer plans…
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This is XTAL
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Wow that’s an impressive video . Very clear picture and solid colours .
Yeah and also that is beeing tested as far as I know or read/heard it.
But if 7m in one piece are not (currently) working, it will be hard to get an extendtion to work… (more resistance, more influence on the signale,…)
None the less - it would be nice if we could get a december Update, this being one of the insides of which sharing the Progress or state would be nice, among other FAQ’s.
EDIT added to your second response:
Well sorry, my grammar might not be superior 
- none native speaker and just a simple mind.
And I cannot give you insights (would be nice if i could) but that’s something maybe pimax employees could - so you are right about that, just stating what has been known before… (I’m just another guy on the forum like most of us…)
The rest of my simple phrased sentence presumed in logical consequences that larger 5 is uncertain for us unenlightened, as I figured it does not matter if straight from one cable, if larger 5 can’t be reached, then via extension is potentially equal or less certain to work (unless as stated before using fiber which will add latency due to the transformation process). 
@SweViver have you had any chance of testing extensions on the new HMD’s?
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I’ll help you to fix the coupon can’t be used and I’ll send you a pm.
If anyone has the same issue, please send me a pm as soon as possible.
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I can fully corroborate this review. My experience exactly with the 8K+.
And to confirm Swevivers statement that the 8KX gives an even better punch in image quality compared to the 8K -> 8K+, I can say it’s true. But it’s only because both headset have that much better RGB pixel layout. The 8K pentile screen simply hurt the image a lot.
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Thanks Matt! 
Do you know whether there was anybody present, who could corroborate, coming from a more… “cynical” sort of outlook? :7
I’m not keen on being a jerk, but between your claiming in one place that the XTal HMD had fantastic optical clarity across the entire field of view, and very little glare, but in the next sentence dismissing those absolute fundamentals as (paraphrasing): “nice, but meh”, and soon thereafter being up in arms over what colour the casing of the new Pimax HMDs are, it seems very obvious that you and I have extremely different priorities. :7
Sorry, i did not check for this, i don’t know how i even could due to different lighting conditions from home and no direct comparison.
Also, in ED i concentrated more on the ui than the background.
I can only say, that i did not notice any washed out colours or grey blacks.
But i noticed less light glowing over other pixels due to the lenses, i don’t know a technical term for that.
So the image was both sharper and clearer than my 8K.
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I have read much! much!! MUCH!!!
I am trying to understand your point here but am failing to see it.
I hate the blue casing. How is that relevant to Xtal having annoying black borders (meaning smaller vertical and horizontal fov)?
Just another brick in the wall. 
We apparently want very different things out of our VR devices, and the colour of them is an example of something that is 100% immaterial to me, whereas the quality of the view is everything, so I’m hoping to hear some evaluations/opinions from people who share my idea of what is important and what is not. :7
I did not mention the matter of the XTal apparently having a small FOV, which is always a bummer; I mentioned the matter of optical clarity and little glare, which are two huuuge issues for me, but apparently something you can readily do without. (EDIT: …and the XTal product itself is only tangentially relevant here – it’s a about of which balance of tradeoffs each individual finds acceptable… and neither is it to say that the two aforementioned qualities would in any way have to mean a FOV tradeoff.)
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I see. Well let me explain where I am coming from: price. I only dismissed the Xtal in favor of the new Pimax 8KX because of price. Clarity is certainly most important. And if you need it, pull out your wallet.
All lens problems and distortion errors of the Pimax headsets are already known and won’t change, and that’s the trade off you will make for better price than the Xtal or other wide fov headsets.
The argument that the outer casing is irrelevant because you put it on and look through the inside is a bit lame. Of course it is. You could just blend your food too because you’ll just chew it and it’s all about the taste and nutricional value, right?
Let’s just say my girlfriend is sweet and interesting AND looks good. But it’s the inside that counts for sure.
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That XTAL video is very poor. The 8K can be quite sharp on objects when you face plant the item in the virtual world. It is when you pull back and add distance that there start to be issues and then looking at objects over kms of virtual world distance - then things are a mess.
XTAL seems only concerned with close up views of the cockpit but on the few frames where they show distant world background, you can notice it is not clear and it is quite aliased. Even looking at guages and text in cocpit but in normal seated head position of the pilot - the cockpit will not be that great.
Don’t get sucked in to the face planting of gauges and text plates = clarity in the VR world.
This is why I believe the 8K-X is the only option for simmers as there will be the high native res to backup the detail needed to be seen at distance to be effective. Now the 8K can look impressive in DCS, hell knows I have been looking and testing it recently enough, but again, you have to ramp up the per eye Render Target Resolution and use FFR to keep the frame rate reasonable.
Dial in Nevada Testing Range and fly over Las Vegas with the 8K with LArge FOV and a render target of horizontal of 5 to 6k per eye with FFR on Aggressive. That is what I’m talking about - detail at distance. Hopefully we will not to drive the 8K-X as hard for detail clarity on distant objects as we are not fighting the upscaler and the inferior panel compared to the 8K.
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I know the xtal video is very poor.
This comment was a surprise
Pimax is disappeared, i am encouraging the debate
Yes, it is.
Dont get me wrong guys. The 8K Plus is definitely a great device, no doubts. I would say 95% of all visitors on VR Days and VR Berlin was happily surprised by the SDE, image quality, readibility and FOV of course.
And while some of you might think the step from 5K+ to 8K was bigger, I cant really agree there. The difference between 8K+ and 8KX is bigger than you might think. Theres just something with the sharpness and lovely clarity of the 8KX that makes it almost perfect. Sure the SDE is the same on both, but the level of detail - especially on small objects, text, menus and of course on far distance - is just way higher and in its own class, which the XTAL cant fight at thus point.
FYI, we had Marek (XTAL founder) at our booth the day before VR Days started, and he tried 8KX. He admitted he was very impressed.
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Ah yes - that big bastard. :7
Maybe so… This is where subjectivity comes into the picture - If I cared that much about the aesthetics, I would have opted out of Pimax in the first place, on account of the tacky light-up chevron thing. :7
Not caring being “lame” is one opinion. Mine is finding the whole debate rather Golgafrincham ark B-esque, although, granted, we are in no way bikeshedding here.
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Regarding the 8KX, Ive got fresh information that there final version is getting a new and improved PCB the upcoming week(s), including a new and re-designed 5m cable, which eliminates the previous problems we have seen on random occasions during this EU trip.
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Not confirmed yet, but I doubt 10m will work. Maybe 2 or 3m extra (6 or 7m in total). The tests I made in the past (before EU trip) showed 2m extension didnt work using DSC mode (no scaler). I have not tried extensions with scaler mode, as I dont have an extension with me on the trip. I might try it on VR Space, if they have any extension.
As I mentioned before though, the cable(s) we are using for the X during this trip are not final versions.
@michaelnyden
Im since recently the European Marketing Director of Pimax. Im not a sales guy and I dont do sales or get commision. Theres nothing in my title or job description that affects my personal opinion on each headset.
From my own VR enthusiastic perspective, the 8KX is just outstanding. Sharpness is really on its own level compared to 8K+, because… native is native. You cant argue. You see it straight away. Anyone does. Unless you have a bad vision or bad glasses of course. Im 37 now and Im lucky still having 20/20 vision. Even the optician was impressed during my last visit. Im bald but maybe not THAT old yet 
Anyway… Its really interesting to watch and hear people trying the 8K+ and the 8KX right after:
Trying 8K+:
- “Oh wow this looks great. No SDE anymore and really looking great and detailed!”
Trying 8KX:
- “Hahaha ok, now we are talking. Yep, this is it. Holy sh_t its sharp, now I can even read this!”
The more you use it, in difference scenarios and games, the more you see it.
Regarding FS2: Indeed, we only used standard scenery, flying around California having most on ULTRA or HIGH except shadows which were MEDIUM I think. In-game SS at 1.0 and 1.1 in some cases. I will try some better scenery later, hopefully for VR Space. I have to admit I dont fly much FS2, as I cant find it realistic, but its indeed the best looking flight sim in VR so far.
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Hi Martin, could you tell me why the scenery in FS2 was looking so basic? I really felt all quality options were dialed down to the minimum and my hunch is that it’s due to the high demand of the 8KX headset. Would that be a correct assumption?