There is a post here on the forum iirc ny @VR-TECH where he details side by side pics. StarVR One is okay but not what you would expect; especially when the previous model was 5k.
Here is 1 link with 2 pics.
https://community.openmr.ai/t/starvr-one-vs-pimax-8k-x-vs-others/28141/25?u=heliosurge
If that’s your frame of reference, then you’ll be fine. But being used to 2021 devices like the 8k-X and VR3, man there’s no way I could ever return to that blurry mess 
I have nothing against working hard and then playing hard. But you said it yourself, the price to value ratio is pretty poor for the Xtal 3. Vrgineers said most of that price is due to the enterprise focus and not the tech. We’re talking about a headset with the same resolution and FOV as a Pimax 8KX but distortion free. You based your purchase on one person’s short first impressions.
You haven’t even tried the Aero yet. I think your main complaint with the Xtal 3 will be the weight. The Aero is lighter.
Almost every headset will have trade-offs and the constant desire for more is never fully satisfied.
The more expensive a VR headset is, the harder it will be to resell, and as VR technology is moving like a rocket this year, the Xtal 3 is going to become obsolete quite quickly. That combined with the poor price to value ratio, will make this headset worth $2,000 in resale market.
Buying a $8900 headset is a huge risk if you don’t end up liking it. You could buy over 4 or 5 Next Gen VR headsets this year for that price.
Work smart, play smart 
I think the problem is there is still no distortion free highress headset yet…
Maybe in the future…We all hope this ofcourse…Maybe pimax will surprise us…But i have a hard feeling about this somehow…But i hope they will deliver…
There’s Pimax Reality 12K QLED which may be distortion free and have FOV that covers entire horizontal vision. We’ll see how that goes.
There’s also a wide FOV headset being developed called Hyper Vision:
https://www.hypervision.ai/
Although no release date for that one.
If XTAL can solve distortion, then I don’t think other companies are far behind on that.
Woah now that has eye strain written all over it for me , lol
Is it lcd or oled or? never heard off it yet…
Hard to say it almost sounds like there more developing the platform fir others to use there tech(license it). It could be hinting of things in motion to achieve reality maybe.
Update on the my XTAL 5K. I had eye strain with this headset just like I did with all the Pimax wide FOV headsets.
So per XTAL support, I modded my XTAL software with some experimental geometry calibration sliders. Funny thing is I believe it is the same as Pimax’s panel to lens offset software they came out with to help with their eye strain issue which didnt work for me. What it does is move the image vertically or horizontally in each eye independently from the actual lens.
So after a while getting it dialed in, this reduced my eye strain by about 50% but still not enough to justify keeping the headset. I really wanted this to work, the custom aspheric lenses, OLED panels, and XTAL’s panel utilization technique make for a beautiful image. Also the software interface was well laid out and easy to follow and make changes. The XTAL team was very efficient and attentive to any questions I had, another reason they are so expensive.
So I reluctantly just sent off an email to XTAL for an RMA. 
Just like @john2910 said above, the thing that attracts me most to the XTAL is the fact that everybody says it’s distortion free. I remember people hyping the xtal 5k and 8k, like Sweviver for example, but the biggest complaint always were eye strain and distortion. Supposedly that’s all fixed. I really enjoy the Varjo but the distortion is a huge downside for me.
Also it’s the first time I’ve heard @PimaxUSA speak positively about another headset out there, so that must mean something too haha I remember he didn’t like the 5k (or was it the 8k).
And yes, of course I’m fully aware it’s going to be hard to resell at a good price. Just like buying an expensive car, the moment you drive the car outside the dealer, you’ve lost (tens of) thousands of dollars. Same with the XTAL. But I’m ok with that. Now I’m just hoping it’s as good as people say it is!
Which Varjo, the Aero?
The VR3 and the aero share the same lenses and same distortion algo.
Some reviewers say they dont see the distortion, maybe the difference in heads, eye placement or just ones opinion, not saying you didnt see it. I noticed it in the Pimax
Yeah just as with Pimax, it seems to be highly personal as to which extend someone is bothered by distortion. The StarVR was totally distortion free over the whole Fov which just felt amazing. So I’m really looking forward to that again.
I remember reading about the Star VR but forgot all the details. Do you still have it?
No I had to sell it. It doesn’t come with a hardware IPD mechanism and only seems to work well for people close to IPD 64 (mine is 70). So I had huge eyestrain after 15 minutes of using it. Also the resolution felt pretty much like CV1 (slightly better maybe), which just didn’t age well and in 2022 I’m not going back to that 
Well Im really hoping the XTAL 3 works for you and they figured out a fix for the eye strain. Im pretty sure they are aware of the issue after speaking with their support team
Yeah people say it’s fixed now with their new lens technology. We’ll see!
Does this use a graphic to achieve convergence?
Sorry to hear it hasn’t worked out.
Yea I was pretty bummed. Graphic? Well I downloaded a file from XTAL, copied it in the XTAL folder that was the setting software for the HMD, similar to Pimax’s Pitool. This added a new setting in their software to allow the new Horizontal and Vertical offset