I received my 8K X unit about 3 weeks ago but have not gotten the chance to try it until this week.
Packaging and Aesthetics: Is nice, better than the 5k BE/XR unit I own. Personally like the XR aesthetics more but that is irrelevant to performance. The light bar is now metallic which honestly looks tacky
Connectivity: Since I own the XR unit I knew what to expect from the 8K X. It was straight forward, except that the default resolution was too low and I needed to modify the VRsetting document within SteamVR. Not needing to plug an AC is handy, good choice.
IPD: I read many people having issues with the IPD. I personally did not have any issues. Did have more problems with the XR at the early stages. So from my end, it was fine by this point
Peripheral Distortion: Objectively is better than the XR. I am sensitive to distortion and it has been improved on the 8K X. There is distortion but is very minimal. But you will notice optic/lens degradation at the edges. Probably poor quality lenses like all pimaxes (personal opinion)
Weight: I find the headset to be heavier that expected. The head strap is fine, but I would not call it comfortable. I find the rear of my head to be constraint with the thick padding limiting movement somewhat.
Cable Length: It is rather short, I wish it was longer
Head strap Speaker: Volume is too low, not really usable
OK, now I will share my views on the visuals
Resolution: It is sharper than all of the units I own…but I did not get the Wow factor I’d hoped for. There still perceivable screen door, but is more like a fine texture. Is quite good. Details are nice. I think the lack of wow was related to muted colors and poor blacks!
Image focus and Clarity: This can be a subject of contention. I find the clarity of the image good but is not best in class. I tried the Index and the Samsung Odyssey to compare. Both of those units have superior clarity, not to be confused by image sharpness. The 8K X can resolve more detail than the other headsets, but the clarity may be slightly hinder by my naturally small IPD (59-60). This is similar problem to the StarVR One but to much lesser degree.
Essentially the center of my eyes are never centered at the optimal clarity of the lenses, instead closer to the inner side of the lens closer to the nose. The problem is, that the lens is not as sharp on that region. When my eyes converge the image is not quite as sharp as the center of the lens. Note: I still get plenty sharp image, but not to the degree of clarity you get from the Index lenses
Although, the Index doesn’t have the pixel density of the 8K X the clarity is more comfortable on the eyes than the 8K X. I have though of a few reasons why the is sub optimal clarity. One is the angling of the display while not matching the lens and software optimally. Software can do you so much, the hardware must lay a hand also. My theory is that custom lens will have to design to achieve the same level of clarity as the none wide FOV headsets. I will have to test the new Xtal to know if this lingering issue was solved with their unit. I think they do invest in better displays and lenses than Pimax (can not conform this).
Colors: I am not going to lie, but I was and to a degree still somewhat disappointed with the colors of the unit. I was lucky that I installed the latest Firmware update that enabled the Backlight option which did help right away. I tried posted suggestion settings from other users from threads, but honestly they made the image worse. The culprit is the black values. The best way to describe it is, the colors feel like 2 generations of bootleg VHS colors. When using the brightness even mildly, crushes black detail. The only way to balance it is by lowering the contrast, but then everything feels dark. After a while I disregarded everyone’s suggestions and the best results have been brightness (0), contrast either +1 or +2. Backlight either 90 or 100. This if the only way where I can get an image is not dark, while improving image clarity.
The display also feels devoid from color, adding a color tab can help in this regard. Not sure what can be done on the blacks. It could be poor Dynamic Range values, Gamma, color temperature…not sure what is the issue.
Theory is that the panels are probably of not great quality. Just my thought, I am sure some others have greater insight as to what is wrong with the display colors.
It doesn’t help when switching to a an Oled display, even on smaller FOV Hmd, the color can Wow you. I am convinced that Pimax should go the way of a high resolution RGB Oled. These RGB LCD’s just aren’t ideal for great color reproduction.
Performance: There is fiddling required to get the most out of it, the usual Pimax. Using a RTX 2080 TI, I can get performance issues and stutter from time to time. Required trial and error to get the best image and smooth framerate
Tried Robot Recall: It looked fine, but far away detail still feel little jagged. The framerate did hurt on this title, and required quite a bit of tweaking. That is a title that can really test the display pixel density because there is a lot of objects on an wide open area. While the resolution is great on the 8K X, the brightness, color, clarity made it feel better on the Samsung Odyssey.
Star Wars Vader Immortal looked very good with the new enhanced resolution, again the blacks hurt it, but in brighter games the resolution can be very good.
Overall my thoughts are the following.
It is a pretty nice headset with flaws. If you are playing games that aren’t on dark environment’s and wishes a wide FOV it doesn’t get any better than 8k X.
If you want immersion from dark games, regardless of how good the resolution is, I wouldn’t recommend the 8K X. The blacks are really not good. You can get by with them as your brain adapts to them but a level of immersion will be lost. I would either get the XR unit or play with a Vive Pro instead, for dark games.