The drivers aren’t the problem, the fact they are nowhere near your ears is.
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I don’t know. The standard version is not ideal but then it’s just the standard version. If you want better then: A. Use your own (which I will) or B. Buy the deluxe ad ons.
This will be ‘good enough’ for demoing or when you don’t have anything better to hand/want to get in quick.
It might end up being a weakness in the design. Maybe after trying to emulate the Index. But there are ready solutions and I’d far rather they directed engineering attention elsewhere, at least in the short term.
I was having the impression that we’d get the proper headphones version, like shown on the KS picture. 
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Long thread to read through…
Headphone drivers have advanced to the point that a company like Pimax only has to actually care about audio quality, and do a few frequency sweeps, before selecting a part number. I am confident they have put in the effort.
Doing a few frequency sweeps of my own at CES, the MAS seemed to have a relatively flat response, as would be found in a distinct category of better headphones on the market (ie. certain Skullcandy models). I announced as much to Discord at the time.
A much more interesting question than audio quality would be whether the ‘over-the-ears’ headphones can be quickly interchanged with the ‘open speakers’. I find both intriguing, and haven’t looked at the headset mechanics extensively enough.
Speaking for myself, I don’t much care about the headphones. If I don’t like them, I will just use something else.
I care much more about the MAS itself, which I found phenomenally quicker and more comfortable to put on, take off, and align optically. The headset also felt much better balanced than anything previous, rotating the force towards the top of my head, away from my nose/cheekbones, which I very much appreciated.
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@mirage335 Did you try a MAS without a comfort kit?
I’m in the position of choosing between a comfort kit and the deluxe MAS. That is why it’s important to me to know if the MAS or even the DMAS will provide good audio. As you said, if I’m not going to use either solution, I’d rather get the comfort kit.
The problem is nobody will have demoed the MAS until it’s shipped to backers and it’s too late to make any other choices.
No, IIRC, all the headsets I used with a MAS had the comfort kit. The headset I am using now has the comfort kit, and I use that with a certain fabric strap I have modified to pinch in more at the back.
I strongly recommend not using the comfort kit without the MAS.
Mechanically, the extra upper surface area of the comfort kit forces more pressure on my cheekbones, unless axis of force from the strap is also appropriately rotated downward.
Even if you are planning to use a different audio solution, the mechanical part of the MAS is valuable.
Now I find it odd in hindsight that Pimax sells the comfort kit without the MAS. This is not really a good idea on their part.
EDIT: Do keep in mind that I am speaking from personal experience. The headset will of course fit other people differently, and some changes may be made to final units.
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Thank you for clarifying your impressions. I think it highlights again how, to make informed decisions, we backers need more information. Timelines, designs, specifications… Interoperability…
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In the Kickstarter campaign a rigid headstrap with detachable headphones was promised to backers.
Is still what we will get?
Or is Pimax just breaking another promise in order to get more money from backers having to pay the “upgrade” to headphones (called “DAS”)?
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They update there items there is not the same headstrap anymore but no one complanes there. You get it for free, you did not pay anything extra for it.
The current MAS design looks a lot better and it certainly more flexible/configurable than the one in the kickstarter pictures. Also, I believe the above ear headphones are detachable.
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The stretchgoals as they were presented was a decision maker for many people to even back the whole project.
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So when you go shopping and do buy one get one free, do you really believe the 2nd one is free? 
Stretch goals are there to entice a purchase and some peoples decisions were based on that. So no the MAS is not actually free, it’s part of the package offered on backing (ie paying pimax a chunk of your money).
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That am not so sure about, can ofc only talk for my self but I did not buy for the streached goals, even tought they were “bad” for Pimax especaly the eyetracking.
Lol, saying they “should have” applies to most things about Pinax. Frankly, most of these problems are of their own making due to the extensive delay on everything. I don’t begrudge them the time it took for the headset, but the stretch goal delay, particularly on “simple” items like the fan or lens frame, while they have gone on to make multiple other headsets, was just bad. Personally I think that was the most disingenuous thing they have done.
When is the cutoff to decide whether to upgrade the headset to the on ear version? Have they said?
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Lucky for you then that Pimax are no longer honoring their promise of included eye tracking modules.
They screwed themselves by offering prices so good as to be deceptive, 100 dollars per controller, 75 dollars for base stations, those are Good-to-Ok prices for 2nd hand first gen Vive controllers and base station Today.
Index controllers go for 279/139,5 each and gen2 base stations go for 150 each.
Valve ended up not farming out manufacturing of base stations to third parties so they are in full control of pricing.
Index parity Swärd Sense controllers will never be developed/deliver for what they asked.
I think a large part of the reason Pimax went on to making such a plethora of HMD variants to sell to consumer before delivering to their backers is because they realized they f0rked up, ran out of funds and need to bring way more in before being anywhere close to able to deliver controllers.
They have said the Sword sensor ring design was changed but that wasnt what was seen the last time the controllers were shown, the sense/fingertrack/index parity variant is still vaporware and likely to remain so for a long time, maybe forever.
Splitting out promised features of the stretch goals and selling them separately as well as the “upgrades” are part of their plan to recoup losses.
The index controller/base station “upgrade”+shipping ends up costing pretty much exactly the same as just buying the index stuff from valve plus it has super nebulous/unreliable shipping times plus the liability of getting stuck with additional import duties on top, if bought from valve in your region the shipping is free and getting slapped with import duties isnt a thing.
Not that I have heard. But til the MAS itself is ready there is time to decide
With basestation Pimax tought they would be able to make them and pay Valve royaltis (or what its called) but Valve change there mind.
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As for the Mas, I don’t use the headphones on my Vive DAS as it is, so the standard DAS will be fine as it looks to be a good base platform. Will likely get the comfort kit since I haven’t anything else to spend that $100 5K+ coupon on, now that I have Index controls.
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Pre rendered picture of MAS prototype, really ?
Here are images extracted from the Pimax kickstarter video located at the very top of the kickstarter page:
This is not 3D rendering at all. The MAS with headphones has existed for real, and this design with headphones we see in this video promoting the KS campaign is precisely what Pimax was “promising” as a “free stretch goal”:
And now we even have the Pimax Artisan equipped with nice large headphones from the P4K:
But for backers Pimax has changed the initial KS promise and will only deliver “this” to backers who don’t accept to pay $135 on top of what they have already paid for the KS:
This is so cheap…
This is completely breaking the KS promise Pimax had made to all backers, and is obviously a way to save costs at backers expense.
Their goal is not even to compete with the index audio but to make it so undesirable that as many backers as possible will opt for paying again to get real headphones from the deluxe MAS.
I find this is not acceptable after the pictures and videos showing headphones for the free stretch goal rigid strap.
This is why I think Pimax should not refuse to propose an intermediate MAS solution, using affordable headphones like the ones shown in the KS promotional content at the time of taking backers money, and let backers who stayed with the “standard” MAS decide if they prefer to receive the open speakers or the intermediate headphones like originally planned.
Especially since Pimax has developped tons of new HMDs and accessories (and non-cracking housings they are also “so proud to promote now”, after denying it was a major problem with backers HMDs…), and now they tell us they have “no time and ressources” to develop just some simple plastic arms to attach simple headphones to an already existing Modular strap ? 
What a joke…
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The point was it was never a finalized design, and it was never seen working and could have been just a plastic model with no functionality.
And since pimaxusa has already said this is how the MAS will be and no resource to redesign it, I guess this probably won’t get a change.
The poll clearly shows there are mixed feelings on this, some are happy some not. While I understand your frustration but that certainly doesn’t represent all backers, such as me, who feels pimax has every right to design however they feel, as long a strap with audio is fulfilled.
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