Thank you for taking the time to review this!
What planes do you fly in DCS and what FOV setting do you use with it?
And do you notice any distortions? There have been a lot of different opinions on distortions so far and the key factor seems to be eye relief which people tweak by exchanging the face cushions.
Thanks for the review.
Disable the Pimax USB audio device in windows. Then the Pimax volume control will work as Windows volume control (at least in 5K+).
Iām using Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro and Sound Blaster Z.
Have you tried wear your DT 1770 first on your head and then HMD ?
Thanks for a very well written and in-depth review.
I hope you can answer some of Fabrizioās questions.
Also, with regard to No Manās Sky and Elite Dangerous, how did the FOV+clarity impact that experience, and how did both games fare in terms of performance FPS / stuttering?
I agree for the most part and all of this is highly subjective of course. I personally never had a problem with long gaming sessions using the Index. I would agree the 8KX is probably more comfortable overall, but it is definitely heavier and doesnāt āhugā or āfitā my head quite as well as the Index. I also noticed a lot of people complained about the weight and balance of the Index and I figured the responsible thing to do was prepare folks for the extra weight of the 8KX, especially the front weight.
You are very welcome, mhe!
I initially had issues with a very small sweet spot and lots of distortion around the edges, but others smartly pointed out this was due to the uber-thick face cushion. I removed the face cushion completely to test this theory and Iām happy to report they were 100% correct. A thinner cushion should indeed eliminate 95% of the distortion.
Howeverā¦
I still see a some slight blurring around the edges (top, bottom, left, and right) that isnāt there when I look closer to the center of the lenses. Itās slight, but itās definitely there. It is especially noticeable when reading text at the edge of the lenses. I suppose this is to be expected due to the way the VR lenses are manufactured and the nature of lenses in general, but I still think itās something people should be aware of. This also makes me wonder if eye tracking is really going to be worth it and do what Pimax and the module designers intend it to do. I guess weāll seeā¦
I use the āLargeā FOV setting for DCS in Pitool along with Render quality set to ā2ā and GPU Catalyst set to ā10.00.ā This headset was really made for DCS. So much better than my Indexā¦ I fly the F/A 18-C Hornet and the M-2000C mostly (Iām particularly fond of the M-2000C for some reason), but the Viggen is really starting to grow on me:-) How about you? What do you like fly?
Thanks for letting me know! Spot on!!!
Would you happen to have a link to the video? It looks pretty straight forward and easy (the hardest part seems to be finding a screw driver small enough), I just want to make sure I donāt screw it up.
Fabrizio, Iāll check and test all of the things you requested! Give me a few days and Iāll report back!
Youāre quite welcome, Shigawire! Iām going to check and hopefully answer all of Fabrizioās questions. Stay tuned!
The FOV and clarity in Elite Dangerous is crazy good! I originally planned to take a Type-10 to Sag A (because the T-9 and T-10 have the best cockpit view in the game in my humble opinion), but I donāt think Iād make it. The increased FOV and clarity with this headset makes system jumping even more terrifying than it already is and Iām quite certain Iād $hit myself before I ever got there:-) ED is already an assault on your senses in VR as it is and the extra clarity and FOV just make it that much better (or worse depending on your perspective). The settings are a bit finicky though. I had to play with a bunch of stuff in Pitool, Steam VR, and ED settings to get it working properly. The frame rates are OK, but I still notice a small bit of stuttering every now and then. Itās nothing too bad though and I probably just need to play with the settings a bit more to get it fully dialed in.
As for No Manās Sky, I havenāt been able to get it set up properly and it stutters and clips all over the place. Iāll play with the settings a bit more and report back!
Worked like a charm! Appreciate the assistance!
Disregard my first reply. PimaxUSA chimed in and let me know there is a screw on the rig that will allow you to remove the built-in speaker. Trying to source instructions as we speak. Sounds pretty easy though. Seems like youāll be able to use your external headphones without any compromises!
I have indeed, but they donāt fit under the rig. Thankfully, PimaxUSA chimed in and informed me the built-in speakers are removable via a small screw, so it shouldnāt be an issue anymore!
Have you ever experienced MURA on 8KX panels?
There is no denying the 8kx is good and well built. Its pimax as a company thats the problem. Terrible PR and terrible support. The entire company is in china. Everything must go and come from the main facility. Customer Service barely understands English. That my biggest problem with pimax HORRIBLE SUPPORT.
So the key here seems to be to have a very well tuned in face cushion. Thankfully my missus is good with a sewing machine, so Iād give that job to her! 
Given the huge FOV, a bit of blurring around the edges wouldnāt really bother me, Iād wager by the time your eye gets there, youād be way outside the visible area of something like an Index anyway? Peripheral vision in flying is not so much about precision, but more like a subconscious boost to situational awareness, for example it helps with formation flying and landings a lot.
I also fly mostly the Hornet, but have spent a lot of hours on the Hog and have recently grown quite fond of the Viper and Jeff (JF-17). I will probably build myself a collective for the Kiowa and get a little bit into choppers, we will see. Helos are impossible to fly for me with a throttle, messes up my muscle memory.
Can you read the color MFCD with the map opened on the Hornet properly without having to zoom in? Because that is where the Index for example fails already.
Itās definitely not āthe nature of lenses in generalā. This is typical for Pimax lenses. For example StarVR managed to make lenses with even more FoV, no distortion at all and no blur, over the whole FoV
Whatās mind boggling to me is that the creator of StarVR came to this website, and seemed open to help Pimax create better lenses but there was no interest from Pimax. So weāre stuck with these lenses it seems.
Very interesting. Thank you for your continued engagement in this thread. 
Hopefully the new Pimax Experience utility will help with letting people get the game settings ājust rightā in the near future.
I hope NMS will work without too much fuss.
We would have been stuck with these lenses anyway, thereās no way Pimax would have tooled and prototyped new lenses in time for the 8KX. Then thereās new distortion profiles, and new housing components to fit them etc. Iām sure somewhere in the back of Pimaxās collective mind there is some notion that the current lens design is a dead end, but I doubt we will see redesign until their next flagship which could be a couple years away.
For now we will have incremental improvements on the distortion profile, which I donāt think can get substantially better without DDC. Pupil swim and eye depth alone will put a soft cap how good things can look. Not to mention IPD which causes a struggle on both the high and low end to achieve a good looking picture (if consumer reviews are to be believed).
According to Sebastianās video, StarVR designed the lenses for their headset AFTER they designed the display. So the custom made lenses are optimized for their headset. Pimax would need to start making custom made fresnel lenses for their headsets.
What I found interesting about StarVR lenses is the form factor and how compact they designed it and still lightweight. When I observe the lenses, they look complex. Like there are different layers of lenses and what I thought looked like a scratch was actually reflections from one of the layers. Anyway, Iām looking forward to trying the 8KX when it arrives and doing a comparison.
As far as I understood, the lenses of the StarVR are not classic fresnel, but rather are made like 2 fresnel lenses side by side per eye, hence the HMD requiring 4 viewports to render?
Since you can only get so far with FOV when rendering a viewport, it makes sense to piece together an image from multple viewports as the distortion in the composite image will be FAR less.