PC VR News & Reviews

Shiftall unveiled its next PC VR headset, the MeganeX “8K” Mark II, which is slated to ship in December for $1,900.

The News

Japan-based Shiftall announced MeganeX “8K” Mark II, the follow-up to its thin and light PC VR headset originally launched late last year, the MeganeX superlight “8K”.

The new version is essentially a hardware refresh with only a few notable changes, which mostly aim to improve comfort, durability, and system internals.

The headset contains the same 3,552 × 3,840 per-eye micro-OLEDs, supporting up to 90 Hz refresh, and the same SteamVR tracking standard, which requires the user to buy SteamVR 1.0/2.0 base stations separately.

Here’s a breakdown of all of the changes announced by Shiftall:

• New chip: The CPU and operating system (OS) have been upgraded, and the firmware has been newly developed, reducing the startup time to less than one-fifth of the previous model. Connection stability with PCs and SteamVR has been improved, and the firmware update process has been improved for greater reliability.
• New Pancake lenses: Shiftall says they’re newly designed by Panasonic Group.
• Redesigned USB-C cable connection: previously located on the top of the headset, the USB-C port has been moved to the front and structurally reinforced for improved durability. A specially developed intermediate USB cable enhances connection stability and prevents issues caused by wear or accidental disconnection.
• Refined nose gap: Sharp plastic edges no longer come into contact with ‘Western’ nose shapes. The material and shape around the nose area have been improved for greater comfort.
• New Strap material: A new strap material has been adopted, and includes better durability of the hook-and-loop fastener.

Estimated to start shipping in late December, MeganeX Mark II is now available for pre-order.

The headset (SteamVR base stations not included) is priced at $1,900 in the US (excluding import duty), €1,900 in Europe (VAT included), £1,600 in the UK (VAT included), and ₩2,499,000 in South Korea (VAT included).

Specs

Feature	MeganeX Superlight “8K”	MeganeX “8K” Mark II
Display	3,552 × 3,840 (micro-OLED, 10-bit HDR)	3,552 × 3,840 (micro-OLED, 10-bit HDR)
Refresh rates	90 Hz (support for 75 Hz / 72 Hz)	90 Hz (support for 75 Hz / 72 Hz)
Lens type	Pancake lenses (Panasonic group)	Pancake lenses (newly designed from Panasonic)
Weight (main body)	< 185 g	179 g
IPD & focus adjustment	Electric IPD 58–72 mm; diopter adjust 0D to –7D	Electric IPD 58–72 mm; diopter adjust 0D to –7D
Connectivity / tracking ecosystem	DisplayPort + USB 2.0, SteamVR tracking (base stations required)	DisplayPort + USB 2.0, SteamVR tracking (base stations required)

My Take

You may have noticed I’ve put “8K” in quotes throughout this announcement. That’s to indicate that headset doesn’t actually provide 8K per-eye displays.

While companies like Shiftall and Pimax typically err on the side of the biggest number, I see this as more of a marketing device than a true reflection of what the end user actually sees. Because it’s using dual 3,552 × 3,840 micro-OLEDs, the user doesn’t actually perceive an 8K image. By that maxim, Quest 3 could be labeled with “4K”, owing to its dual 2,064 × 2,208 displays, and Oculus Rift CV1 could be labeled “2K” according to its dual 1,080 × 1,200 displays. Impressive sounding, but a bit misleading.

That said, Shiftall thinks resolution is a better catch-all for VR headsets, which I disagree with since its target audience will probably understand the nuances of displays and optics anyway.

“We have decided against publishing official FOV and PPD numbers,” Shiftall says, referring to the original MeganeX superlight “8K”. “If an industry-standard measurement method were established, such as the method used to calculate fuel consumption for automobiles, we would disclose our figures, but this is not the case in the current VR industry.”

Still, I suspect potential enterprise and prosumers looking to shell out $1,900 for a single headset—no controllers or base stations included—are already familiar with pixels per degree (PPD) and binocular overlap, which are more useful, albeit less flashy metrics. On that front, MeganeX “8K” Mark II is impressive. Its pancake lenses provide a reported ~100-degree horizontal FOV, which seems to deliver a near 100 percent binocular overlap.

Using the formula to get PPD (Horizontal Pixel Count ÷ Horizontal Field of View), it also tops the competition, coming out to around 35.5 PPD: larger than Pimax Dream Air ($2,000) at 35 PPD, and Bigscreen Beyond 2 ($1,020) at 32 PPD.

Whatever the case, I think its time to retire these sorts of resolution claims championed outside of the spec sheet, if only to lend more credibility to the company in question. And the same goes for the questionable Photoshop jobs too.

Pimax issued an update detailing its upcoming fleet of micro-OLED PC VR headsets, which also included info on a delay affecting its thin and light headsets, Dream Air and Dream Air SE.

The update, seen at the bottom of the article, details three products Pimax is preparing to ship:

• Dream Air – Thin and light PC VR headset containing Sony Micro OLED panels (3,840 × 3,552 pixels per eye) and concave-view pancake optics, delivering 110° horizontal FOV, eye-tracking, auto-IPD adjustment, spatial audio, and DisplayLink. 
• Dream Air SE – Lower resolution version of Dream Air containing Sony Micro OLED panels (2,560 × 2,560 pixels per eye) and all of the above.
• Crystal Super (Micro OLED Engine) – A new swappable optical module for Pimax’s flagship Crystal Super, serving up to 116° horizontal FOV with the same panels and lenses as Dream Air.

Pimax announced Dream Air last December, which was set to serve up competition to thin and light PC VR headsets like Bigscreen Beyond and Shiftall MaganeX Superlight 8K. While launch was initially planned for May 2025, the headset was subsequently delayed to Q3 2025.

Now, Pimax says both the SteamVR tracking versions of Dream Air and Dream Air SE, the latter of which was announced in May, are scheduled to ship sometime in December.

While the SteamVR tracking version (aka ‘Lighthouse’) are shipping this year, Pimax is offering SLAM versions of both headsets, which don’t require external base stations. The SLAM variants are said to start an “external beta test” in December—so no word on when those ship just yet.

As for Crystal Super’s new swappable micro-OLED optical module, a version of the headset containing the module will start shipping in October. There’s no mention of whether that also means prior Crystal Super owners will be able to purchase the module by itself in that time frame.

Check out all the specs, price and release date info Pimax announced during its big update below:

Note: Pimax breaks up its pricing structure with an upfront cost of around 60% of the final price. The remainder is paid as a software fee that gives users unlimited access to Pimax Play, which is offered in a 14-day trial. Pimax Play is required for the headset to work.

Pimax Dream Air Specs

• Display: Sony Micro-OLED screen (3840 × 3552 pixels per eye)
• Optics: 110-degree horizontal FOV with Pimax’s ConcaveView optics
• Weight: <170 grams>
• Features:
  • DFR-ready eye-tracking
  • Hand tracking
  • SLAM tracking or Lighthouse tracking
  • 6DOF controllers
  • Integrated spatial audio
  • Dual fan for proper cooling
  • Powered by Pimax Play
  • Split DisplayPort Cable
• Price: $1,999 for SteamVR tracking version (shipping in December), $2,299 for SLAM tracking version (beta testing in December)

Pimax Dream Air SE Specs

• Display: Sony Micro-OLED screen (2,560 × 2,560 pixels per eye)
• Optics: 105-degree horizontal FOV with Pimax’s ConcaveView optics
• Weight: <140 grams>
• Features:
  • DFR-ready eye-tracking
  • Hand tracking
  • SLAM tracking or Lighthouse tracking
  • 6DOF controllers
  • Integrated spatial audio
  • Dual fan for proper cooling
  • Powered by Pimax Play
  • Split DisplayPort Cable
• Price: $899 for SteamVR tracking version (shipping in December), $ 1,199 for SLAM tracking version (beta testing in December)

Crystal Super Micro-OLED Specs

• Display: Sony Micro-OLED screen (3840 × 3552 pixels per eye)
• Optics: 116-degree horizontal FOV with Pimax’s ConcaveView optics
• Weight: ?
• Features:
  • DFR-ready eye-tracking
  • Hand tracking
  • SLAM tracking (Lighthouse optional)
  • 6DOF controllers
  • Integrated spatial audio
  • Dual fan for proper cooling
  • Powered by Pimax Play
  • Split DisplayPort Cable
• Price: $2,199 for full headset & module (shipping in October)

Microsoft stopped supporting its WMR platform on Windows 11 last year, essentially putting an end to its first foray into PC VR headsets. However, an unofficial SteamVR driver called ‘Oasis’ aims to bridge the gap when it releases later this month.

According to Oasis creator Matthieu Bucchianeri, the driver’s tentative global release date is August 29th, which he notes is subject to Valve approving release on Steam.

Oasis is slated to bridge Windows Mixed Reality headset support to SteamVR, which would otherwise need Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Portal to function. This, Bucchianeri says in the project’s GitHub, will include support for full 6DoF tracking along with motion controllers.

As for broad GPU support, Oasis is unfortunately restricted to Nvidia GPUs due to the way SteamVR interfaces with the GPU drivers. Bucchianeri has been trying to gain AMD’s permission, although at this point, he says the effort is “dead in the water.”

Bucchianeri says in a Reddit post this essentially comes down to AMD either “ignor[ing] 3rd party usage flag when LiquidVR attempts to open the device [, or offering] a functional EDID override so we can mask off the flag ourselves.”

Last October, the company deprecated the WMR platform with the launch of Windows 11 24H2, essentially killing support for a fleet of partner PC VR headsets, which included devices from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung.

Notably, Bucchianeri worked as a software engineer on Microsoft’s mixed reality division. While he currently leads firmware efforts at the company’s Xbox Gaming Devices Ecosystem, Oasis is a personal project.

Bucchianeri notes it doesn’t breech any prior non-disclosure agreements, leverages SteamVR, and doesn’t borrow any Microsoft intellectual property.

Varjo announced that starting next year, it’s no longer supporting its fleet of third generation XR headsets, which includes XR-3, VR-3, and Varjo Aero.

As first spotted by XT Today, Varjo says it’s now “focusing our manufacturing efforts on the XR-4 Series headsets,” which released in late 2023.

The Finland-based company notes in a support FAQ that its companion software, Varjo Base, will receive software updates and bug fixes until the January 1st, 2026 cutoff date.

After its final update, the company says that owners of XR-3, VR-3, and Aero can still use older versions of the software, but this also includes the end of customer support, technical and developer assistance for those devices.

Released in 2021, Varjo’s third-gen headsets marked the company’s departure from solely focusing on enterprise headsets. While both its XR-3 and VR-3 were squarely targeted at businesses with cash to spare—priced at $5,495 and $3,195 respectively—which included an obligatory annual subscription fee, Aero was the company’s first to actively appeal to prosumers.

Released in late 2021, Aero was priced at $2,000, which included subscription-free compatibility with SteamVR via Varjo Base (i.e. you can’t just plug it in like Valve Index, Bigscreen Beyond 2, etc).

Although Aero was by far one of the most expensive prosumer PC VR headsets on offer at the time, it wasn’t for naught. In our deep dive review of Aero, Road to VR’s Ben Lang praised the headset’s “stunning clarity,” noting it was poised to be “a dream headset for VR simmers who aren’t afraid to trade cash for immersion.”

Notably, Varjo has been sold out of all third-gen headsets for at least over a year now, with the company additionally confirming production has been discontinued for these devices.

This leaves the Varjo’s main focus on its XR-4 Series headsets, which were released in late 2023, marking a return to its enterprise-only roots. Its fourth-gen series includes the standard XR‑4 ($5,990), XR‑4 Focal Edition ($9,990), and its military-compliant XR‑4 Secure Edition, which comes in three variants (~$18,00 – $32,000).

While previously launched without subscription-based access to Varjo Base, the company announced in March that some previously free software features would be paywalled behind a ‘Varjo Base Pro’ license, which includes more advanced mixed reality capabilities, expanded tracking support, programmatic controls, and multi-app functionality.

Bigscreen unveiled a new ‘VRChat Edition’ of its slim and light Beyond 2e PC VR headset, which the company says is specifically designed for die-hard users of VR’s most popular social platform.

Bigscreen began shipping the first production units of Beyond 2 late last month, which includes both the standard Beyond 2 and its eye-tracking enabled variant, Beyond 2e.

Now, the company announced it’s also launching an exclusive VRChat Edition of the Beyond 2e, slated to start shipping out sometime in September 2025.

As far as specs go, the VRChat Edition is virtually the same as the standard Beyond 2e, including it eye-tracking sensors, 2,560 × 2,560 micro-OLED displays, and 116° diagonal FOV, thanks to the inclusion of new pancake lenses—all of it weighing in at 107g.

Now available for pre-order for $1,269—just $50 more than the standard Beyond 2e—the upcoming VRChat Edition does however promise a few differences, notably including a translucent Atomic Purple shell and hand-drawn packaging artwork.

Note: you’ll need a VR-ready PC to run any of Bigscreen’s headsets, including the new Beyond 2e VRChat Edition, as well as SteamVR base stations, controllers, and optional trackers for body tracking in VRChat. Find out here if your PC is VR-ready.

Purchase also includes exclusive VRChat digital items, including VRChat stickers and badges for profiles. Bigscreen says more features are planned for the VRChat Edition in the future, which includes including “some rare giveaway drops.”

While orders are slated to start shipping in September, current preorder holders can actually request an upgrade to the VRChat Edition by contacting support (support@bigscreenvr.com).

In the meantime, you can check out a deep dive with Bigscreen founder and CEO Darshan Shankar and VRChat Head of Community Tupper in an hour-long discussion that touches on everything from the improvements in Bigscreen’s latest headset, to why eye-tracking is important in VRChat.

Bigscreen announced it’s officially begun shipping the first production units of Beyond 2, the company’s latest slim and light PC VR headset.

Following a recent production delay, the company says in a blogpost that Beyond 2 headsets are now shipping, noting that due to a backlog of pre-orders, fulfillment will continue through August and beyond.

Bigscreen says that new orders placed today are expected to ship between August and September, with the goal of clearing the backlog by late September and transitioning to near-immediate fulfillment.

This includes both versions currently on sale—Beyond 2 and Beyond 2e—the later of which includes eye-tracking. Beyond 2 is priced at $1,019 and Beyond 2e at $1,219, both of which can be purchased direct from Bigscreen.

And Beyond 2 has proven to be pretty popular with pre-order customers. The company said during its March pre-order launch that its first 24 hours of sales outsold the original Beyond by “more than the first four months”.

Additionally, Bigscreen now says that more units were sold in the first 11 days than all Beyond 1 units sold in its first year. This has prompted the company to expand manufacturing at its Los Angeles factory, as well as hire new technicians and customer support staff. Bigscreen says it’s additionally deployed engineers to overseas suppliers to supervise production.

As for its other products, the company says that orders with the optional Custom-Fit Cushions placed through May 7th will ship by mid-August, while Halo Mount orders will begin shipping in late September or October due to manufacturing delays.

What’s more, customers who ordered a Beyond 1 and haven’t received a unit yet will automatically be upgraded to Beyond 2, putting them first in line for shipments, which is expected to complete by July 25th, Bigscreen says.

Notably, the company assured customers back in April that its latest PC VR headset wouldn’t increase in price due to tariffs, which have been levied by the US government on many goods manufactured in China.

Microsoft pulled the plug on support for its entire WMR platform on Windows 11 last year, putting an official end to the company’s foray into PC VR headsets. Now, an unofficial SteamVR driver hopes to bring it back.

Microsoft deprecated the Mixed Reality Portal app, Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR, and Steam VR Beta when Windows 11 24H2 update rolled out last October, making a fleet of PC VR headsets from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung essentially expensive paperweights.

Granted, if you haven’t updated to Windows 11 24H2, or are still on Windows 10, Microsoft says you’ll be able to play SteamVR content through November 2026 before the plug is pulled for good. Still, that’s a bitter pill to swallow for users of WMR’s most modern headset, HP Reverb G2, which released less than five years ago.

Now, Reddit user ‘mbucchia’ claims an unofficial SteamVR driver is in the works, which aims to bring all WMR headsets back into the fold sometime this Fall. Below you can see the first HP Reverb (2019) in action:

Dubbed the ‘Oasis’ driver, mbucchia says the SteamVR driver “does not need the Mixed Reality Portal,” which was deprecated in Windows 11 24H2 last year alongside SteamVR beta support.

“This means it can work on Windows 11 24H2 and newer. It supports full 6DoF tracking along with motion controllers,” mbucchia says.

“As mentioned on another post, I don’t have all WMR headsets to test with. Though I can tell you that it [also] works on the original Acer AH100. It should in theory work on any brand/model,” mbucchia says.

Work on the driver is remaining behind closed doors, mbucchia says, noting that Oasis will be restricted to Nvidia GPUs due to the way SteamVR interfaces with the GPU drivers.

Most interesting of all, though, is Oasis isn’t being undertaken by just anyone. Mbucchia claims they are currently an employee at Microsoft who has previously worked in the company’s Mixed Reality division.

“I am bound by NDAs and other obligations. I want to be clear that I have taken much care to NOT BREACH any of these agreements while working on this project. In particular, I am leveraging SteamVR for a lot of heavy lifting and I am not borrowing any Microsoft intellectual property,” mbucchia says.

For these reasons, Oasis won’t feature a beta, or similar early access, before its release in Fall 2025. It also won’t be open source.

“Much of the code is the result of deep reverse-engineer. Reverse-engineering that if shared, could be construed as exposing internals of programs like SteamVR or the Nvidia GPU drivers,” mbucchia explains. “Not[e] that here again, I am NOT BREACHING any proprietary/intellectual property. Having respect for both Valve and Nvidia, I will not divulge any of the code that they do not consider public.”

Mbucchia says they’ll reveal more about the project in the Windows Mixed Reality subreddit leading up to its Fall 2025 release.

Pimax announced Dream Air last December, aiming to take on the emerging segment of compact high-end PC VR headsets, such as Bigscreen Beyond and Shiftall MaganeX Superlight 8K. And before the company has even released Dream Air, Pimax revealed it’s also producing a cheaper version: Dream Air SE.

Previously expected to release in May, the company announced during its Pimax Connect event that Dream Air has been delayed to August-September 2025, as the company says it’s waiting on high-end Sony micro-OLED panels, 3,840 × 3,552 per-eye.

“Sony’s micro-OLED panels are top-tier, also used by Apple and Google,” says Pimax European Marketing Director Martin Lammi. “They have an excellent quality consistency across all panels and their visual effect is better. This is because the brightness is higher and the pixels have a wider view angle or ‘chief ray angle’, up from 15 degrees to 20 degrees.”

Other updates to Dream Air include a more balanced split-cable design, which was revealed in March, as well as an optional flip-up style halo headstrap, and support for third-party head straps, such as HTC’s Deluxe Audio Strap.

In the meantime, Pimax revealed Dream Air SE, which includes many of the same features of Dream Air, including micro-OLED panels, integrated audio, self-adjusting strap, pancake lenses, hand-tracking, and Tobii eye-tracking. The standout difference though is Dream Air SE’s 2,560 × 2,560 resolution micro-OLEDs and lower price.

Dream Air SE starts at $899 for the Lighthouse version, appealing to those with existing SteamVR base stations and controllers. The SLAM version, priced at $1,199, includes controllers and inside-out tracking. You can find them both available for pre-order on Pimax’s website.

Like Pimax’s other headsets, users pay an upfront cost for the headset which comes with a 14-day trial period. Afterwards, if users want to keep the headset, they then pay a Pimax Prime software membership for continued access. Here’s how that breaks down:

• Dream Air SE – SLAM Version: $699 upfront + $500 Prime = $1,199 total
• Dream Air SE – Lighthouse Version (no controllers or basestation): $599 upfront + $300 Prime = $899 total

For comparison, Dream Air Lighthouse version starts at $1,899 ($1,199 upfront + $700 Prime), with the Dream Air SLAM version priced at $2,199 ($1,399 upfront + $800 Prime).

Check out the Pimax Connect announcement below:

Wide sweeping tariffs levied by US President Donald Trump have led to uncertainty in just how the XR hardware industry will react. Now, Bigscreen says its recently announced Beyond 2 PC VR headset will not see a price increase as a result.

Bigscreen released a statement on X wherein the company maintains its Beyond 2 headset, priced at $1,019, isn’t getting a price bump despite increased tariffs applied to many goods manufactured in China.

According to Bigscreen, the company sources Beyond 2 components and assemblies from a variety of regions, including China, Japan and Europe. While “significant final assembly and testing” take place at its Los Angeles-based factory, many of the most expensive components and assemblies are made outside the US, which have “dramatically increased […] costs.”

“We expect to absorb all costs of the tariffs, trade war, and supply chain disruptions. We will not be increasing prices in any form for the foreseeable future,” Bigscreen says. “Customers will not pay any further shipping fees, tariffs, import duties, taxes, or VAT,” the company adds, noting that the final checkout amount includes no hidden fees.

While the company says it “expected this may happen long before we announced Bigscreen Beyond 2,” the United States’ Harmonized Tariff Schedule is still evolving.

President Trump issued an executive order last week exempting many electronics, such as smartphones, monitors, and laptops, from the combined 145% reciprocal tariff rate.

Although not specifically named, VR headsets are expected benefit from the exemption, as UploadVR notes, however these devices will still be subject to a 20% tariff which was put in place in March 2025.

Prior to the exemption, Shanghai-based PC VR headset creator Pimax was the first to address tariffs with the announcement it would offload some of the pressure to its ‘Pimax Prime’ software subscription, keeping the final ‘all-in’ price of flagship Crystal Super at parity to the same ~$1,690 pre-tariff pricing, albeit with the inclusion of a $95 US-only surcharge.