PC VR News & Reviews

Varjo Launches ‘Teleport’ Service to Easily Scan Real Places and Bring Them into VR

November 25, 2024 From roadtovr

Varjo, the high-end XR headset creator, today announced the release of a new smartphone-based 3D scanning service for enterprise that promises to let users quickly build photorealistic environments and explore them in both VR and on traditional screens.

Called Teleport, the paid app allows users to capture and recreate real-world locations, something the Finland-based company says takes just 5–10 minutes, which is notably faster than traditional photogrammetry methods.

Supported capture devices include iPhones and iPads running iOS 17 or later, which includes a fairly large swath of hardware—from iPhone XR and above, and Apple’s 8th gen iPad and above.

The resultant “digital twins” can be accessed on phones, PCs, or explored with either Varjo’s XR headsets or other major PC VR headsets, the company says.

Powered by advances in Gaussian Splatting and NVIDIA GPU-trained generative models, Teleport’s 3D models are processed in the cloud and then rendered on-device, which means an Internet connection is only required to initially download the model, but not explore it.

Priced at $30 per month, Varjo is currently offering a seven-day free trial of Teleport. Signing up also allows users to view a host of captures for free in standard and high-definition via its web viewer, as well as the highest-level quality captures via its desktop client.

The launch of Teleport comes alongside an expansion of Varjo’s Series D funding round, bringing in new investors such as Beyond Capital, Nishikawa Communications, and NVIDIA. Varjo hasn’t disclosed to amount of its latest funding raise, however the company tells Road to VR this brings its lifetime funding to approximately €180 million ($188 million USD).

The company says funding will support its efforts to accelerate adoption of its XR hardware and software solutions for industrial applications, with CEO Timo Toikkanen noting Varjo will leverage AI and machine learning to further integrate real and virtual environments, enhancing productivity and efficiency for its industrial clients.

Meanwhile, Meta is working on a similar consumer-facing product, which was announced in September, called Horizon Hyperscape. Released as a demo experience to showcase Meta’s vision for photorealism, Meta says that at some point creators will also be able to “build worlds within Horizon by using a phone to scan a room and then recreate it,” although there’s no word on when we can expect the company to roll out the service.

Roguelite VR Shooter ‘The Light Brigade’ Gets New Class and Weapon in Latest Update

November 14, 2024 From roadtovr

Funktronic Labs, the studio behind roguelite shooter The Light Brigade (2023), just dropped a major content update that brings a new playable character, new ability, and a new procedurally generated region.

Called the ‘Phantom of Time’, the free update introduces the ‘Saboteur’, a revolver-wielding gunslinger who comes part and parcel with a new ability, called the ‘Timepiece’.

The new ability lets you cloak yourself and deploy a ‘deadringer’ copy, letting you make a swift escape, or tactical move to outmaneuver your enemy. Check it out in action in the trailer below:

A new region, called ‘Memorial Grounds’, is here too, bringing a new procedurally generated, war-torn crypt that the studio says was “once a resting place for honored soldiers, now reduced to ruins by endless battle. Uncover secrets buried in the chaos.”

Initially released in February 2023, we were mightily impressed with The Light Brigade, giving it a solid [8.5/10] in our full review thanks to its clever upgrade system and engaging WWII-era weapons.

The free update is available starting today across all supported platforms, including PSVR 2, SteamVR headsets, and Quest 2 and up, where you’ll find it priced between $25 and $17.50 depending on platform-specific sales.

Hands-on: Shiftall MeganeX Superlight Packs a Wishlist of Ergonomics Into a Tiny Package

November 1, 2024 From roadtovr

Japan-based Shiftall is the latest company making an effort to deliver an ultra-compact VR headset for enthusiasts who are willing to spend big on maximizing their PC VR experience. Despite the tiny package, the MeganeX Superlight headset still manages to deliver the optical adjustments that should be standard for every headset. Though undoubtedly expensive, the headset overall is promising, provided the company can finalize a few tweaks before crossing the finish line.

Available for pre-order in Japan, United States, EU & UK, the $1,900 MeganeX Superlight from Shiftall is purportedly set to start shipping between February and March of next year. You can check out the full breakdown of specs here.

This is a tethered headset designed for the SteamVR ecosystem. Shiftall is selling the headset by itself, which means you’ll need to bring your own SteamVR Tracking beacons and controllers—or drop another $580 to buy them new.

This week I got to check out a prototype version of the MeganeX Superlight headset and found it to be a promising piece of hardware that’s certain to be held back by its steep price.

Shiftall CEO Takuma Iwasa told me the headset is primarily targeted toward hardcore VR users, especially those spending long stretches in VRChat. Considering his own claim of more than 3,000 hours in VRChat, it’s clear he has a real understanding of the needs of this kind of customer.

That’s what led the company to try building a compact PC VR headset: Iwasa wants to deliver something that’s lightweight and comfortable for long sessions.

A big part of a VR headset being comfortable is about being able to adjust it to fit each individual. Getting the headset’s lenses into the ideal position for your eyes is crucial to maximizing visual quality and comfort.

To that end, I was happy to see the MeganeX Superlight includes a list of optical adjustments that I’ve long wished was standard on every headset: IPD, eye-relief, diopter, a flip-up visor, and even a lens angle adjustment.

IPD (or interpupillary distance) is standard on most headsets, it’s the distance between the lenses. Matching the distance between the lenses to the distance between your eyes is important to making it easy for your eyes to fuse the stereoscopic image, and for getting your eyes into the ‘sweet spot’ of the lens (the optical center, where the lens has the greatest).

On the MeganeX Superlight, IPD is set by entering your IPD measurement into the software on your computer, causing the headset’s motorized lenses to move into the desired position.

Eye-relief is less common to find on VR headsets. This is the distance from the lens to your eye. Not only is this important for maximizing field-of-view, it’s also important for dialing in the ‘sweet spot’ of the lens. That’s because the sweet spot isn’t just a plane, it’s a volume (technically speaking, this is often called the ‘eye-box’).

On the MeganeX Superlight, the mount which connects the headset itself to the headstrap makes it easy to adjust eye-relief by pinching a pair of pads which allows you to freely slide the headset closer or farther away from your eyes.

Diopter is even rarer than eye-relief. This setting changes the focus of the lens to account for a person’s vision correction needs. Rather than wearing glasses, users can dial in their diopter to enjoy a sharp view.

On Shiftall’s headset, there’s a small dial near the side of each lens which is used to adjust the diopter for each eye. Although this is a manual process (ie: you can’t just enter a value and have the headset set it automatically), Shiftall tells me that part of the headset’s setup process will include a calibration screen to make this process easier.

While a growing number of headsets include decent passthrough views via external cameras, if the goal is to simply look outside of your headset, it’s hard to beat your very own eyes. To that end the MeganeX Superlight has a little plunger on the headstrap mount that makes it quick and easy to flip up the visor for a glimpse of the outside world, and to flip it back down when you’re done.

And last but not least—something I’ve seen on only one other company’s headsets—is an independent lens angle adjustment.

Many VR headsets have a pivot at the point where their headstrap connects to the headset, but the angle is entirely at the mercy of how the facepad rests on the user’s face.

On the other hand, because the MeganeX Superlight headset essentially hangs down from your forehead, a small dial on the side of the mount allows you to independently adjust the angle of the headset (and thus the lenses) regardless of how the headstrap is resting on your head.

Taken all together, these adjustments make it easier for a wider range of people to get the best and most comfortable visual experience from the headset.

And if you’re planning to pay nearly $2,000 for a headset that’s not only compact, but also includes a whopping 13.6MP (3,552 × 3,840) micro-OLED display per-eye, you’re definitely going to want it to have the adjustments necessary to give you the best visuals it can.

The MeganeX Superlight’s displays are incredibly crisp, to the point that there’s simply no visible pixels, sub-pixels, or even a hint of screen-door effect that I could see in my time with the headset. The virtual world not only looks completely sharp and solid thanks to all of those pixels, it also looks very vivid thanks to the rich colors and deep blacks shown by the 10-bit display.

While I need more time with the headset to be sure, my initial impression from memory was that the MeganeX Superlight felt like it had a slightly larger field-of-view, slightly larger sweet spot, and less glare compared to Bigscreen Beyond (its nearest competitor).

From a resolution standpoint, there’s so few examples of VR content that actually have the underlying graphical fidelity to show a meaningful difference—between Bigscreen Beyond’s impressive 6.5MP (2,560 × 2,560) per-eye resolution and the MeganeX Superlight’s even more impressive 13.6MP (3,552 × 3,840) per-eye resolution—that the improvement wasn’t obviously noticeable.

But it stands to reason that the MeganeX Superlight should be the superior headset in cases where high resolving power is most important, like in flight simulators where long sightlines to distant objects are common, and for virtual desktops where resolving fine text is crucial. I’m especially interested to try the MeganeX Superlight for the latter.

While greater resolving power is always a plus, there’s no question that if you want to run VR content anywhere near the headset’s native resolution, you’re going to need to pair it with top-tier PC.

At the headset’s native 13.6MP per-eye resolution and 90Hz refresh rate, your computer will need to pump out an absurd 2.5 gigapixels per second (assuming naive stereoscopic rendering). [Note: Shiftall says the MeganeX Superlight only works with modern NVIDIA GPUs. AMD is not supported at present.]

If you don’t already have (or aren’t planning to buy) an NVIDIA 3080, 4080, or better, it’s hard to make a case for paying $1,900 for the extra pixels on MeganeX Superlight over the $1,000 Bigscreen Beyond (assuming both headsets were otherwise equal).

While I was impressed with the array of optical adjustments, stunning resolution, and vibrant colors of the MeganeX Superlight, I have the same reservation about the headset that I did with Bigscreen Beyond: the lack of built-in audio is a big oversight. I understand that there’s some people out there who are happy to deal with putting on their own headphones or earbuds over top of their headset, but my gut is that most people prefer the convenience of not having to deal with yet another thing to put on.

Bigscreen Beyond has since rectified this issue with an optional headstrap with on-board audio. And making it optional is fine; the people who want it can get it, and those that want to use their own aren’t stuck with it.

Shiftall tells me it’s also planning to build an optional headstrap with on-board audio, but it won’t be available (or probably even announced) before the headset starts shipping early next year. I understand that making and launching hardware is extremely difficult, but it’s a real shame to not have an audio headstrap available at launch.

Another issue I saw during my time with the headset is some pupil-swim in the lenses. That means when your eyes move in smooth pursuit (as opposed to saccading) across the lens, the scene seems to warp in an uncomfortable way.

This is typically an issue with poor lens calibration, and it isn’t uncommon with prototype headsets which aren’t being made with final tooling or calibration processes.

While there’s no reason to think the company can’t dial in its lens calibration before launch, getting it right is very important. So it’s something I’ll definitely want to get another look at closer to the headset’s release.

Assuming Shiftall manages to improve the pupil-swim—as it says it expects to—the company is on track to deliver a pretty impressive headset. The only major issues are that of cost and the lack of on-board audio. Those two factors ensure that the MeganeX Superlight will remain a niche headset. But if the company can find a clutch of users that want what it’s offering, it will have further proven out the existence of a hardcore PC VR crowd that’s willing to spend big to maximize their VR experience.

Shiftall Opens Pre-orders for ‘MeganeX superlight’ Ultra High-Resolution OLED PC VR Headset

October 11, 2024 From roadtovr

Shiftall has launched pre-orders for its newly unveiled MeganeX superlight 8K, a slim and light, high-resolution OLED PC VR headset tracked by SteamVR base stations.

While Panasonic sold off its XR hardware startup Shiftall earlier this year, the companies held a joint press conference in Tokyo yesterday to announce MeganeX superlight 8K, which is slated to start shipping between February and March 2025. Pre-orders are now available in the US, priced at an eye-watering $1,900.

Boasting a flip-up design, MeganeX Superlight 8K is hoping to impress with its 1.35-inch micro OLED displays, offering a resolution of 3,552 × 3,840 per-eye and 90 Hz refresh rate. Supporting 10-bit color depth, the PC VR headset also offers HDR support through SteamVR.

Weighing in at 185g (without headstrap), the headset also features proprietary pancake lenses built by Panasonic and motorized interpupillary distance (IPD) supporting users from 58 to 72 mm, along with focus adjustment from 0D to -7D.

It includes built-in dual microphones with beamforming and features 6DOF head tracking thanks to the inclusion of SteamVR tracking via base stations (version 1.0 or 2.0 required). An add-on prescription lens option will be announced in the future.

Shiftall MeganeX superlight 8K in flipped-up position | Image courtesy Shiftall

While MeganeX superlight 8K doesn’t feature any sort of onboard audio, it does include a USB Type-C expansion port for headphones.

Only available in Japan and the US for now, Meganex superlight 8K is hoping to resonate with the same sort of PC VR crowd who gravitated towards Bigscreen Beyond, which notably packs in lower-resolution micro OLED displays (2,560 × 2,560 pixels per-eye) at nearly half the price, and at a lower weight (127g).

Like Bigscreen Beyond and the original MeganeX, which only saw a limited release in Japan in late 2023, MeganeX superlight 8K is tapping into the SteamVR ecosystem, meaning you’ll need to bring your own controllers and tracking base stations. You can pre-orders here in the US for $1,900.

Check out the specs below:

MeganeX superlight 8K Specs

Display	1.35 inch Micro OLED / 10 bit
Contrast Ratio	1,000,000:1
Resolution	3,552 × 3,840 per-eye (7,104 × 3,840 pixels for both eyes)
Color Depth	8 bit: 256 gradations, 10 bit: 1024 gradations
Color Gamut	95% DCI-P3 coverage
HDR	Supported via SteamVR
Refresh Rate	90Hz
Lens	Pancake lens (Panasonic built)
Interpupillary Distance (IPD)	58-72 mm (electrically adjustable)
Focus Adjustment	0D to -7D
Add-on prescription lens	Announcing soon
Weight	Less than 185g (6.5 oz)* *Note: Main body only
Wearing Method	Forehead pad + Head strap or Handheld adapter
Input (Microphone)	Built-in dual microphones with beam forming
Tracking	6DoF head tracking with SteamVR tracking *Note: Base station 1.0 or 2.0 required
Connectivity	PC: DisplayPort + USB 2.0, Headset side: USB Type-C *Note: Uses included converter box
Package Contents	MeganeX Superlight 8K, Light shade, Forehead pad, Head strap, USB Type-C cable (9.8 ft / 3 m), USB Type-C cable (3.3 ft / 1 m), DisplayPort cable, AC adapter, Converter box, X2 dongle (for SteamVR controller), Handheld adapter, Safety precautions, Warranty card
Price	$1,899

Vive Pro 2 Gets Best Price Yet in Amazon Prime Deal

October 8, 2024 From roadtovr

Here’s a deal that should be on your radar if you’re in the market for a PC VR headset. For the next two days Amazon Prime members can get Vive Pro 2 at its steepest discount yet.

Vive Pro 2 ‘full kit’ is currently available on Amazon for $800 (a 33% discount off its usual $1,200 price).

Or if you already have controllers and base stations, you can get the Vive Pro 2 headset by itself for $500 (a 28% discount over the usual $700 price).

Both deals are available only to Prime members during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days, currently running from October 8th through 9th.

Despite being released more than three years ago, Vive Pro 2’s resolution of 2,448 x 2,448 (6.0MP) per-eye is still greater than most contemporary headsets like Quest 3 at 2,064 × 2,208 (4.5MP) or PSVR 2 at 2,000 x 2,040 (4.1MP).

As a dedicated PC VR headset, Vive Pro 2 uses SteamVR Tracking base stations for rock solid tracking. It supports the full SteamVR content catalog and uses a tethered cable for sharp visuals without noticeable compression or worries about wireless stability or battery life.

When we reviewed Vive Pro 2 back at release there was a lot to like, but it was difficult to justify the whopping $1,400 launch price. A deal like this makes it much more interesting, especially considering its nearest direct competitor—HP’s Reverb G2—is no longer supported in the latest versions of Windows.

Granted, unless you’re dead-set on tethered PC VR headset, Quest 3 still makes a very good PC VR headset at an attractive price, but only if you have an optimal wireless setup with a hard-wired PC and a modern Wi-Fi 5 (or later) router.

Windows 11 No Longer Supports Microsoft’s Windows VR Headsets Following October Update

October 2, 2024 From roadtovr

Microsoft revealed last year it had plans to pull the plug on support for its entire WMR platform on Windows. Now, with the launch of Windows 11 2024 Update yesterday, those VR headsets have essentially been bricked.

Initially kicked off in 2017, Microsoft was well positioned to make Windows a home to a fleet of PC VR headsets, which were notably some of the first headsets with inside-out tracking, including entrants from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung.

Served by its ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ software platform, which included baked-in support for the Windows operating system, WMR headset users also had access to all of SteamVR’s content. Up until now, that is.

“Windows Mixed Reality is deprecated and will be removed in Windows 11, version 24H2,” Microsoft said back in December 2023. “This deprecation includes the Mixed Reality Portal app, Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR, and Steam VR Beta.”

Provided you don’t update to the 24H2 version of Windows 11 and remain on version 23H2, you’ll still be able to play SteamVR content through November 2026. After that, WMR headsets will no longer receive security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates, Microsoft said.

While many users of first-gen WMR headsets have likely moved on, the latest addition to the platform, HP Reverb G2, was released in 2020 as a competitor to Oculus Rift S and Valve Index, noted at the time for its impressive display clarity and improved tracking capabilities over other WMR headsets.

This comes amid Microsoft announcing it’s deprecating its other big XR hardware platform, HoloLens 2, which is now discontinued, offering security patches until December 31st, 2027.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has drawn closer to Meta with the revelation that Quest will soon have automatic pairing with Windows 11, putting it closer to feature parity with Vision Pro’s compatibility with Mac.

HTC’s Vive Ultimate Trackers Now Compatible with All SteamVR Headsets

October 1, 2024 From roadtovr

HTC announced that its Vive Ultimate Tracker is now compatible with third-party PC VR headsets that support SteamVR.

Originally developed for the Vive Focus 3 and Vive XR Elite, Vive Ultimate Tracker is a puck-like device that comes equipped with two cameras, allowing it to track its position without external devices or base stations, supporting both object and full-body tracking.

Released last November for $200, Vive Ultimate Tracker is now compatible with SteamVR headsets, which includes tethered PC VR headsets such as Valve Index, but also standalone devices capable of connecting to PCs, such as Quest 3 or Pico Pico 4 Ultra.

This follows a beta program launched earlier this year to to test compatibility with other SteamVR-supported headsets, including Quest. The company says feedback from the program helped improve the tracker’s precision, connectivity, and overall user experience.

This also means Vive Ultimate Tracker can work independently from a headset as well, so it can be used to track the movement of people or objects, making it useful across multiple fields.

While priced at $200 per device, users looking for basic full-body tracking only require a minimum of three trackers, which can be had in a $600 bundle, which includes the required Vive Wireless Dongle ($39 MSRP). This allows you to track each foot (with supplied straps) and one placed on your hips.

‘Ghosts of Tabor’ Studio Unveils Fresh Look at Next Co-op Shooter ‘Silent North’

August 15, 2024 From roadtovr

Ghosts of Tabor studio Combat Waffle today showed off a closer look at Silent North, the studio’s next VR shooter published in partnership with Beyond Frames Entertainment.

Silent North takes multiplayer action to the Swiss Alps, where players will bundle up and hunker down to survive as long as they can in a world overrun by zombies, Combat Waffle says.

“Players can team up or go it solo while scavenging for gear and defending against a never-ending supply of hungry corpses.”

Silent North is slated to bring its mix of PVE and PVP action on the Horizon Store for Quest 2/3/Pro in early access and on Steam Early Access sometime next year.

Bigscreen Beyond’s Long-awaited Audio Strap to Begin Shipping Next Month

July 16, 2024 From roadtovr

Bigscreen announced that Beyond, its slim form factor PC VR headset, is finally getting its long-awaited Audio Strap starting next month.

Bigscreen Beyond initially shipped in late 2023 with promises that an audio headstrap was soon to follow, with the company saying last December that shipping was scheduled to start sometime in March 2024.

Following a number of manufacturing delays, Bigscreen says the first mass production batches will begin quality checks in early August, with global shipping starting sometime in mid-August.

“Based on current preorder volumes, we’ll be able to produce and ship Audio Straps for all orders received so far in early October,” the company said in its latest production update.

Priced at $130 and available direct from Bigscreen, the rigid strap integrates on-ear headphones that Bigscreen says “provide[s] high-end audio and powerful bass,” noting the speakers are designed by Koss.

When Road to VR reviewed Bigscreen Beyond at its September 2023 launch, it was clear the device delivered on its promise of making the smallest possible headset with the highest possible image quality, but the lack of dedicated audio solution was a definite sore spot.

“Until we have the upcoming deluxe audio strap to pair with Beyond, it feels incomplete,” Road to VR’s Ben Lang writes in the rewview. “We’re patiently waiting to get our hands on the strap—as it will really make-or-break the headset—and plan to update our review when that time comes.”

Somnium VR1 Hands-on: Enthusiast Level PC VR at a Difficult Price Point

July 15, 2024 From roadtovr

Somnium VR1 is a new PC VR headset that delivers an impressive field-of-view (FOV) and high-resolution displays, ideally appealing to enthusiasts already in the SteamVR tracking ecosystem looking for an upgrade, or businesses with the cash to splash. I got a chance to go hands-on at the company’s Somnium Connect event held in Prague, Czechia over the weekend, giving me my first look at the version heading out to customers that’s said to start shipping sometime this month.

The Prague-based company behind VR1 is best known for its metaverse platform Somnium Space, making it the first in what promises to be a series of large FOV headsets. It’s very well refined for a first device, owing to the company’s close partnership with XTAL, the Czech hardware manufacturer behind a series of high-resolution, high FOV enterprise XR headsets.

Providing premium features whilst being manufactured in Europe and boasting intensive QA testing though comes with a steep price point over its main competitors, Pimax Cystal ($1,600 USD) and the new Crystal Light ($900 USD), making price the biggest sticking point overall. Somnium’s cheapest ‘Classic Edition’ comes in at €1,900 (~$2,060 USD), which only includes VR and not passthrough mixed reality, eye-tracking or hand-tracking. Spring for the Ultimate Edition, which is the focus of the hands-on, and you’re looking at somewhere north of €3,500 (~$3,820 USD). This notably doesn’t include shipping or local taxes, or the required SteamVR base stations or optional controllers.

My accumulative 30 minutes across three simulator-focused demos suggest VR1 definitely delivers the bulk of what’s promised, albeit with a few caveats (and features) that will probably push many towards the lower-priced alternative… but not everyone. Read more to find out why.

Optics & Display

VR optics always require a balancing act. Do you trade weight for clarity? A slim profile for better light transmission? Conventional lenses for a wider FOV? Many of these trade-offs are on display with VR1’s dual-element aspheric lenses, which have a lot going for them, but a few notable drawbacks.

VR1’s lenses provide remarkable clarity and excellent light transmission, notably featuring a very large ‘sweet spot’ in the process, which is the optimal area within which the viewer’s eyes can move while maintaining a clear and consistent view. VR1 also accommodates a wide range of interpupillary distances (IPDs) of 58 mm – 76 mm thanks to manual IPD adjustment.

Such a large FOV requires significant attention to distortion-correction—a battle that isn’t entirely won just yet. During my demo, I noticed some wobbliness in the optic’s periphery, although it’s definitely on the acceptable end of the spectrum since it didn’t cause me any discomfort. Chromatic aberration was thankfully a non-issue, the result of the production version’s latest update.

The headlining feature undoubtedly though is its large FOV—130° horizontal and 105° vertical—which was perfect for the fully-kitted flight simulator I played, which is basically the only thing missing in my life right now. Coupled with the display’s brightness (more on that below), the large FOV is something I hope all headsets, standalone included, should aim to achieve one day.

Okay, I also want the driving simulator I saw there too, but the flight sim really shows of the full-fat experience of what VR1 has to offer, showcasing its mixed reality passthrough masked perfectly so I could see the flight stick and instrument cluster while having the virtual world of DCS whizzing past me. This is done through dual 12MP 4,056 × 3,040 RGB passthrough cameras that worked very well in the flight simulator, which notably was illuminated with an overhead light to offset the demo area’s dark, moody lighting.

Somnium Connect was technically a public event open to anyone who bought a ticket. A few of the people I spoke to while waiting in line were local and looking to try out the headset for fun, while some hardcore simmers were looking for conclusive proof that it was worth buying. While some likely walked away with a clear decision either way, VR1 is also targeting companies like flight schools, which spend significantly more on motion platforms and real-world flight expenses related to maintenance and gads of costly fuel. Because PC VR lacks mixed reality content, it’s probably only going to be used for these sorts of passthrough cases, which is easily togglable by hitting a button on the top of the device.

While I didn’t get to see the full field of view of the passthrough, it seemed it’s calibrated to make objects appear only slightly farther away than they really were, however distortion of near-field objects was minimal, and sharp enough to see individual text on the instrument cluster. I imagine it will be good enough for more simple tasks like looking at your phone, or enabling passthrough for when someone needs your attention.

Another clear win is VR1’s display, which is very bright—a reported 210 nits and the highest I’ve seen in a production headset. It’s also notably the exact same QLED mini-LED fast LCD with local dimming you’ll find in Pimax Crystal and Pimax Crystal Light, providing 35PPD via its dual 8.3MP (2,880 × 2,880) per-eye displays, clocked at 90Hz, but with 120Hz and 144Hz modes planned to arrive at some point. Here, the screen door effect feels essentially non-existent.

I’m not particularly sensitive to mura, however I noticed no appreciable irregularities or non-uniformities in the brightness or color of the display. Some of this, I was told, is owed to the company’s rigorous quality assurance (QA), which seems to be one of the headset’s biggest selling points. Somnium invested in what is surely a very expensive display inspection system which can detect dead pixels, mura, and other defects, leading to what company CEO Artur Sychov called a regrettable pile of trashed displays that didn’t make the grade.

Audio & Material Quality

At this price, you’d expect built-in audio, but that’s simply not the case here, as you’ll need to either jack into a 3.5mm headphone port on either side, or go the wireless route with a USB-C dongle, like you might find on the Razer Hammerhead HyperSpeed earbuds.

Maybe no audio is better than bad audio, but it still feels like you should get something on par with Valve Index’s off-ear speakers for the price. Like with all hard straps, using your favorite cans may be problematic since the hinge sits so close to your ear.

Another thing you’d expect is exceptional build quality, which is thankfully mostly here. I suspect a thinner plastic was used in effort to lighten the overall weight of the headset, lending it a creaky feeling when specifically squeezed.

This is likely due to the company offering eight different variants based on the same platform that mix and match faceplates integrating UltraLeap hand-tracking (which I didn’t try, but is recognized as class-leading) and passthrough cameras. It’s possible a tighter fit where the faceplate meets the shell of the headset would have solved this, or possibly more robust (and heavy) plastic—but it’s far from cheap-feeling or delicate.

Ergonomics

Somnium VR1 is decidedly front-heavy, but not nearly as bulky as some photos may suggest. I didn’t get a chance to try the barebones Classic Edition without all of the bells and whistles to compare, however much of the platform’s front-heaviness is undoubtedly owed to its optical stack; the Classic Edition (with headstrap) comes in only 100 g lighter than its Ultimate Edition big brother.

My accumulative 30 minutes in the headset wasn’t particularly telling of long-term comfort for the average user, but knowing my limits, I can imagine an hour is around the most I can do before needing a break. I don’t hold it against the headstrap either, which places the hinge farther from the temple and closer to your ear allowing for a good fit that cups the back of your head.

Additionally—and this may seem fairly obvious—but because of the added bulk, you’ll need to crank it down so the inertia of moving your head doesn’t noticeably shift the displays around, which can cause added discomfort. At first, I thought there was tracking and/or rendering latency in the flight simulator simply because I didn’t properly clamp it to my head.

That said, my daily driver is Meta Quest 3 with the optional Battery Strap (don’t @ me, bro), so moving back to an 850 g PC VR headset tethered with not one, but two cables felt like a bit like stepping back in time to the days of the original HTC Vive.

– – — – –

By now, it’s pretty clear: Somnium VR1 is basically only for users who are already in the SteamVR tracking ecosystem, or don’t mind shelling out the thousands for all of the required kit. That includes SteamVR 2.0 base stations direct from Valve or HTC, various controllers, and a PC capable of running these high-resolution displays.

The flight sim rig in particular was sporting a RTX 4070Ti and some flavor of Intel Core i7, however it was making use of foveated rendering thanks to the Ultimate Edition’s eye-tracking, meaning only businesses and the most enthused of enthusiasts with enough PC horsepower should apply.

Being based in Europe is a blessing and a curse. Startup money there is more sparse, as Lynx CEO Stan Larroque recently attested, leaving few with the resources to produce quality devices at competitive prices. And Somnium VR1 is a solid offering, but I’m afraid it’s simply too expensive for the average Valve Index user to consider a ‘no-brainer’ upgrade relative to Pimax’s upcoming Crystal Light headset, which is notably less half the price of the base Classic Edition.

Disclosure: Somnium Space covered travel and lodging expenses for one Road to VR writer to attend Somnium Connect 2024.

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