Pimax Reveals New High-end PC VR Headsets Focused on Affordability & Performance

Pimax today announced two new Crystal series PC VR headsets, one of which is focused on affordability while the other pushes the envelope on resolution.

During a prerecorded presentation today, Pimax introduced the Crystal Light and Crystal Super PC VR headsets.

Pimax Crystal Light

Image courtesy Pimax

Crystal Light might sound like a diet drink, but it’s actually a more affordable version of the company’s flagship Crystal headset, which Pimax says has been “highly successful.” The company says Crystal Light is a “streamlined iteration” of the original Crystal headset, and cuts some major features to reduce the weight and price of the headset.

Most notably, Crystal Light ditches the original version’s on-board Snapdragon XR2 processor, battery, and storage, which allowed the headset to run in a standalone mode without a PC.

Crystal Light retains the same 8.3MP (2,880 × 2,880) per-eye resolution as the original headset, while dropping eye-tracking, automatic IPD adjustment, interchangeable lenses, and on-board hardware to enable compatibility with a 60GHz wireless module.

Doing so has allowed the company to drop weight by 30% and the price of the Crystal Light to $700 (compared to the original Crystal at $1,600).

While that’s a huge savings over the original, it’s the price of the headset with inside-out tracking and controllers. Those wanting the full SteamVR Tracking will need to add controllers and base stations which add another $580 or so, plus a SteamVR Tracking faceplate for the headset (currently of unknown price).

Like the original, Crystal Light has on-board audio and claimed 125° degree horizontal field-of-view.

Pimax also says the Crystal Light can be optionally equipped with mini-LEDs in its display for greater contrast via local dimming, which will raise the headset’s price to $900.

Crystal Light is available for pre-order today and the company says it will start shipping next month.

Pimax Crystal Super

Pimax Crystal Super equipped with SteamVR Tracking faceplate and controllers (sold separately) | Image courtesy Pimax

For those looking for the best visual fidelity from Pimax, the Crystal Super is the company’s latest offering. It also drops some of the extraneous features of the original Crystal, like the standalone processor, but keeps some others.

The headlining features are a 14.7MP (3,840 × 3,840) per-eye resolution, optionally using QLED & mini-LED (120Hz) or micro-OLED (90Hz).

Pimax says the Crystal Super not only has greater clarity than the original Crystal thanks to the resolution boost, but also claims a “significantly bigger field-of-view.”

The exact field-of-view will depend on which of two different lens choices the buyer makes, one which will provide 50 PPD and a slightly higher field-of-view of 130° horizontal, or the other with 57 PPD with a slightly lower field-of-view (the exact FoV is not currently specified).

Unlike Crystal Light, Crystal Super will retain eye-tracking with automatic IPD adjustment and dynamic foveated rendering capabilities. It also has on-board audio.

The base model of Crystal Super with QLED display is priced at $1,800 with inside-out tracking, while the micro-OLED model is priced at $2,000. Or, you can buy both for $2,400, thanks to the Crystal Super’s ability to swap between different display modules. Controllers are sold separately.

Image courtesy Pimax

SteamVR Tracking can be added with an optional faceplate (additional pricing unknown).

Pimax says Crystal Super will ship in Q4 2024.

60GHz Wireless for the Original Crystal

Image courtesy Pimax

Pimax also showed further progress on its 60GHz “airlink” system for streaming PC VR content to the Crystal headset wirelessly. The wireless module was originally announced way back in 2021, but still hasn’t shipped.

Today the company showed the latest prototypes of the module—an impressively slim dongle—and announced a $300 price with shipping expected later this year.

The airlink module is only compatible with the original Crystal headset because the Crystal Light and Crystal Super lack the on-board hardware necessary to handle the wireless connection and processing.

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Pimax Crystal QLED: $1899 Wireless Headset With 3K Per Eye Mini LED

Pimax announced Pimax Crystal QLED, a $1899 dual-mode VR headset the company claims will have the highest angular resolution on the consumer market.

Crystal will feature dual 2880×2720 LCD panels with Mini LED backlighting and a quantum dot layer. While traditional small LCD panels use a single backlight behind the entire display, Mini LED instead uses thousands of tiny LED elements, delivering contrast levels close to OLED – though with the tradeoff of some blooming. The quantum dot layer should deliver an extremely wide color range, which Pimax claims surpasses even OLED. The maximum refresh rate is 160 Hz.

Crystal’s lenses are made from glass rather than the plastic used in most other headsets, which Pimax says increases brightness and reduces both glare & aberration. The default lenses have a horizontal field of view of 110°, roughly the same as the Valve Index. This is a departure from Pimax’s core brand of ultra wide field of view VR. But Crystal’s unique feature is it will come with a different pair of 120° field of view lenses that can be swapped in, so you can choose between clarity and immersion.

Back in October Pimax announced another standalone headset, Reality 12K QLED, which it said will ship in Q4 2022 for $2399. Reality will also uses QLED panels but promises a much wider 200 degree field of view and onboard body tracking. This begs the question: what kind of buyer is willing to pay $1900 but not $2400 for a significantly wider field of view? Pimax’s response is that Crystal’s focus is on achieving maximum visual clarity, and that it doesn’t require a monster GPU like Reality.

Other than the lenses and displays Crystal and Reality are very similar headsets. Both have four cameras on the front edges for inside-out tracking of the headset and its Touch-like controllers – or your hands freely – as well as internal cameras to track your eyes and face. The eye tracking is said to power automatic lens separation adjustment and dynamic foveated rendering. Both headsets also use the same Snapdragon XR2 processor as Meta’s Quest 2. An extra cooling fan and dynamic foveated rendering mean they should outperform Quest 2, but this may be negated by the higher resolution and wider field of view it needs to render.

Also like Reality, Crystal supports two separate PC VR modes. The standard method sends frames over your home Wi-Fi network similar to Oculus Air Link or Virtual Desktop. The high fidelity mode uses a DisplayPort cable or dedicated WiGig transmitter for a much higher bandwidth connection. The cable is included but the WiGig transmitter will be sold separately.

Pimax sees Crystal as competing with Varjo Aero. As Pimax points out, the $1990 Aero has the same resolution but doesn’t come with tracking, controllers, or audio – and doesn’t have a wireless or standalone mode.

The company will likely struggle to obtain compelling content for its standalone mode store, however. Reality was announced with two standalone games: Ragnarok and Hyperstacks. Crystal is being announced with three more: BRINK Traveler, cyubeVR, and BoomBox. None of these are exactly system sellers and it’s likely these headsets will be primarily used in PC mode, but Pimax is still asking interested developers to reach out.

Pimax claims Crystal QLED will start shipping in Q3 2022, between July and September. We should, however, note Pimax has in the past missed its shipping targets, and the ongoing global supply chain uncertainties have led to delays across the tech industry.

MARVEL Powers United VR Gets two new Characters Crystal & Black Bolt

Since its July reveal, Marvel Powers United VR has been building its roster of playable characters, with Hulk, Captain Marvel and Rocket Raccoon the first, followed by Deadpool. Now there’s another two to add to that list, slightly less well known characters Black Bolt and Crystal. 

Black Bolt and Crystal are classed as Inhumans, race of genetically altered superhumans. Black Bolt is the ruler of these beings, with his superpower being his voice. With it he can smash enemies aside with ease – in the comics it’s powerful enough to level cities so the character never speaks.

MARVEL Powers United VR BlackBolt

Crystal meanwhile has the ability to control the elements, earth, air, fire and water, plus other natural phenomena such as metals and electricity. In the comics she often appears with her teleporting canine companion, Lockjaw who just so happens to also feature in the announcement video.

Marvel Powers United VR will be exclusive to Oculus Rift and Touch when it releases in 2018. 12 superheroes are said to feature in the videogame, so with six revealed there are still plenty of slots to fill with your favourite characters.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Marvel Powers United VR, reporting back with the latest updates.