Thought I’d post some first impressions. This is my third Pimax headset after the 5k+ and 8KX, my fourth personal headset overall, and lucky enough to test various work headsets including Quest 2 / Pro / 3, HP Reverb G2, HTC XR Elite, MS Hololens 2, Apple Vision Pro etc. This is also the first time I’m using prescription lens inserts from HonsVR, I’ve always worn glasses in my headsets until now (except for the small form factor XR Elite, which had diopters).
I’ve had the unit for one week today, although I’ve only had about 3 evenings’ of use of it. I’m mainly running Star Citizen for VR these days, although I’ve had a quick look at DCS and Elite Dangerous. Will try VTOL VR, Assetto Corsa, and Half Life Alyx for sure as well.
I’m running PiPlay 1.43.9, and haven’t tried 2.0 yet. I have Quality set to 0.85 still from my 8KX, but as SC is already very demanding on both CPU and GPU I’m unlikely to increase this, despite the DA’s increased GPU efficiency over the 8KX.
Setup:
- Pretty straightforward, although there’s only a quick start guide provided. The first thing I noticed is that there’s two diagrams of the Dream Air SLAM instead of one of the LH version and one of the SLAM - both images are identical and are shown with integrated cameras - @PimaxQuorra
- The 8KX needed 1 DP and 2 USB ports, whereas the DA requires 1 DP, 1 USB, and 1 power socket.
- There’s a link to a setup Youtube video, which doesn’t go into much more detail. I was hoping for some eye tracking setup instructions, but that’s actually very simple just from PiPlay.
- I was hoping to use the auto-IPD feature, as the 8KX had a lot of issues for me, which I could never quite fix even with mods. I was more confident of this one however, as the minimum IPD goes lower. I have a small head and so need around 58-59mm. I realised this feature has been removed, so I set it manually and it’s absolutely fine, thanks to the large sweet spot on the lenses.
- I feel there should be more initial setup information available for new users - eg it’s fine for me, but I see no information about using Lighthouses etc. An overview for anyone who might be new to VR would be worthwhile.
Good:
- Overall ease of setup (with the caveats above)
- Clarity and colour depth / black levels - 8KX was hardly bad, but these MOLED panels are extremely impressive and the improvement is still noticeable. Frankly it looks better than my aging but decent gaming monitor, with IPS and 10bit colour etc. Who would have thought that about VR 5-10 years ago? There is so much visual fidelity when looking at ships, stations, planets etc, and with so much detail in SC, the Dream Air brings it to life even further than VR already did. The darker areas in space and moodier locations look fantastic as well. Looking at blue skies, absolutely no mura that I could see.
- Lenses - this is really a big and welcome leap from the 8KX. I can glance around comfortably and maintain clarity much better, text still looks very good. Not perfect at the extremes, but so good that it’s no longer an issue. The 8KX is pretty bad for that in my experience.
- Eye comfort - I realised that this is a big improvement - I hadn’t given much thought to binocular overlap, but I do have sensitive eyes. While I’m generally comfortable in the Meta headsets, I can’t really use the 8KX for more than 1-2 hour sessions and my eyes feel the strain. That’s me in general, I can’t really wear contact lenses for long etc, esp in front of a computer or florescent lights. The default profile here allows me to enjoy longer sessions with very little discomfort.
- The weight at around 170g is another big improvement - this is a huge boost to comfort, and after extensive modding I had the 8KX in a pretty comfortable state. But there’s no comparison - the lack of weight, and therefore inertia, means I don’t really feel the headset itself. A couple of things do intrude though, will come on to that below.
- Face gasket and strap. This is going to be highly dependent on head size and face shape of course, but out of the box it is vastly more comfortable and usable for me than the 8KX initially was. The gasket fits pretty well, if not perfectly, and it’s quite easy to get it secure and have no light bleed. Peeking is harder though without glasses, so I’m using virtual desktop options more. The basic strap actually isn’t bad at all, at the moment I have no big desire to get a better one - it keeps the headset secure on my head whilst having a light footprint, which I like.
One of the issues with my 8KX hardstrap is that the adjustment dial clashes with the headrest I fitted to my chair, preventing me from easily looking around in a dogfight or leaning back. It is vastly easier now! At first it was mildly awkward to place correctly on my head (eg my eyes brushed the inserts), but straightforward after getting the technique right. - I can put my headphones over it extremely easily. I only quickly tested the integrated audio solution, and for what it is, it’s not bad at all. I could do a session with it if I had to.
- Temperature - the front of the unit is warm at all times when the unit is powered, but gets warmer still when actively used, as does the cable joiner box at the back. However so far I don’t feel the heat or any discomfort when using it, so it’s not an issue from me.
The not so good:
- FOV - an unexpected result. I have already been dialling down the crazy HFOV of the 8KX - for me, I could barely tell the difference from Wide to Normal, and I gained a good amount of GPU performance back, so I rarely used Wide. I then tried Small over Normal - while I can see the difference, it was another decent GPU performance boost so I started getting used to Small, plus it’s still wider than many headsets, and some game UI just looks correct in Small. The Dream Air’s Horizontal FOV feels similar to Small on the 8KX, and wasn’t as jarring as I was originally concerned about.
What I didn’t expect however, is the noticeable band on the Vertical FOV - didn’t have this on the 8KX. The mask of the unit is shaped like an old analogue CRT TV screen! But I feel the head and eye comfort and clarity of the unit outweighs this - I can move my head so easily, and glance around so much better, that this is a worthwhile trade-off. I have also noticed that looking up and down (eg glass area at my feet in a ship canopy) seems to provide more visual area than before, despite the band, so it’s not as simple as just being worse. - Tracking - while connecting is similar, the tracking stability seems worse than on the 8KX. I have one v1 LH above my desk, and rarely had any tracking issues. The Dream Air seems more susceptible to drifting, prompting me to reach for the recentre key much much more frequently than before. I would have had to do some extreme head movements to trigger this on the 8KX, whereas here it can happen even when looking ahead. I hope this can be fixed in software
I have also occasionally had the headset only offer 3DOF for a session instead of 6DOF, not sure of the trigger yet. - Cable intrusion - I get the design intention at the back with the two cables going into the joiner box to avoid pulling on the lightweight headset, but to me it seems like this was only considered for standing scenarios. When seated, this is a step backwards compared to the 8KX’s side cable, which I could put to one side and largely forget about. With the Dream Air design, it is near impossible to position it correctly to avoid push and pull sensations on head movement. It’s not enough to move the headset off position, but it is enough to intrude slightly. If there was a reworked design of this component for seated applications, I would probably change it.
- Blur on head movement - this is quite noticeable, whereas there was virtually none on the 8KX. The fact that there is so much clarity otherwise may make it appear worse. I’m not sure if this is panel ghosting / response time, driver issue, or in game issue such as DLSS (or a combo), but I hope that it can be minimised somehow.
- Slight browning / darkening of image when glancing extreme left or with sudden head turns - not huge, but noticeable where the 8KX had none. Again, not sure if this is a panel or driver issue, or some combination, but I hope that it can also be minimised somehow.
I have another week to try it - will I keep it?
TLDR: I think the answer is yes! The incredible clarity, colours, lack of weight, and eye comfort outweigh the negatives, none of which are a dealbreaker for me personally. I was a huge fan of very wide FOV, but the side effects that brought on the 8KX, plus the Dream Air benefits above, mean I’m rethinking what is the most important criteria when it comes to a great VR experience 
