Difference between 50 ppd and 57 ppd

[Pteradon]

Years ago i had an Oculus Rift for flying in DCS, but real life had other plans.

At this moment i want to make the jump again to VR in DCS.

I have a couple of VR in my mind.

Somnium VR1, Big Screen Beyond 2 and the Pimax Crystal Super.

 

I noticed Pimax Crystal Super has 2 versions: 57 ppd and tge 50 ppd.

 

Both have a resolutions of 3840x3840x2 with refresh rate of 72 Hz / 90 Hz.

 

The only difference i found was the fov.

The 50 ppd has a fov of 135 degree and the 57 ppd has a fov of 120 degree.

Is the difference of 7 ppd noticable and worth of in- or decrease of fov?

 

 

 

 

[Panzerlang]

You'd see no ppd difference but you would notice the FOV difference.

[Dawgboy]

There are estimates that 60ppd is retina quality, so the closer you are to that, the better the resolution.  Even Pimax says this decision is up to the user what matters more 1) increased FOV or 2) near-retina-quality.  I went for the latter (57ppd) since XRNeckSafer/eye tracking will offset any loss of FOV, for the most part, but nothing offsets for a fixed lower resolution.  I used to have the HP Reverb G2, so basically more than doubling the PPD and adding FOV will help my VR experience.

It's really what you prioritize for your VR flying experience.

Edited May 20 by Dawgboy

[Kettingspanner]

This is the reply of Pimax Customer Service.

50PPD (135° FOV) – Offers a more immersive experience with a wider field of view, ideal for gaming, flight/racing simulators, and watching movies!
57PPD (120° FOV) – Delivers higher clarity with sharper image quality, perfect for simulation games and reading.
Ultrawide（140°FOV） 50PPD。The binocular overlap rate has changed from 105° to 90°
Micro-OLED（103-105° FOV(H)），MicroOLED screen delivers vibrant, true-to-life colors.
You can choose based on your personal needs! 

 

My reply:

"So for games like DCS I better choose the 57 version for better visualization of the instruments en looking for other targets."

 

Customer Service answer:

Yes, we recommend going with the 57PPD version — it offers the highest clarity and is ideal for users who want the most detailed visuals.

[Porco Rosso]

I ordered 50ppd version over the 57ppd, for me a bigger fob is essential. Btw 50ppd will be more than enough for reading instruments etc

[Panny]

I'm an OG Crystal user, and I'm so pleased with the quality that I haven't felt it justified enough to go for the Super. Still holding out for when we get 8KX FOV with at least Crystal PPD and then I'll jump

[Dawgboy]

1 hour ago, Panny said:

I'm an OG Crystal user, and I'm so pleased with the quality that I haven't felt it justified enough to go for the Super. Still holding out for when we get 8KX FOV with at least Crystal PPD and then I'll jump

If any, what did you use before for VR and how does that compare with your Crystal?

[Panny]

On 6/11/2025 at 5:40 PM, Dawgboy said:

If any, what did you use before for VR and how does that compare with your Crystal?

Went from DK2 to Rift S to Reverb G2 to Pimax 8KX and now to Crystal.

Subjectively the first two headsets weren't usable for DCS. Reverb G2 was, 8KX was like the G2 but with a much bigger FOV and vastly better sweetspot.

With those headsets I could read the gauges I needed to read but ultimately that's because I knew what it roughly meant. I couldn't read small text on the right and left side consoles.

 

Pimax Crystal put all of that two bed and I can clearly read anything I directly look at, regardless of how small the text is. There's no interpretation of a smudge on my part. Out of all times of upgrading headset this one felt the most profound to me where I could immediately tell how much better it was. With previous headsets you only came to appreciate it when you put your old headset back on and realised how bad you had it.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure the Super is much better. But I'm happy with the crystal as I can clearly see what I need to see and what I really appreciated when they launched the headset was that I could trial it before buying. I know I have a 14 day return window with the Super but it's still a hassle versus walking in to a VR shop and trying first for free. So I'm happy with the Crystal and not willing to push £1k+ until the next headset comes

 

FWIW, as I understand this is a subjective exercise, my eyesight is better than 20/20 so there's no factor of my eyes being the 'problem'

[Dawgboy]

10 hours ago, Panny said:

Went from DK2 to Rift S to Reverb G2 to Pimax 8KX and now to Crystal.

Subjectively the first two headsets weren't usable for DCS. Reverb G2 was, 8KX was like the G2 but with a much bigger FOV and vastly better sweetspot.

With those headsets I could read the gauges I needed to read but ultimately that's because I knew what it roughly meant. I couldn't read small text on the right and left side consoles.

 

Pimax Crystal put all of that two bed and I can clearly read anything I directly look at, regardless of how small the text is. There's no interpretation of a smudge on my part. Out of all times of upgrading headset this one felt the most profound to me where I could immediately tell how much better it was. With previous headsets you only came to appreciate it when you put your old headset back on and realised how bad you had it.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure the Super is much better. But I'm happy with the crystal as I can clearly see what I need to see and what I really appreciated when they launched the headset was that I could trial it before buying. I know I have a 14 day return window with the Super but it's still a hassle versus walking in to a VR shop and trying first for free. So I'm happy with the Crystal and not willing to push £1k+ until the next headset comes

 

FWIW, as I understand this is a subjective exercise, my eyesight is better than 20/20 so there's no factor of my eyes being the 'problem'

Thanks.  We have comparable systems, so your feedback is entirely valuable to me.  Thanks for taking the time with specificity!  

I had the Reverb G2, on which cut my VR teeth.  As with you, I knew what I was looking at after flying the Viper for many years.  The MFDs were very readable, but the switch labels in the cockpit weren't, and I was ok with that.  Still, with my old headset and system, I had to keep the details dialed down in DCS and other sims.  With the new system (I have AMD 9950X3D otherwise same as you), I have all the detail all the way up, but flying only 2D with 49" monitor...the lack of depth perception without VR...is going way back.  I prefer VR's immersion.    

[Nedum]

On 6/11/2025 at 6:40 PM, Dawgboy said:

If any, what did you use before for VR and how does that compare with your Crystal?

Hi,

 

my VR-Headsets in order: G2 -> Crystal OG + Quest III -> Crystal Super 50 PPD

Visual differences Crystal OG too Crystal Super:

1. the Crystal Super is much brighter = flying during the F16 Night Free Flight (full Moon), you now can see the trees and the shadows (couldn't see them before) and the Blacks are still black. Looks much more natural. In my Crystal OG I have always some kind of gray in the visuals during Night Flight. Like some smear. That's completely gone with the Super.

2. wider FoV = with my Crystal OG I couldn't see the Wings, if I was looking left or right without moving my whole body. Now I can see the Wings (not fully) and the 3 outer stations with only moving my head. And I see a bit more in the vertical. So much, that I notice it without to measure it. 

3. the clarity in the distance is much better.

4. the eye tracking works better, is more precise. I always have some trouble with my Crystal OG. I need several tries for the calibration with the Crystal OG, and after the calibration I have always problems on the left side with the precision during the test with the dots you have to look at. With the Crystal Super, I calibrate, and the precision is rock solid.

5. The Crystal Super has the better/bigger Sweet Spot.

 

All other VR-Headsets are not playing in the same league as the Crystals (OG and Super).

The Quest III is too dark and not sharp enough, overall clarity is better than with the G2. You can look around only with moving your eyeballs.

The G2 has the smallest Sweet Spot but is sharper than the Quest III in that Sweet Spot, but you have to focus on the Sweet Spot and to move always your head to look around.

Both Crystal beat those VR-Headset with ease. The Quest III will beat the Crystal OG if we would talk about a bigger Sweet Spot and edge to edge clarity at the end of the lenses (the last 10 %), but it's never enough to go for a Quest III. With the Crystal Super, the Quest III has nothing it can fight with, if we let Hand Tracking and AR outside.

At the end the Crystal Super is right now out of the box more comfortable as the Quest III, has 1000 times better visuals and is the best VR-Headset for DCS.

[j9murphy]

@Nedum, when was your super delivered?

[Dawgboy]

4 hours ago, Nedum said:

Hi,

 

my VR-Headsets in order: G2 -> Crystal OG + Quest III -> Crystal Super 50 PPD

Visual differences Crystal OG too Crystal Super:

1. the Crystal Super is much brighter = flying during the F16 Night Free Flight (full Moon), you now can see the trees and the shadows (couldn't see them before) and the Blacks are still black. Looks much more natural. In my Crystal OG I have always some kind of gray in the visuals during Night Flight. Like some smear. That's completely gone with the Super.

2. wider FoV = with my Crystal OG I couldn't see the Wings, if I was looking left or right without moving my whole body. Now I can see the Wings (not fully) and the 3 outer stations with only moving my head. And I see a bit more in the vertical. So much, that I notice it without to measure it. 

3. the clarity in the distance is much better.

4. the eye tracking works better, is more precise. I always have some trouble with my Crystal OG. I need several tries for the calibration with the Crystal OG, and after the calibration I have always problems on the left side with the precision during the test with the dots you have to look at. With the Crystal Super, I calibrate, and the precision is rock solid.

5. The Crystal Super has the better/bigger Sweet Spot.

 

All other VR-Headsets are not playing in the same league as the Crystals (OG and Super).

The Quest III is too dark and not sharp enough, overall clarity is better than with the G2. You can look around only with moving your eyeballs.

The G2 has the smallest Sweet Spot but is sharper than the Quest III in that Sweet Spot, but you have to focus on the Sweet Spot and to move always your head to look around.

Both Crystal beat those VR-Headset with ease. The Quest III will beat the Crystal OG if we would talk about a bigger Sweet Spot and edge to edge clarity at the end of the lenses (the last 10 %), but it's never enough to go for a Quest III. With the Crystal Super, the Quest III has nothing it can fight with, if we let Hand Tracking and AR outside.

At the end the Crystal Super is right now out of the box more comfortable as the Quest III, has 1000 times better visuals and is the best VR-Headset for DCS.

Outstanding rundown...all the right pain points covered. Thanks, @Nedum!!

[Nedum]

4 hours ago, j9murphy said:

@Nedum, when was your super delivered?

Hi,

 

last Saturday. Preordered November last Year. 

[Qcumber]

On 6/22/2025 at 12:11 PM, Nedum said:

Hi,

 

my VR-Headsets in order: G2 -> Crystal OG + Quest III -> Crystal Super 50 PPD

Visual differences Crystal OG too Crystal Super:

1. the Crystal Super is much brighter = flying during the F16 Night Free Flight (full Moon), you now can see the trees and the shadows (couldn't see them before) and the Blacks are still black. Looks much more natural. In my Crystal OG I have always some kind of gray in the visuals during Night Flight. Like some smear. That's completely gone with the Super.

2. wider FoV = with my Crystal OG I couldn't see the Wings, if I was looking left or right without moving my whole body. Now I can see the Wings (not fully) and the 3 outer stations with only moving my head. And I see a bit more in the vertical. So much, that I notice it without to measure it. 

3. the clarity in the distance is much better.

4. the eye tracking works better, is more precise. I always have some trouble with my Crystal OG. I need several tries for the calibration with the Crystal OG, and after the calibration I have always problems on the left side with the precision during the test with the dots you have to look at. With the Crystal Super, I calibrate, and the precision is rock solid.

5. The Crystal Super has the better/bigger Sweet Spot.

 

All other VR-Headsets are not playing in the same league as the Crystals (OG and Super).

The Quest III is too dark and not sharp enough, overall clarity is better than with the G2. You can look around only with moving your eyeballs.

The G2 has the smallest Sweet Spot but is sharper than the Quest III in that Sweet Spot, but you have to focus on the Sweet Spot and to move always your head to look around.

Both Crystal beat those VR-Headset with ease. The Quest III will beat the Crystal OG if we would talk about a bigger Sweet Spot and edge to edge clarity at the end of the lenses (the last 10 %), but it's never enough to go for a Quest III. With the Crystal Super, the Quest III has nothing it can fight with, if we let Hand Tracking and AR outside.

At the end the Crystal Super is right now out of the box more comfortable as the Quest III, has 1000 times better visuals and is the best VR-Headset for DCS.

Do you have any experience with the Quest Pro? That's what I am using at the moment and I am thinking about upgrading to the Crystal Super. What sort of performance are you getting with DFR enabled? Can you maintain 72fps? What do your CPU and GPU frametimes look like?

[Nedum]

On 7/4/2025 at 8:41 PM, Qcumber said:

Do you have any experience with the Quest Pro? That's what I am using at the moment and I am thinking about upgrading to the Crystal Super. What sort of performance are you getting with DFR enabled? Can you maintain 72fps? What do your CPU and GPU frametimes look like?

I'd never used a Quest Pro for long. Could test it 3 Times. Not long enough to compare it with others.

With DFR enabled I can hold 72 FPS. The trick was, I'd run my Crystal OG with the Companion App from Tally Mouse. My Resolution was 240 %. So running the Crystal Super @165 % resolution with my current settings isn't a big difference.

At first I was a little bit disappointed looking around inside the Cockpit. I couldn't see any difference. That changed completely as soon I was looking outside of the Cockpit. I can read all the traffic signs of the Airport from the triple distance, and they are razor sharp. You don't have to guess anymore from the distance, you can read it like in RL (300 feet). The sharpness in the distance, this is the real thing where the Crystal Super shines. This sharpness in the distance is awesome.

But, I have to say there are limits with a 4090. To get all of the Super, you have to go with a 5090. 30-40 % more performance in VR is a huge number of Frames you can invest in your settings.

At the end it's all about money... again.