Pimax Crystal Super first impression

[Peedee]

I got my Pimax Crystal Super yesterday. From before I have a Crystal OG and are also somewhat familiar with the Crystal Light. In my house I also have Quest 3 and Pico 4. I also have Playstation VR 2. And eariler I have had HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Reverb G1, Reverb G2. Pimax 8KX (which actually still have, but don't use). 

I remember when I first got my Crystal OG quite some time back it could be troublesome to get it to connect and start up. No worries with the Crystal Super. Downloaded and installed Pimax Play, and plugged in the USB cable and Display port cable, and connected the power plug - and Voila - just worked like it should. And nice to forget about the battery too...

Yesterday I played around a bit in Microsoft Flight simulator 2024. I didn't know that I had to turn off Quad Views in Pimax Play to get MSFS 2024 own Quadviews to work - so my performance wasn't very good. 

So - Moira - ever since the first VR youtubers did their videos about the Crystal Super and its "terrible Moira" problems I guess many "ordinary" customers have worried/are still worrying about their Super - will it have moira?

The good:

We know Pimax have been working to improve the quality control. At least they say so, and that eventually led to delays in shipping for many customers when Pimax got panels from production that wasn't good enough to be used in their Super headsets. And, yeah - not nice to get your shipping delayed. But, be glad that it's happening this way. Because I believe them. You don't have to if don't want to of course.

BUT- I can not see any Moira during game play. On my old Reverb G2 and especially on my PSVR2 I could see moira during gameplay quite easy - but I forgot about it in the heat of the action of course. I was expecting that the Crystal Super might be this way too. It is not. It is much better! Is it completely gone? Don't think so, but then again, I can find moira on my other headsets as well (Crystal OG, Pico, Quest 3)  if I care to spend time looking for it. So, Moira is a non issue now on the Crystal Super. IF you find the level of moria I have (which I can not see unless I spend time trying to defocus my eyes against a clear bright one colored background - which is in itself a bit tricky to do)  - then maybe take up bowling and stop playing VR games

Chromatic aberration - well, my original Pimax Crystal has some. It is easy to see, but I forget about while playing. This Crystal Super though - oh, my oh my - these lenses are good! Not a problem. Also the edge to edge clarity is much better than my Crystal OG (and the Crystal Light I tested for a while) and that combined with the much improved field of view...  

The level of clarity I get in DCS is just incredible with the Super. I will write more about how I did later on here. But let me tell you -  the clarity, the brightness... Flying a F-16 at full afterburner over cities, houses, trees... the sense of speed is very, very good now! The bigger FOV helps with this, but I would think the improved clarity also come into play. The eyes and the brain notice a lot more on the ground while flying. And bear in mind - I am comparing against to Crystal OG. (The Quest 3 is nowhere near this of course, (it is not in the same neighbor hood - or even the same country). The clarity improvement shows itself very good when looking down, scanning for things/objects on the ground. It is easier to pick out the small details. Also things in the distance is sharper. Noticeably so.

And it is bright!  Very bright. 

I have not tried night flying yet. So can not say how that turns out.

Sound - the speakers that it comes with are "ok". But my order came also with the DMAS speakers included, so I mounted them and now the sound is quite good.

For me, the face gasket is a good fit. Rather comfortable. The front part of the the headset is not as wide or wobbly as the Crystal OG, and that is in improvement!

Hand controllers - nah. I Don't use them.

Headset Tracking - in my environment today - no big issues. It has worked good I think. 

Things that are not perfect:  Auto IPD - gave me a strange value. So I turned auto IPD off and adjusted manually to my IPD. No biggie, but it is an advertised feature so I have to mention it. The cable from the headset to the PC is a bit thick and stiff. I don't like that. But getting the full lossless Display port image is more important to me than the small issue living the somewhat thick cable. 

The headset is a bit front heavy. Not more than my Pimax Crystal OG. And the total weight is OK. But like most headsets (except for Pico 4) it is a bit front heavy. My order came with the Comfort Top Strap, but - I have yet to figure out how to mount that in a sensible manner. I had no problems mounting a Pimax top strap on my other Pimax headsets, but this one is somewhat different, and.. well. I will investigate this further later on. It is possible to use the headset without it of course, but I'd like to get it fixed.

The front part of the headset do get a bit warm, but I don't feel it unless I move my hand to touch the front plate - so it is nothing serious.

The experimental Wide Fov mode in Pimax Play for this "non wide" Crystal Super... I have not felt so dizzy in VR since started using VR in 2017! 5 minutes and I had to turn it off. The normal FOV on this Qled 50PPD Crystal is so good that I don't miss it. The wide FOV version of the Super that comes later, that is physically made for wider FOV, will be different of course. But this software solution was not for me at least. VR Flight Sim guy did longer session with it - and congratulations to him   I never bought this Super for a software fix wider FOV, it even was not a thing when I ordered so... this does not influence my opinion about this headset.

Conclusion: Wow!! Just wow! For me this is a clear upgrade from the Crystal OG. The Crystal OG also had eye tracking. But - the clarity improvement is .. I would say big. The lenses are way better, chromatic aberration is as good as gone. The edge to edge clarity is bigger. The field of view. The brightness. The battery is gone. The ability to pick out fine details in the distance is well improved. Expensive. But this is my hobby.

My PC is an AMD 9950X3D and RTX 5090, 64Gigs of 6000Mhz RAM.

To get the best picture an maintain steady over 72fps in full resolution is followed Tallymouse guide on youtube. It it is execellent! Tallymouse settled for 90 FPS. I restrained myself to 72fps to have some overhead. 

 

[Dawgboy]

15 minutes ago, Peedee said:

I got my Pimax Crystal Super yesterday. From before I have a Crystal OG and are also somewhat familiar with the Crystal Light. In my house I also have Quest 3 and Pico 4. I also have Playstation VR 2. And eariler I have had HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Reverb G1, Reverb G2. Pimax 8KX (which actually still have, but don't use). 

Thanks, @Peedee...I'm looking forward to mine arriving.  Great summary. 

 

 

[Panzerlang]

Tested the new play and firmware with IL2, Pimax CPR is a game changer. The previous quadviews in DCS were already perfect, though I tested only 2 vs 1 in QM. More stuff (missions) always spanks the CPU before the GPU suffers.

The IPD in the Super is way more of a thing than in the OG. I was getting double vision with it set to where I had it in the OG but 67mm seems to have sorted it.

No muira, though I can see a kind of shade of screendoor across the entire image. It has to be deliberately looked for though. No chromatic aberration, unlike the OG (it was slight).

Physical fit, about as perfect as a headset could be (for me). I got lucky.

[Peedee]

7 hours ago, Panzerlang said:

Tested the new play and firmware with IL2, Pimax CPR is a game changer. The previous quadviews in DCS were already perfect, though I tested only 2 vs 1 in QM. More stuff (missions) always spanks the CPU before the GPU suffers.

The IPD in the Super is way more of a thing than in the OG. I was getting double vision with it set to where I had it in the OG but 67mm seems to have sorted it.

No muira, though I can see a kind of shade of screendoor across the entire image. It has to be deliberately looked for though. No chromatic aberration, unlike the OG (it was slight).

Physical fit, about as perfect as a headset could be (for me). I got lucky.

Good to hear!

Pardon my lack of knowledge, but what i Pimax CPR?   For now I am sticking with previous version of Pimax Play  with Quadviews there turned off, eye tracking ON. And then I use mbucchia's Quadviews and TallyMouse Quadviews companion app instead. The performance and clarity in DCS is amazing with these. I know Pimax Play latest version gives some more control of over Quadviews settings, but from the screen shots, not as much as Tallmouse companion app. 

[Calvin.Pimax]

17 hours ago, Peedee said:

Auto IPD - gave me a strange value.

The team is working on this, as it’s not within ±1.5 mm during the IPD setup.

Regarding the wFoV software solution, the experience may vary between users. Personally, I’ve had a similar experience to yours.