When looking to buy a VR headset, the discussion often comes down to the three industry titans: Valve Index, Oculus Quest 2, and the HTC Vive series. VR enthusiasts, however, should be careful not to overlook Pimax, an independent newcomer offering potentially one of the best headsets around: the Pimax 8K X. With 170 degrees of horizontal FOV, and 4K resolution per eye, the 8K X is currently the best-looking headset in the consumer market.
Features
The main feature of the Pimax 8K X is its unparalleled visual fidelity. Each screen is a 3840 x 2160 resolution CLPL display. CLPL is Pimax’s new proprietary technology, and the acronym stands for customized low persistence liquid. Essentially, this display allows for a higher physical pixel density at a lower cost and enables a higher refresh rate and lower response time.
These displays are accompanied by two ultrawide lenses, which allows for an FOV of up to 200 degrees, or 170 degrees horizontally. This FOV can be adjusted via the Pimax software in order to balance performance and FOV width. The large setting takes full advantage of the FOV, while medium, small, and “potato” are 150, 130, and 90 degrees respectively.
Software
The Pimax is not natively compatible with SteamVR, but fortunately Pimax has its own software for the HMD called Pitool. This software optimizes the settings on the headset, both automatically and with support for custom configurations. Pitool also manages firmware configuration and updates its own drivers.
In addition to adjustable FOV, the Pitool software also includes support for fixed foveated rendering. This setting decreases the visual clarity at the edges of the FOV, while maintaining it in the center, in order to increase the performance of the headset. While this feature might sound disruptive, the foveated rendering only happens on the outer corners of your field of view, which would normally not be visible at all on other headsets.
Peripherals and Accessories
One of the drawbacks of the Pimax 8K X is that accessories are not included in the roughly $1250 price that the headset sells for. Pimax does offer accessories like controllers or base stations as add-ons, and the full package is around $1800. While this is fairly steep, it does make the Pimax 8K X a great upgrade headset for those who already have a VR gaming setup.
There are two upgrades to the headstrap. The standard is SMAS, or standard modular audio strap. This is the base headstrap that comes with the headset, and has small speakers built into the strap, similar to the speakers on the Oculus Quest 2. The DMAS, or deluxe modular audio strap, is the upgraded version, which comes with upgraded speakers which cover your ears. The KDMAS, kickstarter deluxe modular audio strap, also comes with upgraded speakers, which are increased in quality over the DMAS, and hover over your ears rather than touching them directly. These speakers are supplied to Pimax by Valve, and are the same speakers as the ones on the Valve Index. The KDMAS is also compatible with a wider variety of Pimax headsets.
Pimax has partnered with UltraLeap for their second add-on, a hand tracking sensor which mounts to the bottom of the headset. In supported games, this eliminates the need for a controller. Outside of games, the hand tracking functionality can be used in a variety of simulators and creative software.
The last upgrade is an eye tracking module, which comes by way of another collaboration with 7invensun. The eye tracking module enables the dynamic foveated rendering feature. Similarly to the fixed foveated rendering option in Pitool, dynamic foveated rendering decreases visual clarity at the outer edges of vision to increase performance. With the eye tracking tool, the section of the screen with decreased clarity changes based on where you are looking. This effectively decreases performance requirements without the drawbacks caused by the foveated rendering.
Drawbacks
Unfortunately, while the Pimax 8K X does lead the consumer market in visual clarity and FOV, it does come with its fair share of drawbacks. The headset itself is large, compared to its competitors. This makes the headset more heavy and unwieldy, and some may find it uncomfortable to wear the 8K X for extended periods of time.
Unlike its competitors, the 8K X does not come with any passthrough cameras. While they are not a necessity, the lack of passthrough cameras is worth considering, especially since the Valve Index, Vive series, and the Oculus Quest 2 all have them.
The base 8K X headset is more expensive than the other leading consumer headsets, and that is before peripherals are taken into account. Most people looking for their first VR headset will need to drop a lot of money on the HMD and peripherals in order to put together a proper gaming setup. Additionally, the wide FOV and high resolution make for some pretty high PC requirements, meaning your PC gaming rig will probably be pretty expensive as well.
Final Impressions
While the Pimax 8K X might lack some features found in other modern headsets, it more than makes up for it with incredible visual clarity and a FOV unmatched by any other headset. The result is a headset that offers incredible immersion, which is great for standard single player games like Half Life: Alyx, simulators like iRacing, or even VR movies. The 8K X might not be for the casual VR enjoyer, but die-hard VR enthusiasts will appreciate the visuals and the level of customizability that the 8K X has to offer.
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