Pimax has announced the Pimax Crystal QLED, a standalone headset with premium visuals. The headset was announced in a YouTube livestream on May 31, 2022.
Pimax considers the Crystal QLED as a headset capable of “VR 3.0,” which they first mentioned during the reveal stream of the Pimax Reality 12K QLED late last year. The 3.0 signifies the three pillars of immersion that Pimax wishes to achieve with their new headsets: Visual, cognitive, and physical immersion. To achieve this goal, the Pimax Crystal QLED is designed to have a high pixel density, inside-out tracking, and be completely standalone without the need for a wired connection.
To accomplish this high pixel density, the Crystal QLED will include a screen with a resolution of 5760x2880 pixels, using mini-QLED technology, which should offer not only high resolution and clarity, but a very impressive color range as well. This screen will be paired with two sets of unique, interchangeable lenses. The modular lenses will let users choose between clarity and FOV, and both sets of lenses will be completely redesigned to increase clarity over previous Pimax lenses. The new design replaces the plastic, or “poly” as Pimax calls them, fresnel lenses, with new coated glass aspheric lenses meant to increase light transmittance and reduce stray light and aberration. New coatings will also reduce the amount of blue light and make the lenses more resistant to scratches.
The headset will be using the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, the same processor found in the Meta Quest 2. Additionally, the Crystal can be linked to a PC in the same way as the Quest, for a PC-based VR experience. Surprisingly, Pimax claims you won’t need to have a beast of a PC to use the Crystal in PC mode, as the Nvidia GTX 1060 and AMD Radeon RX 480 are listed as the minimum requirements.
Probably the biggest question about the new Pimax standalone headsets, the Crystal and the Reality 12K, is what games they will be able to offer. Pimax has announced that they are launching the “Pimax Store,” a competitor to the Oculus Store and Steam, but so far the announced games look a little sparse. Brink Traveler, Cyube VR, and BoomBox were the games revealed during the livestream, but besides the fact that the first two boast impressive graphics, none of the games feel incredibly interesting or at all original. Hopefully Pimax will be able to secure VR staples like Beat Saber, Skyrim, Pavlov, and VRChat, or they may fail to secure a solid user base. There was also no mention as to whether or not the Crystal will include an SD slot, which is something we hope to see in a standalone headset.
The Crystal will launch in Q3 2022, for $1899. Pimax’s other “VR 3.0” headset, the Reality 12K, will be launching in Q4 2022 at $2400.
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