Pimax Crystal Super
- Thread starter ScarySquirrel
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Soldato
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My Super got delivered on Saturday, no DMAS speakers unfortunately, they'll be coming in a later shipment.
First impressions opening the box were good. The headset felt heavier than the Light, but I much preferred the slightly more compact design, and it felt a bit better in the hands as well. The controllers are the same I think - feel incredibly cheap. Not sure if I've posted about my Crystal Light experience on here before, but in short, I had a replacement headset within the initial 14 days and ultimately returned it for a full refund. No matter what IPD adjustments I made, I constantly felt like I was going cross eyed, and I couldn't focus properly on things. I was convinced the Super would be the same.
Thankfully, when I first put the headset on the image was good, no cross eyed feeling, and I could actually focus on things. I initially used the Auto IPD adjustment which was cool, but when I did some testing with each eye closed and moving the head around slowly, I found that both eyes were not in the right spot at the same time. So I opted to adjust manually. I also did the IPD adjustment in the software using the method where you close one eye and hold a controller in front of you, then lift up the headset over and over to make sure the controllers line up in the VR space and in the real world. I ended up with +1.5 for my left eye and -0.2 for my right eye. My IPD as measured by an app (no idea how accurate) is 64mm, and in Pimax Play I'm using 63.7mm. This all seems to be working and I have no eye strain, no cross eyes, etc.
Comfort
Better than the Crystal Light out of the box, and I have been using it without any mods (I haven't bothered to fit the comfort top strap yet as I'm waiting for the DMAS speakers) and it is acceptable. It's still not particularly comfortable though. For me the Crystal Light was pretty much unusable out of the box, this is usable, but for long sessions will need mods. The extra weight puts a lot of pressure on the lower part of my face/nose, and due to where the headset has to be worn to get a sharp image, I've found sometimes this has even ever so slightly restricted my breathing through my nose. Not ideal!
I definitely think I would benefit from some spacers not only for comfort but also to help with image clarity, as I find that when I tighten the headset too much to keep it secure, I can feel my eyelashes on the lenses and the focus/clarity suffers from being too close to the lenses.
Visuals
Brightness, contrast, colours, black levels - all amazing as far as I'm concerned. I could not be happier.
FOV is also very good. I'm coming from a Quest 3, and briefly a Crystal Light, it's a noticeable upgrade in FOV. Others may have a different experience. I am conscious that my face shape means my eyes are very close (too close) to the lenses, so that will be giving me a higher FOV. I will lose some of this with spacers added.
Binocular overlap. I didn't even know what this was until I started shopping around for a new headset. My one complaint about the Quest 3 was always the feeling of looking through a pair of binoculars - two very distinct images with big black circles around each, and a black blur in the middle of the image. This is all but completely gone with the Super. Instead I'm looking at a single image, and it's bloody amazing. You can still se a bit in the middle and obviously there's black edges, but it's so much better than my Quest 3.
Clarity/sharpness - this has been game/setting dependent, and I'm still trying to dial things in in terms of performance (I'll get to that). The headset is capable of incredibly sharp and clear visuals. The sweet spot does feel like it's quite small, but most of the rest of the headset is only slightly less clear if that makes sense. So it feels important to get it in the right position, but if I'm slightly off it doesn't make things as bad as I thought it might. The image is generally very good and sharp across most of the lens. In iRacing (my main use) the visuals are incredible. The image is incredibly sharp and my experience has been very good. I don't normally do a huge amount of practice, but I loaded into a couple of practice servers and found myself completing a lap and saying to myself "just one more lap", because I was enjoying it so much. I have also finally got an aluminium sim rig so that probably helped the enjoyment as well.
There is a very slight blur when moving my head side to side, it's minimal, but something I thought worth mentioning. It hasn't ruined my enjoyment of the headset.
Mura
I wish I never learned what mura was. I was happily using my Quest 3 and never noticed it, until I read about it and went looking for it, then I noticed it a lot more than before. But it was never a huge issue for me.
The mura on my Super is considerably worse than my Quest 3. It is very noticeable not only on white/grey, but also on lighter colours as well. When I'm focussed on something it doesn't bother me, but if I'm just on a loading screen, in menus, or similar, it is very noticeable. I don't know if it's so bad that I need a replacement, or if they're all like this. It's definitely surprised me how bad it was though. If you're really sensitive to this and it ruins your experience you may what to consider another headset, or hope you don't have it as bad as me.
Tracking
No issues at all so far. Tracking has been good. Not much more to say on this.
Performance
I have a 9800X3D, 5090, 64GB RAM. I wouldn't want to be trying to run this with anything less to be honest.
There's so many settings to consider, and I've spent hours and hours tweaking and testing to try and get things running right in each of the main games I play. This has been quite tedious to be honest. Not only have you got a myriad of options through Pimax Play, you have to consider SteamVR settings, runtimes, other applications that change settings, in game settings, Nvidia control panel settings. I don't mind a bit of tweaking but it's quite overwhelming when I only have a fairly basic understanding of what most of it does.
In iRacing I'm using OpenXR with the OpenXR Toolkit.
SteamVR I'm using OpenComposite to run OpenXR. I've had some issues with games not loading properly and only showing a black screen, but that seems fixed for now.
I initially tried the new GPU upscaling in Pimax Play and weirdly had a terrible experience. Frame rates were obviously improved but the image was significantly worse. However, after tweaking other things I tried it again and it was absolutely fine. This just highlights my point about tweaking and really having to find the right settings for each game.
I've got Le Mans Ultimate looking and playing pretty well now, but I need to do more on that.
AMS2 I just cannot get looking right. I've always found it a bit difficult to get it looking right even with my Quest 3. Definitely need to spend more time on this.
Summary
Overall, I'm more impressed than I thought I would be. I knew it would be difficult to power such a high resolution VR headset, but I thought with my rig it wouldn't be that bad. So this has surprised me a bit.
At the moment I'm more likely to keep it than return it. I'm looking forward to getting things dialled in more for each game.
Sorry for the long post!
EDIT: I've spent a couple more hours this morning getting LMU and AMS2 running right. They both look really good now and are running pretty much a solid 90fps. VERY HAPPY! 100% keeping the Super now.
First impressions opening the box were good. The headset felt heavier than the Light, but I much preferred the slightly more compact design, and it felt a bit better in the hands as well. The controllers are the same I think - feel incredibly cheap. Not sure if I've posted about my Crystal Light experience on here before, but in short, I had a replacement headset within the initial 14 days and ultimately returned it for a full refund. No matter what IPD adjustments I made, I constantly felt like I was going cross eyed, and I couldn't focus properly on things. I was convinced the Super would be the same.
Thankfully, when I first put the headset on the image was good, no cross eyed feeling, and I could actually focus on things. I initially used the Auto IPD adjustment which was cool, but when I did some testing with each eye closed and moving the head around slowly, I found that both eyes were not in the right spot at the same time. So I opted to adjust manually. I also did the IPD adjustment in the software using the method where you close one eye and hold a controller in front of you, then lift up the headset over and over to make sure the controllers line up in the VR space and in the real world. I ended up with +1.5 for my left eye and -0.2 for my right eye. My IPD as measured by an app (no idea how accurate) is 64mm, and in Pimax Play I'm using 63.7mm. This all seems to be working and I have no eye strain, no cross eyes, etc.
Comfort
Better than the Crystal Light out of the box, and I have been using it without any mods (I haven't bothered to fit the comfort top strap yet as I'm waiting for the DMAS speakers) and it is acceptable. It's still not particularly comfortable though. For me the Crystal Light was pretty much unusable out of the box, this is usable, but for long sessions will need mods. The extra weight puts a lot of pressure on the lower part of my face/nose, and due to where the headset has to be worn to get a sharp image, I've found sometimes this has even ever so slightly restricted my breathing through my nose. Not ideal!
I definitely think I would benefit from some spacers not only for comfort but also to help with image clarity, as I find that when I tighten the headset too much to keep it secure, I can feel my eyelashes on the lenses and the focus/clarity suffers from being too close to the lenses.
Visuals
Brightness, contrast, colours, black levels - all amazing as far as I'm concerned. I could not be happier.
FOV is also very good. I'm coming from a Quest 3, and briefly a Crystal Light, it's a noticeable upgrade in FOV. Others may have a different experience. I am conscious that my face shape means my eyes are very close (too close) to the lenses, so that will be giving me a higher FOV. I will lose some of this with spacers added.
Binocular overlap. I didn't even know what this was until I started shopping around for a new headset. My one complaint about the Quest 3 was always the feeling of looking through a pair of binoculars - two very distinct images with big black circles around each, and a black blur in the middle of the image. This is all but completely gone with the Super. Instead I'm looking at a single image, and it's bloody amazing. You can still se a bit in the middle and obviously there's black edges, but it's so much better than my Quest 3.
Clarity/sharpness - this has been game/setting dependent, and I'm still trying to dial things in in terms of performance (I'll get to that). The headset is capable of incredibly sharp and clear visuals. The sweet spot does feel like it's quite small, but most of the rest of the headset is only slightly less clear if that makes sense. So it feels important to get it in the right position, but if I'm slightly off it doesn't make things as bad as I thought it might. The image is generally very good and sharp across most of the lens. In iRacing (my main use) the visuals are incredible. The image is incredibly sharp and my experience has been very good. I don't normally do a huge amount of practice, but I loaded into a couple of practice servers and found myself completing a lap and saying to myself "just one more lap", because I was enjoying it so much. I have also finally got an aluminium sim rig so that probably helped the enjoyment as well.
There is a very slight blur when moving my head side to side, it's minimal, but something I thought worth mentioning. It hasn't ruined my enjoyment of the headset.
Mura
I wish I never learned what mura was. I was happily using my Quest 3 and never noticed it, until I read about it and went looking for it, then I noticed it a lot more than before. But it was never a huge issue for me.
The mura on my Super is considerably worse than my Quest 3. It is very noticeable not only on white/grey, but also on lighter colours as well. When I'm focussed on something it doesn't bother me, but if I'm just on a loading screen, in menus, or similar, it is very noticeable. I don't know if it's so bad that I need a replacement, or if they're all like this. It's definitely surprised me how bad it was though. If you're really sensitive to this and it ruins your experience you may what to consider another headset, or hope you don't have it as bad as me.
Tracking
No issues at all so far. Tracking has been good. Not much more to say on this.
Performance
I have a 9800X3D, 5090, 64GB RAM. I wouldn't want to be trying to run this with anything less to be honest.
There's so many settings to consider, and I've spent hours and hours tweaking and testing to try and get things running right in each of the main games I play. This has been quite tedious to be honest. Not only have you got a myriad of options through Pimax Play, you have to consider SteamVR settings, runtimes, other applications that change settings, in game settings, Nvidia control panel settings. I don't mind a bit of tweaking but it's quite overwhelming when I only have a fairly basic understanding of what most of it does.
In iRacing I'm using OpenXR with the OpenXR Toolkit.
SteamVR I'm using OpenComposite to run OpenXR. I've had some issues with games not loading properly and only showing a black screen, but that seems fixed for now.
I initially tried the new GPU upscaling in Pimax Play and weirdly had a terrible experience. Frame rates were obviously improved but the image was significantly worse. However, after tweaking other things I tried it again and it was absolutely fine. This just highlights my point about tweaking and really having to find the right settings for each game.
I've got Le Mans Ultimate looking and playing pretty well now, but I need to do more on that.
AMS2 I just cannot get looking right. I've always found it a bit difficult to get it looking right even with my Quest 3. Definitely need to spend more time on this.
Summary
Overall, I'm more impressed than I thought I would be. I knew it would be difficult to power such a high resolution VR headset, but I thought with my rig it wouldn't be that bad. So this has surprised me a bit.
At the moment I'm more likely to keep it than return it. I'm looking forward to getting things dialled in more for each game.
Sorry for the long post!
EDIT: I've spent a couple more hours this morning getting LMU and AMS2 running right. They both look really good now and are running pretty much a solid 90fps. VERY HAPPY! 100% keeping the Super now.
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Thanks for the long post!! It's great. Glad you are liking the Super more than the Light. It seems you got lucky with the Pimax Lottery this time around 
I am also surprised that it's that difficult to run. Nvidia better hurry up and launch the 5090 Super
I am also surprised that it's that difficult to run. Nvidia better hurry up and launch the 5090 Super
Soldato
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Big difference between the two
Pimax Crystal 2880x2800 (4312x5100)x2 = 43.98m
Pimax Crystal Super 3840x3840 (6420x7412)x2 = 95.17m
My 5090 can just about run the light at decent settings
Pimax Crystal 2880x2800 (4312x5100)x2 = 43.98m
Pimax Crystal Super 3840x3840 (6420x7412)x2 = 95.17m
My 5090 can just about run the light at decent settings
Soldato
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Have you tried turning the brightness down? I've not tried the super myself but I've heard its very bright by default and that lowering the brightness can help with the mura.
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I've got it down to 90, but I probably could lower it a bit more so will give that a go.
I've just done a race in iRacing, the image is so crisp it's amazing. Really happy with the headset now I've spent some time playing with the settings and working out what works best.
I've just done a race in iRacing, the image is so crisp it's amazing. Really happy with the headset now I've spent some time playing with the settings and working out what works best.
Don
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Not fast enoughThanks for the long post!! It's great. Glad you are liking the Super more than the Light. It seems you got lucky with the Pimax Lottery this time around
I am also surprised that it's that difficult to run. Nvidia better hurry up and launch the 5090 Super
You need a 6090 ideally
I'm very pleased that you are pleased with it, I know its a lot of pixels to push even for a 5090, to help with that there's that new Pimax upscaling feature that a lot of people are talking about on the Pimax discord, not sure if you're aware of it, I think its enabled through the Pimax Play software. Great to hear your headset is without major defects and that you're pleased with it, I bet the image is stunning with that PPD and FOV, always nice to hear about something going well.
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Yes, I've tried it. It makes a noticeable difference in terms of image clarity though. It's definitely usable but without it on and using other upscaling methods (CAS through OpenXR Toolkit for example) I'm getting a much sharper image.
Soldato
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@ScarySquirrel try moving the local dimming to 50% it helps with black crush and really boosts the brightness. Then lower the actual brightness to 75.
Nice one, thanks for the review @ScarySquirrel. You're the first on here to get one no?
All in ll I'm still glad I cancelled my Super order and went with the Light instead. The mura does sound concerning, but the main thing for me is the performance. I've recently upgraded to a 5090 and like @glenimp617 I reckon it's only just about strong enough to run the Light at native res. For my needs it is anyway.
I'd like to hear more on the Super's local dimming but I have a feeling it's not much better than the Light and still very poor compared to OLED. I keep running back to back tests with my PSVR2 and the Crystal Light to compare black levels and it's no where near! The reviewers who say local dimming is nearly as good as OLED are totally full of ****. Totally. For dark games the difference is night and day. Pun intended.
Oh and I got around to testing the new Pimax Play features. Not done a deep enough dive yet, but my initial impression was that GPU upscaling via FSR 1.0 (which is the algo this uses) is absolutely as horrible as I thought it would be.
All in ll I'm still glad I cancelled my Super order and went with the Light instead. The mura does sound concerning, but the main thing for me is the performance. I've recently upgraded to a 5090 and like @glenimp617 I reckon it's only just about strong enough to run the Light at native res. For my needs it is anyway.
I'd like to hear more on the Super's local dimming but I have a feeling it's not much better than the Light and still very poor compared to OLED. I keep running back to back tests with my PSVR2 and the Crystal Light to compare black levels and it's no where near! The reviewers who say local dimming is nearly as good as OLED are totally full of ****. Totally. For dark games the difference is night and day. Pun intended.
Oh and I got around to testing the new Pimax Play features. Not done a deep enough dive yet, but my initial impression was that GPU upscaling via FSR 1.0 (which is the algo this uses) is absolutely as horrible as I thought it would be.
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Soldato
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do you play any racing games? I remember how awesome long beach looked at night on the psvr2 and meganex. It was glorious! The crystal is way better than say a quest3, but nowhere near OLED. It almost looked real life.
someone on the discord mentioned a trick about using the oxrtoolkit to reduce the vertical fov to that of a crash helmet. It looked really good, and reduced the GPU load right down to that of a psvr2, which isn't much more than the quest.
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I'm running iRacing at native res, and LMU/AMS2 at 0.75.
Coming from the Quest 3 the black levels are amazing. When you load Half Life Alyx and you get that Valve intro, the guy with the red valve on the back of his head, the blacks are proper black. I've not tried an OLED VR headset but I have an OLED TV and PC monitor, so I know what it's like. Honestly the Super's black levels are amazing.
Soldato
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when you get chance mate have a play with the local dimming slider. Too much and you get terrible black crush to the point you can actually hide some details inside the cockpit.
@ScarySquirrel when did you order yours? Thanks for the review makes me feel better about my preorder
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I ordered on the 29th March.
cheers