justsomedude101 It took a minute for it to ship and get here, but I have had it for about a week now. I can only compare to my previous HMD's so mileage may vary depending on what you are already used to. So far I have had Rift DK2, CV1, Go, Quest, Quest 2. On Q2 my choice of playback in terms of picture quality is Pigasus, and on the Crystal I am using HereSphere (damn that player is NICE!! once you learn the controls)
The clarity on it is unreal, obviously. In fact, so good that it now shows limits/flaws in videos that were otherwise considered exceptional on the Q2 since the Oculus is not able to resolve the finest of details due to screen resolution. I am using the 35ppd lens, and they will be shipping the 42ppd lens (hopefully soon) to everyone that has purchased the headset. Also these are glass lenses which seem to further add to the clarity. 8KX was the current 'god mode' HMD in terms of resolution, and it sits right around 21ppd... that increase is pretty crazy to consider, albeit Crystal trades massive clarity for the ultrawide FOV. My opinions of 'top studio' for picture quality/clarity have changed slightly this last week, and that brand new 190 degree 8K Breakfast In Bed scene from SLRO is fucking insane. Speaking purely from a clarity/color perspective, it is 100% a benchmark. A noticeable step up from the previous best of the best from any studio, including SLR's own work. I hope that becomes the new standard rig for all of their scenes from here on out. I was not a fan of 190 fisheye originally due to the scale problems, I would rather have perfect scale a less clarity than ultra sharp clarity with whack scale. Now that they were able to work the Canon Mod magic, that is a non issue and the 190 fisheye is incredible.
The POV for me is not bad, coming from a Q2. It is definitely a bigger "window". I have seen many numbers thrown around and on paper it doesnt sound like it is bigger than Q2, but I feel it is taller/wider. With all Oculus hmd's I have felt like I'm looking through a periscope, in that the viewport is sort of round shaped. The Crystal has a square viewport. That may not sound like much but not having the corners cut off adds quite a bit of picture without adding extra horizontal FOV. It makes it so that the entire left/right edge of the viewport is very close to being in my peripheral vision where as Q2 FOV is quite distracting to me. Also the vertical FOV of Crystal is noticeably bigger. I think vertical FOV is under-rated and not mentioned enough in the context of our hobby. I do know some here are B/G/G/G/G/G/G/G enjoyers, and in those cases ultra wide horizontal FOV is a game changer. But in the case of B/G or B/G/G, I feel the vertical adds more than horizontal once you get to a certain FOV width. Not having to move your head up/down as much and just moving your eyes feels much more natural.
The sound is excellent, you absolutely can not tell sound is coming from L/R speakers, it has a very nice and natural "soundstage". This is something that all Index, and similar users already know, but this is the first time I have had off ear speakers.
Inside out tracking works great (better than Q2 in my opinion), controllers are acceptable (but short battery life) and I was a bit surprised at the run time of the headset battery, it was better than expected and they give you 2 of them so you can swap if needed. I have not ran one out in a single sitting though. It is heavy, but surprisingly balanced and comfortable with the stock face pads. I am wanting to get a thicker pad that moves the lenses just a very little bit further from my eyes.
Downsides-- At the extreme edge of the view port border there is some chromatic aberration. the very edge of the border has a slight bluish color. However, there is ZERO distortion. Also, you need to have it positioned in the sweet spot, you can get some slight off axis color shift, but nothing too horrible (its not like a TN panel pc monitor or anything) and the headset is easily adjustable to get it right. Color accuracy wont blow your mind, but HereSphere gives a shitload of tools to adjust that, and to save it as a different profile per video. The thicker face pad mentioned earlier I believe will help color shift/accuracy as well, just by pulling from my face a bit and seeing the difference. I would also say that with having Mini LED QLED screens it sounds like you're about to strap on a super high end LG TV or something in terms of color and contrast, I don't think it is quite as good as I expected but is still certainly very good. Coming from the simple, untethered set up of a Quest 2, I think it feels clunky getting everything set up. The software works fine, but you have to start up Pimax software, wait for the headset to connect, then Steam VR software, then mess with Steam library...I just think there is something to be said about the simplicity and untethered nature of Q2.
So those are my thoughts. If you're on the fence with a 12K I guess it depends on how patient you are, and what HMD you're already working with as they are notorious for late late late product delivery. But after seeing the Crystals clarity, the thought of having that mixed with ultra wide FOV......holy shit.... (or should I say, holy grail)..... I would imagine I'll eventually sell the Crystal to put towards a 12K when they release.
