Pimax Crystal Light Pro: a thorough review

Today I host on this blog a new amazing article by Rob Cole, who has reviewed in thorough detail the Pimax Cristal Light, in a Pro variant. And as usual, he has also modded it for improved comfort…

[Disclaimer : Pimax Crystal Light, Lighthouse faceplate, and DMAS speakers were provided by Pimax, Studioform Creative products were provided by Studioform Creative]

Introduction

Last year saw the launch of the Pimax Crystal, which was thoroughly covered by The Ghost Howls with two long-read articles, featuring first a pre-production unit, and later a production headset with updated software unlocking important hardware functions such as eye tracking and lighthouse faceplate.

I’ve been using the original Crystal for over a year. It took some experimentation to get the fit right, but resulted in a comfortable headset with amazing visuals, great lighthouse tracking, and impressive DMAS audio.

The eye tracking and Dynamic Foveated Rendering proved very useful in reducing the performance load for a number of OpenVR DX11 titles and OpenXR titles I regularly enjoyed playing, as running 100% resolution was very taxing for my RTX 4080 system in many VR titles even at 72hz.

Using Pimax’s very thin and flexible 6.5-metre fibre optic tether made the headset feel lighter than its actual weight because there was noticeably less drag and unwanted tether influence on the headset when moving around, especially for roomscale but also for seated VR.

However, it’s still a heavy headset at over 1.2kg which means that weight has to be accommodated (you quickly get used to it) but it’s often felt as inertia causing the headset to lag if moving your head about quickly, so perhaps not always my first choice for playing Beat Saber in Expert mode (though it looks incredible!)

And the onboard XR2 processor means a removeable battery is always required, even for tethered PCVR mode. Typically I would get about 2.5 hours of runtime with eye tracking, or around 3 hours with it switched off. It was possible to extend battery life with an extra USB hub and additional cabling but I stuck to using the Pimax battery recharging cradle as required, to keep both batteries charged in rotation and enjoy the full freedom of the fibre optic tether.

The standalone mode never took off, with a sparsely populated store attracting few users. Not surprising considering the huge investment it takes to attract titles to a new store and compete with existing platform holders like Meta, Valve, and HTC.

Pimax Crystal Super features (Image by Pimax)

Earlier this year, Pimax announced that a cut-down “Crystal Light” variant of their original Crystal was in development, alongside a flagship “Crystal Super” variant with interchangeable optical engines. Gone from the Crystal Light were the XR2 processor, battery and power strap, Tobii eye tracking, and motorised IPD, taking a chunk of weight off the headset and a big reduction in price.

The focus seemed to be back on pure PCVR, neatly addressing the sim market’s desire for an affordable G2 replacement with Microsoft now sunsetting WMR. Pimax’s European roadshow landed in London earlier this year in June where I got to try the Crystal Light in the basement of a public library of all strange locations, as reported for Skarredghost.

Early impressions were favourable, and Pimax was soon flooded with orders as it became the first affordable high-resolution PCVR DisplayPort headset aimed at enthusiastic consumers, typically the racing sim and flight sim users. A number of months after release, Pimax sent me a production Crystal Light headset for testing in this exclusive article for Skarredghost.

Something that had caught my eye prior to shipping was a marketing email featuring the “Pro Experience Kit” which included a Lighthouse (SteamVR) faceplate and DMAS speakers. This would give tracking and audio parity with my original Crystal which had already been upgraded with both, making for a much fairer comparison of the two Pimax Crystal headsets, so Pimax agreed to include the Pro version for this article.

Pimax Pro Experience Kit for Crystal Light (Image by Pimax)

I had good results in the past using Studioform Creative’s products for VR headsets, using their Apache strap on my Index, and their face fitting kit for the original Crystal. After seeing some marketing promoting their new Crystal Light kits, I reached out and they agreed to send a bunch of their fitting products for me to try out with the Light. Their shipping was extremely quick despite coming from New Zealand and arrived just before the headset from Pimax.

Specifications

[Specs taken from Pimax’s website: https://pimax.com/products/pimax-crystal-light]

Crystal Light Headset

“Ultra-sharp 2880 x 2880 resolution per eye

Glass aspheric lenses with a large sweet spot.
35 PPD for super clear vision.
Variable refresh rate (60Hz, 72Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz) provides smooth gameplay.
Manually adjustable IPD (58-72mm).
Local dimming delivers vibrant, true-to-life colors.
Foveated Rendering: Fixed 2.0.
Easy setup with inside-out tracking or expand with Lighthouse tracking.
Audio: interchangeable 3.5mm jack, 2x microphone.”

(Note – though not mentioned here, the BOE display panel is a QLED type with Quantum Dot Layer in addition to the local dimming technology)

Lighthouse Faceplate

“The Lighthouse Faceplate is an add-on for the Pimax Crystal series headsets, designed to enable high-precision external tracking. Instead of using the built-in cameras on the headset, it relies on external base stations (Lighthouses) for improved accuracy and a wider range of movement. Base stations are required for the Lighthouse Faceplate to function.

The Lighthouse Faceplate integrates with SteamVR setups and is compatible with Pimax Sword controllers, Index Knuckles controllers, HTC VIVE controllers, VIVE Tracker (1.0/2.0/3.0), and Tundra Tracker. This faceplate is compatible with Pimax Crystal, Crystal Sim and Pimax Crystal Light.”

DMAS audio

“40mm headphone driver unit
High-fidelity audio”

Some additional information:

BMR (Balanced Mode Radiator type) drivers
Manufactured by Tectonic who supplied similar drivers for Valve Index and Reverb G2.
Graphic on the headphone arm says “DTS X” (audio certification).
The DMAS speakers have adjustable speaker height (sliding beam) and rotation to ensure the best fit. Supplied with fitting screws and screwdriver tool.

The Lens issue

Something that reared its head during the months between the roadshow and my headset arrival were complaints on social media about customers receiving headsets with lens distortion, affecting one lens or both lenses, sometimes in different ways.

Pimax support supplied replacement lenses as quickly as possible which cured the issue for some, whilst others didn’t get a satisfactory result and had further lenses sent. A smaller number of customers returned the headset for replacement or refunds. Pimax was aware of this issue and mentioned improving quality control with their lens manufacturer which reportedly makes high-end optical glass for camera companies.

The headset I had tried at the London roadshow a few months earlier was impressive with no lens issues that I could see during my short demo time, but I was keen to see what a production headset looked like as unfortunately, new posts were still appearing on Reddit and Discord complaining about lenses with distortion.

As the Crystal Light “Pro Experience Kit” was supplied with the SteamVR faceplate and DMAS speakers as additional items, these would require fitting once I had removed the stock faceplate and stock SMAS speakers. First though, there was the important step of unboxing the headset to have a good look at what was included, and check out the headset itself including the much talked about glass aspherical lenses.

Unboxing

The Crystal Light arrived in a sturdy outer cardboard box, protecting a large black Pimax cardboard box and a long brown cardboard box with the Lighthouse faceplate inside. The black Pimax box contained the headset with the copper DP tether and standard SMAS headphones already fitted; thick and thin face cushions with forehead support, a pair of Pimax 6 DoF motion controllers, a Power Supply Unit for the tether, bagged DMAS speakers with tool and screws, several USB cables and accessories including a lens cleaning cloth and information booklets.

Tethering

The Crystal Light is different from the original Crystal in not requiring a replaceable battery as all power is supplied through a copper DisplayPort (DP) tether. This is 4.5 metres in total length including the USB and DP leads for the PC, and has an inline power injector plugged into a short mains power cable included with the headset.

The copper DP tether can feel a bit rigid as it’s quite thick, it’s presence felt even when seated as it can tug or move the headset slightly when moving your head or body about. It takes some awareness to control this, but this is not much different from older VR headsets like the Valve Index or Vive Pro with similar copper DP tethers. The Pimax tether is also a touch short, it would also benefit from being a little longer, perhaps 5 metres, as the transition between the rear of the PC and the floor always reduces overall tether length.

Having been spoiled by a year using the flexible and light-feeling fibre optic tether on the original Crystal, I longed for a similar fibre optic tether for the Crystal Light. The extra length at 6.5 metres really suited my setup especially for roomscale gaming, whilst the noticeable reduction in the tether physically interfering with the headset would be worth every dollar of the upgrade cost.

Plugging the Crystal Light into your PC involves connecting the DP plug to your GPU, the USB plug to your motherboard, and then inserting the power connector for the mains supply. I already asked Pimax if the original Crystal’s fibre optic tether would fit, but due to the different power delivery it’s not compatible.

Cushioning

The Crystal Light comes with a good selection of comfortable padded velcro-backed cushions placed at strategic locations including two different thickness face cushions with forehead support, as seen in the image above. There are also long left and right headstrap cushions covering the speaker mounts and wiring, and two cushions at the rear, as seen below. First to come into contact with you is a triangular contact cushion on a hinged plate which the main head strap is attached to, whilst there is a long curved cushion sitting behind it, secured to the inside of the rear headstrap with velcro.

Quick Setup

I took the headset straight out of the box, factory fitted with the standard SMAS speakers, and setup for use with the Pimax inside-out tracking. I installed the latest Pimax Play software (I already had an account for my original Crystal) as I wanted to see what would happen “out the box” by just plugging it in, and trying out Aircar. Was the tracking going to work well? What was the image quality going to look like?

After quickly updating the firmware on the headset with no problem and no extra USB cable required (unlike the original Crystal), I didn’t even do any room setup, but just started Pimax Play and then SteamVR, launching “Aircar” at 72hz and 100% resolution.

Aircar has its own centring button on my Xbox Elite 2 controller so it’s super easy to get aligned and start playing. I really wanted to check out the Light’s lenses in a game. The lenses looked good in the SteamVR home environment and using the desktop view to browse my Pimax Play settings, but some time in familiar games is always a good place to spot anything unusual in the optical stack.

I had no issues with headset tracking or maintaining ground level whilst playing Aircar seated, and after raising the volume level, I found that the standard SMAS speakers were actually quite effective at providing good engine noise for simming, passable music reproduction, and, most importantly, good spatial audio.

Lens Report

My first task was to carefully check out the lenses so I spent time flying in Aircar and DCS, and drove a Formula 1 setup in Project Cars 2 and a GT setup in Assetto Corsa which gives different views of the racing world. I also played many classic games like Compound, Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, Valve’s The Lab, and Space Pirate Trainer.

The Crystal Light lenses looked very similar to the lenses in my original Crystal, pleased to report that both the lenses looked good with no visible distortion across the familiar rectangular field of view I’d spent many hours looking through in the original Crystal.

From my experience with the original Crystal, aspherical lenses can take some time to get used to and really benefit from a good headset fit for each user to provide optimum alignment with the lens centres, for maximum clarity with good geometric stability to prevent any pupil swim. It’s quite easy to place them incorrectly due to the overall clarity, but this can lead to some discomfort so it’s worth taking time to get it dialled.

Just like my original Crystal, the Crystal Light lenses do have a decrease in image quality towards the very outer edges where it starts to become a little blurry. It’s not edge-to-edge sharp like Meta Quest 3 was for me, but this outer area is not something normally seen in game unless you gaze into unusual positions or you actively look for it. The aspherical lenses present a much brighter picture without any glare or ghosting artifacts.

Good news for Crystal Light users is that it’s easy to mod the headset using velcro-attached cushions and different straps to support various face and head shapes. It has also got granular, mechanical IPD adjustment of 58mm-72mm (and there are software-based IPD offsets in the Pimax Play client software to provide further adjustment for individual asymmetry). It’s great to see Pimax also taking the modular approach with different face cushions, speakers, faceplates, comfort top straps, and other attachments.

Eye Relief and IPD

Crystal Light lacks a mechanical “eye relief” adjustment. Older systems like the HTC Vive Pro and Valve Index had mechanical eye relief adjusters to give users granular control of this very important adjustment, which ensures the eyes are at the correct depth in the eyebox volume. Eye-relief can be described as “the distance along the optical axis from the cornea of the eye to the surface of the first optical element”, in layperson’s words the gap between headset lenses and eyeballs.

It defines the distance at which the user can obtain full viewing angles without distortion, which has obvious implications in any near-eye display (NED) like a VR headset, which is heavily dependent on the ergonomic match between the user and the device. As stated by Valve in their deep dive on FOV, “Facial geometry differences between individuals can fairly easily cause the eye relief distance to vary by +/- 6mm.”

AR/VR headset and lens design specifications will include the nominal (optimum) eye relief: for example, 25mm ±1mm and a eye relief range of 20mm – 30mm. As a rough guide, each 1mm of excess eye relief reduces the field of view by about 3 degrees.

If you end up with less eye relief than the system minimum, for example 15mm in our imaginary system which asks for minimum of 20mm, you may not have a great experience which can induce a feeling of being cross eyed or other strange distortions which can be quickly headache inducing. Excess eye relief will present a smaller field of view, which can make things feel rather distant or like looking through binocular field glasses.

For the Crystal Light, the method of adjusting this important “eyeball-to-lens” (eye relief) distance is by using different thickness face cushions to push the eyes away or bring them closer, relative to the headset lenses. It may suggest why some people had poor initial reactions, which some solved with a thicker face cushion to effectively push the eyes back into the eyebox.

You can experiment with adjusting eye relief as the face cushion is fitted with velcro, but it may take a modular fitting kit, or buying a couple of different cushions to get it just right for your individual fit. Pimax includes thick and thin face cushions with the Crystal Light, which provide a good starting point. However, this does not offer granular adjustment as 5mm thickness difference between a thick and thin face cushion is quite a big jump in terms of setting eye relief correctly.

Thankfully this is something Pimax has addressed with the new “Crystal Super” which boasts a mechanical eye relief adjuster at the front of the headset, so it’s easy to make quick, granular adjustments whilst wearing the headset.

Both the Crystal (and Light) are somewhat unusual in using a canted chassis where the display and lenses are not parallel relative to our eyes, but canted outwards at 10 degrees per eye, aiming to maximise the outer horizontal FOV(our noses obscure the inner area) whilst maintaining adequate stereo overlap to present a convincing depth effect. One consideration with canted display headsets like the Crystal Light, and Valve Index to a lesser degree at 5 degrees per eye, is that setting eye relief and IPD correctly is very important to ensure the best experience.

Parallel (left) and canted (right) displays in VR headsets

An additional note: the focal distance on the Crystal and Crystal Lite are also a little shorter than normal headsets at just 1 metre, something to bear in mind if buying prescription inserts. For myself, it felt best getting my eyes as close as possible to the lenses (like my Index) so I ditched the stock face cushion with the forehead support and used a regular shape Studioform Creative PU cushion which seemed to put my eyes in just the right place. Stacking the sides with the velcro strips provided in their fitting kit reduced the width of the face cushion to suit my medium-sized face and stop the headset from wobbling about when moving.

With the position afforded by the new face cushion, I found the lens to have stable geometry with no noticeable warping (which can cause pupil swim) and visuals were extremely clear with no reflections or internal glare. However it felt like the IPD wasn’t quite right at my usual measurement of 63.5mm, which may have been a result of my new position within the canted displays, so I tried increasing the IPD using the plastic adjuster wheel on the side of the headset.

The wheel felt a little vague and disconnected from the action going on inside, including a delay before the physical action moves the digital on-screen indicator, making it easy to overshoot the intended setting. For example, I found 63.3mm jumped to 63.7mm and then back to 63.3mm, not easily allowing me to set my ideal 63.5mm without repeatedly trying to coax it into the right place. I’d like to see a higher quality IPD wheel, perhaps made from aluminum with a better feel to provide improved user feedback when adjusting.

Something else noticed when using SteamVR overlay menus (for example pausing in game) was a slight chromatic aberration around the edges. This wasn’t something I really noticed in the game, perhaps just once or twice in Project Cars 2 pop-up menus after accidentally pressing the wrong button on my controller.

FOV Check

I used two tools to check the field of view, as it’s good to have the reference data (driver) and then my own experience using the headset. The first port of call is the RISA 2000 HMD database, which reports the maximum rendered field of view by scraping the headset driver (this informs the runtime of the headset display properties).

The database can be found here: https://risa2000.github.io/hmdgdb/

This report the Crystal Light as 103.31 degrees horizontal and 103.75 degrees vertical which are the maximum rendered values possible with this headset. Depending on your physiology, this will often be less, especially if you require a thicker face cushion which decreases the visible field of view by increasing the eye relief.

Having changed my face cushion which had also changed my eye relief in a beneficial way to suit my physiology, the stereo overlap now felt a little off using my known physical IPD, whilst the outside horizontal view felt a little clipped on either side. Increasing the IPD from 63.5mm to around 65mm seemed to set the IPD correctly for this new position, with the stereo overlap feeling comfortable whilst opening up the outside edges which was noticeable.

The second tool is WimFov https://boll.itch.io/wimfov

The difference can be seen in the image above, with the horizontal FOV increasing from 101 degrees at 63.6mm to 104 degrees at 65.3mm, which matches the maximum 103.31 degrees on the Risa database from the Pimax driver, as Wimfov is typically within a degree accurate allowing for some user error.

This increase in the horizontal field of view came at the slight expense of stereo overlap, which lost 2 degrees, but this actually felt correct in headset with a convincing sensation of depth and had a slight increase in full sphere coverage.

Studioform Creative

These guys from New Zealand have been on the scene for a number of years now providing essential equipment for anyone interested in ergonomic improvements and customised fitting. Their website can be found here https://www.studioformcreative.com/

Considering you can use a headset for 100s if not 1000s hours in VR, it’s well worth getting your fit really dialled to provide the best support and comfort, and ensure the optical system is well aligned with your own.

In the wise words of lighthouse developer Alan Yates, “The entire point of an HMD is to produce stimulation of your visual system that is as close as possible to the natural light field you experience viewing the real world.”

My package quickly arrived from Studioform Creative in New Zealand and contained many items as seen above. This included a face fitting kit with numerous spacers, a couple of face cushions, top strap cushions, rear cushions, a counterweight ki,t and some very cool-looking mesh bags for my headset and motion controllers.

Overall it was a very impressive product line-up with some great material choices including an Index-like fabric option. With all of these fitting options available, I looked forward to getting my Crystal Light fitted properly, as the Pimax face cushions with the forehead support unfortunately do not fit my face shape.

For my original Crystal, I used the Studioform Creative face kit with the velcro side spacers to narrow the width, and finished it off with their slim conventional style perforated PU face cushion, which provided a great fit comfortable for hours of VR so I expected to do something similar for the Crystal Light.

Lighthouse faceplate installation

I’d had great success using this on the original Crystal after finding the earlier iteration of the inside-out tracking didn’t play nicely with my dedicated SteamVR room (black rubber floor, white walls, no furniture), having problems establishing ground level and behaving when moving about.

The lighthouse faceplate cured all these issues, bringing me back into the glorious realm of sub-mm accuracy roomscale tracking, and most importantly, access to a full range of lighthouse-tracked motion controllers and motion trackers. For this test, I used Pimax Sword, HTC Vive Pro, Valve Index controllers and HTC Vive Tracker 3.0

To be fair to Pimax, their inside-out tracking saw substantial improvements when I tried later firmware versions on the original Crystal, and as mentioned at the start of this article, I found the headset tracking good “out the box” when I first tried Aircar.

Whether you need lighthouse tracking is up to you, but having spent years using lighthouse roomscale tracking on several headsets, it’s hard to give up the benefits, especially for bow shooters, gun games, and anything requiring close interactions. I found lighthouse tracking especially good for the complex, near-field actions of “Into the Radius” where loading single bullets into each magazine really benefits from the sub-mm accuracy and lack of occlusion I get from a good lighthouse tracking setup.

The lighthouse faceplate is very easy to install, although a little unnerving the first time as you need to carefully prise off the stock front plate which can be quite firmly fitted. I recommend using a spludger-type plastic tool, starting at a corner and working your way around the edges until it pops off without much resistance.

The lighthouse faceplate is then easily fitted by aligning its connection plug and the socket in the front of the headset, then pushing the plate firmly down until it clicks home, working around the edges if necessary. The stock faceplate is cosmetic and can be put away safely for storage as it won’t be needed again unless you move away from lighthouse tracking.

The lighthouse faceplate still has the four camera cutouts as seen in the image above which ensures the inside-out tracking is still usable with the lighthouse faceplate fitted, which is very useful for Pimax’s safety guardian (more on this later).

DMAS Installation

The DMAS is Pimax’s version of Valve’s Index BMR speakers, using a similar BMR (balanced mode radiator) driver as the Index as both companies are supplied with these units by Tectonic.

Even if they share an extra-aural (off-ear) design, the DMAS speakers do sound quite different than the Index speakers, and sit much further away from the ears. I found that when using my Index, the DMAS were substantially improved by increasing sound power through the free app Equalizer APO which lets you adjust the pre-amplifier stage to bring these to life.

They work very well with a slightly heavier bass than Index but perhaps are a little less subtle. I wasn’t surprised they sounded slightly different from Index as they use different Tectonic drivers, have different amps, and run different algorithms, as well as they feature a difference in distance between ears and speakers.

They sound really good with music and produce superb effects and spatial audio so I highly rate the DMAS, and would recommend them to all Crystal and Crystal Light users for maximum audio performance with the great quality of life improvement from having no physical contact with the ears, and no extra cabling to tangle or plug in. However, for users in noisy environments, you could find that off-ear speakers leak too much background noise so may prefer to plug good audio headphones into the audio jack on the headset.

The DMAS speakers are also easy to fit, though a little fiddly due to the tiny screws. A screwdriver is provided to remove the screws retaining the stock headphones. Once this is removed the speakers lift off revealing the socket which the DMAS are pushed against: make sure to align the speakers (there is a small ridge). Once aligned, tighten the screws leaving no gap around the speaker and mount; if there is a gap they have not been seated properly which will result in no sound.

Finally, it is always important when talking about sound to mention the quality of the microphones: the Crystal Light has two and they sound good with no distortion when having conversations on social VR platforms including VR Chat.

Studioform Creative Apache strap

The Apache strap is an old favourite that goes back many years. This is the latest version for the Pimax Crystal. It’s a simple but effective idea, several velcro straps wrap around the ear speaker mounts providing a lateral cradle that both supports and cushions the head in conjunction with the Pimax main head strap.

It takes a little time to get the fit right by adjusting the velcro tabs, but once dialled the fitting can be locked in place using small velcro strips to stop the velcro straps coming loose during use. It’s also possible to fix the Apache to the Pimax top strap using additional velcro supplied in the kit, or leave it loose as in the image above. Overall, a very effective solution that is comfortable and durable.

Pimax comfort top strap

Having used this on my original Crystal, I took the pre-emptive move of purchasing another strap from Pimax directly once I knew my Crystal Light was en route, as new stock tends to sell through very quickly. It’s very affordable (under £20). I already fitted one to the Crystal and I wanted parity with the Light for testing, so I removed the Apache strap and fitted the comfort top strap in its place.

Fitting can be a little fiddly as it involves removing the DMAS speakers and using several screws to fit each side of the strap. The main Pimax top strap on the Light is thicker than the strap on the original Crystal, but still fits through the Comfort top strap though it can drag a little when making adjustments.

Something the Pimax comfort top strap lacks is any padding against the head, the first strap I bought last year had a smooth rubberised underside which I quickly covered in soft female velcro to provide some cushioning for my head.

The second comfort strap was similar, but I installed one of the new Creative Studioform cushions for the Pimax comfort top strap which fitted really well providing very comfortable support that didn’t start to thin out even after several weeks of intense use. Highly recommend, and available in different material styles, one of which is seen in the image above. I quickly fitted the other spare cushion to the top strap on my original Crystal after removing my soft velcro hack.

Weigh-in time

The all-important question is: what did the Pimax Crystal Light with the “Pro Experience Pack” weigh? I put it on my digital scales, with the DMAS speakers and Lighthouse faceplate fitted, original Pimax foam cushions, and the copper DP tether lying flat on the table next to the scales.

My scales said 961 grammes, which is a substantial weight reduction on my Pimax Crystal. With the Lighthouse faceplate, DMAS speakers, Pimax comfort top strap, and Studioform Creative cushions all round, it came in at 1127 grammes.

For comparison, my original Crystal with the Lighthouse faceplate, DMAS speakers, Pimax comfort top strap and an Index rear cushion, DP repeater box removed, and fibre optic tether plugged straight into the headset came in at a beefy 1335 grammes.

Crystal Light has a noticeable reduction of overall headset weight at 208 grammes lighter even when fitted with the Pro pack, Comfort top strap, and the Studioform Creative cushions. Or an even larger reduction at 374 grammes with just the Pro pack fitted and stock Pimax cushions. These reductions in weight were also felt as reduced intertia when moving my head around quickly, making it more stable and less prone to unwanted movement or lag.

However, an interesting thing I soon realised is that headset “weight” is a combination of the headset weight as mass (with its own inertia) and the type of tether used. The tether has a big influence on the perceived weight of the headset, if the tether is causing a feeling of drag when moving, or pulls on the headset when turning your head.

So though the Crystal Light headset itself was undoubtedly lighter with less interia compared to my original Crystal, this benefical feeling overall was reduced by using the shorter and more rigid copper DP tether. I’d definitely like to see a fibre optic option here for the Crystal Light users, as though my original Crystal is heavier, it’s very comfortable and well balanced, but most importantly feels freed by the long and thin fibre optic tether which some users have described as making it feel “almost standalone”.

Pimax Play

Pimax has recently talked about seeing Pimax Play (its client software) as a product in its own right, rather than just a software to make the headsets work. It’s seen rapid iteration with many updates, some introducing new features, stability and adjustment, some breaking a few things, bug fixing, and further updates putting it right. Pimax’s developers seem constantly busy improving Pimax Play. It has recently had a number of OpenXR tools integrated making it easier to use quad-views in compatible applications,or Pimax’s fixed foveated rendering tool.

Pimax Play is installed on the client PC and gives access to a full range of power controls, which are easy to use, whilst giving much more adjustment than is typically found on the big brand VR headsets. Options on the home page include “Guidance” “Room Setting”, “Restart Headset”, “Device Settings”, “Start SteamVR”, “Set Pair” and “Restart Service”.

Room Settings

This uses the 4 tracking cameras, even when in SteamVR (lighthouse) mode, and like a Meta or Pico headset, allows you to see your actual room environment and paint the boundaries with a controller, or do a simple standing /seated setup with 3 sizes of boundary. It’s very easy to use, you just set the floor height by pointing the controller. It seems a big step up from the lighthouse method which involves taking off the headset, laying controllers on your floor, physically tracing your boundary with a controller, and finally putting the headset back on!

Safety guardian

This again was simple but very effective: if breaking my chaperone boundaries the VR view faded and it instantly switched to roomscale with the boundary showing up to warn me. When moving back inside the boundary, it switched back to VR. It was very impressive stuff and super useful for grabbing a waterbottle during a gaming session.

There was also a setting in Pimax Play to enable the passthrough mode by double-tapping the side of the headset. It’s not colour or high resolution but still useful for seeing what is going on in the real world, for example, to orientate your hands on your keyboard (this is seen in the image above on the right side). It was also very cool seeing my lighthouse operating through the setup guardian with the lighthouses sweeping the room proving why they are called what they are (this is seen in the image above on the left side).

Set Pair

Set Pair is an easy tool to pair SteamVR ecosystem devices including Pimax Sword controllers, HTC Vive controllers, Valve Index controllers, and various SteamVR trackers all of which played very nicely with my lighthouse faceplate-equipped Crystal Light during the testing.

Stability

Pimax Play performance was very stable with no connection issues, unlike my original Crystal which still occasionally struggles to connect usually requiring a restart of Windows.

For the Crystal Light, it worked every single time without any issues, and also worked offline for 6 days when my broadband connection was damaged by a recent storm here in the UK. Updates to the headset firmware and the Pimax Play client were handled without any fuss.

Device Settings

This contains many options including the ability to adjust resolution, frame rate (with new 90hz upscale mode), brightness, local dimming, IPD offsets, tracking system type, passthrough mode, chaperone, motion compensation, fixed foveated rendering and quad views, adjustment of OpenXR runtime type, etc. It’s very easy to use and comprehensive but some settings do require a restart of SteamVR to apply.

Rear Harness Mod

After spending some time with the Crystal Light, I noticed a slight discomfort at the rear of my head so I tried experimenting with different shape rear head cushions. I also stacked velcro spacers at the bottom edge of the cushion to create more angle so it could cup the rear of my head. I’d noticed during the London roadshow that several users seem to have the rear cushion floating off the head and not really pulled into contact, something I assumed was due to rushed fitting or inexperience.

However, after spending time with my own Light, I found that the rear of the headset wasn’t providing the correct cushion orientation to suit the rear of my head. As seen in the image below, the rear of the skull is divided between the parietal bone and the occipital bones with the lambdoid suture (ringed in red) joining the two which can be often felt as a bony ridge across the back of the head. As with all human physiology there is a wide variation in size and shapes, but the same structural layout remains the same, with implications for fitting VR headsets.

Structure of the rear of the head (Image by Mavink)

Wearing the Crystal Light was causing a slight dull ache across this suture which would start to get uncomfortable during a longer session. It felt like the rear cushion was trying to climb up the back of my head when I moved my head around, especially if looking up or down (common in flight sim software).

Studying the rear harness, I noticed Pimax hadn’t attached the rear end of the main headness strap to the rear headset harness as usual, but had attached it to a slot in the top of a hinged plastic plate that contained the triangular rear head cushion.

This hinged plate wasn’t able rotate and match the slope at the rear of the head, it was restricted by the rearmost cushion, some internal rotation stops and the constant tension of the headset strap pulling the top of the hinge forwards, lifting the bottom of the cushion away from the head. If I could let this hinged plate freely move, it could rotate to find the natural position for each user head and also freely track the user’s head when moving around, which causes the neck to turn, extend or compress.

To put this to the test, I cut a thin plate from plastic and card reinforced with elephant tape and gave it a velcro backing so I could stick it into the rear of the headset harness, using the velcro already inside the harness (this is how the rearmost cushion attaches).

Cutting a crude slot for the rear of the headstrap, I got it fitted and was surprised to see it worked actually really well: I used this for 6 hours during a single day! This now allows the rear cushion to correctly orientate with the angle of the back of my head making the headset feel much more stable and comfortable with less strap tension required, and also making the plate/cushion free to track my head as I look up and down, or turn, which causes neck movement as the upper vertebrae move around.

The next step was to mould an adapter from heat-moldable plastic which allowed a much more rigid, low-profile setup secured with two zip-ties through slots in the hinge mechanism. My plastic and card plate had already started to stretch so it would be good to make something much tougher for long-term testing.

After using some heat-molded plastic to fashion a slot for the rear harness, I then crafted a vertical extension which I covered in velcro to mate with the velcro already inside the back of the head strap for the cushion I had removed. I zip-tied it in place feeding the ties through slots in the hinge mechanism down at the bottom and fed the strap back through.

Immediately it felt much more rigid than my earlier crude version, and despite looking a bit rough I didn’t bother making another as it worked, so just got busy testing it out.

The only downside was the Pimax strap, now being a slightly different length by moving the rear mounting point, I found it prevented adjustment at the front because it ran into the Pimax comfort top strap, so I flipped the Pimax strap around and did adjustments to tension from the rear, to allow the Pimax comfort top strap to find the best free location for supporting the top of the head without interfering with any strap tension adjustment.

TTL (through the lens)

It’s always difficult to shoot TTL footage with my Pixel smartphone as it doesn’t have manual shutter controls so it gets confused causing rolling bands of lights or other strange artifacts to appear. I tried my best to shoot some images through the screen, but they never represent the feeling of being in the headset.

Overall thoughts

Specifications, ergonomics mods, and through-the-lens images don’t convey the experience, of course, that needs in-headset time so I spent many hours using the Crystal Light, over 30 hours with “Into the Radius 2” and thoroughly enjoyed Assetto Corsa and Project Cars 2 for my sim racing fix.

Overall I was very satisfied with the visuals as expected from my time with the original Crystal. The “Pro Experience Pack” gave a premium experience with the upgraded tracking and audio matching the super high-quality visuals. I might not have the sharpest eyes but never saw any screen door effect due to the high-resolution LCD RGB displays with generous sub-pixel fill-rate.

It’s a good value proposition as you are getting the same excellent BOE QLED panels as used in the considerably more expensive original Crystal and Somnium VR1 headsets. The glass aspherical lenses with a good fit are very clear, bright, and stable across the field of view.

The modularity of the faceplates, speakers, headstraps, and other accessories allows customers to upgrade parts as required. I would like to see the “Pro Experience Pack” already fitted to the headset to ensure the best customer experience “out the box” with no cosmetic faceplate or SMAS speakers as they are not needed, so they represent just an unneccessary cost to the customer.

The inside-out tracking worked well when I tried it in Aircar. I didn’t use the Pimax motion controllers this time around but had used them in the past with the original Crystal and found them serviceable though lacking the precision of lighthouse controllers, as expected.

The lack of mechanical eye relief means that fitting is dependant on the crude but achievable method of trying different thickness face cushions though this lacks granular fine-tuning. The Crystal and Crystal Light also have the big benefit of an ecosystem of fitting kits, cushions, and straps from companies like Studioform Creative, making your fitting a much smoother experience and ensuring that the headset has optimal alignment.

It’s interesting that Pimax has announced mechanical eye relief on the new Super model, which I look forward to checking out next year.

Performance

No lies, it’s a high-resolution headset with aspherical lenses and canted displays requiring a performance-heavy distortion profile. With Pimax Play set at 1.0, SteamVR and FPS VR both reported 100% resolution as 4312×5104 per eye. With the panel resolution at 2880 x 2880, the h/v profile ratio averages out around x 1.6 compared to x 1.4 on an Index or Vive Pro. Even reducing the resolution still provides a good image quality, though it starts to soften and lose the sharpness that 100% resolution gives with the 35PPD lens.

The result overall is an astonishingly clear and sharp picture, bright with high contrast and rich colours, and noticeably better blacks than older LCD panels. The local dimming works well, though there can be some bloom from time to time in certain situations; it can be easily adjusted in Pimax Play to suit your preferences.

My RTX4080 struggled with my original Crystal, not surprising as headsets often take two GPU generations to mature and realise their full potential. The eye tracking and DFR on the original Crystal worked well with a good number of DX11 games I liked to play through SteamVR and helped my system make the required frame rates.

Original Pimax Crystal (left) and Crystal Light (right)

Without the eye tracking, the Crystal Light is the same hungry beast and is harder to drive at higher resolutions or frame rates. Using the SteamVR lighthouse faceplate lowered the demands on my CPU as expected, whilst the inside-out tracking saw wild spikes and a couple of tracking freezes when running complex games. It is not Pimax’s fault as my older CPU is outside of the minimum recommended specification for their inside-out tracking system.

With the lighthouse faceplate, I had no tracking issues, and my CPU timing was normal according to FPS VR. As many PCVR users know, unless running CPU-intensive sim racing software, we are always GPU bound with even the mighty RTX4090 struggling without eye tracking support. Using the comprehensive controls in Pimax Play I managed to maintain a good image quality whilst lowering the demands to make and maintain a stable frame rate. The 72hz mode was very useful in this respect, whilst a new 90hz upscaling mode can help users with lower spec GPUs.

Conclusion

This is my conclusive statement about the Pimax Crystal Light:

“A good value pure PCVR headset with amazing visuals, sound, and tracking. Noticeably lighter with less inertia. Nice to lose the battery! Could do with a fibre optic tether upgrade. May take some dialling in to get your fit right but it’s easy to modify, try Studioform Creative as a starting point. The Pimax Comfort Top Strap is highly recommended.”

Some notes on things to improve for Pimax after my enjoyable experience with the Pimax Crystal Light:

IPD adjuster not accurate, a bit vague
Velcro side cushions could be larger and stickier
Would like an optional fibre optic tether 6.5m
Lighthouse faceplate and DMAS should be fitted by factory
Rear headset mod worth exploring!

Notes

All the tests have been conducted using Intel 8086K @ 5.2 Ghz with Nvidia RTX 4080 (driver 560.94), Windows 11 version 23H2, Pimax Play version 1.34.02.01.02 and three Valve 2.0 base stations.

Thanks

Special thanks to:

Pimax Marketing and Support
Studioform Creative
Tony @ Skarrredghost
Sara Ramos for external photos

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This article was originally published on skarredghost.com