same product, 2 reviewers. you decide which one you trust more:

 

 

my dog has beta tested the Pimax Dream Air facial interface, here are his results:

 

what a shame for Pimax, after all these years and their build quality still sucks. even a single youtuber can mod this so much better in just a few minutes. 😁

Edited February 22Feb 22 by turbomax

It's disgraceful to say the least...and an excellent job of "grinding the axe" by the reviewer.  The reviewer mentioned that he's told Pimax about his mod, and considering his online prestige concerning VR and FS, I (hopefully) can imagine the chaos that his mod is stirring up at Pimax. 

As one of the first Dream Air users I would say that this is a bit unfair on Pimax: they promised to send the updated facial interface (once ready) for free as a follow-up. And also to send the updated backstrap. Would you personally rather agree to this or prefer to wait a couple extra months before receiving your headset?

As for myself, this "gen1" facial interface is comfortable for 2–3 hours of continuous use, and the "gen1" backstrap is alright as well (it's comfortable, but not stretchable enough to easily take off or put on the headset).

The headset got all the important and difficult bits right, I would say. The main disadvantage for me at the moment is that PimaxPlay built in motion smoothing is not great (e.g. SteamVR motion smoothing is said to be a lot better). Since with the current CPUs we cannot usually get 90fps (or even 75fps) in MSFS2024, a good motion smoothing to double the framerate is very desirable. Fortunately there is some hope that sboys3' efforts with the driver will succeed in enabling support for Dream Air Lighthouse edition as a native SteamVR headset, allowing to use Steam motion smoothing. In games that can reach 90fps it is already amazing.

3 hours ago, fakeoptimism said:

a good motion smoothing to double the framerate is very desirable

I use Nvidia's SmoothMotion in VR, getting usually ca. 60 fps with PimaxCrystal Light.

Edited February 24Feb 24 by turbomax

Just configured the headset to 72hz and tried to tune MSFS2024 to reliably exceed 72fps. Was a success (had to reluctantly turn off the foveated rendered in MSFS as it taxed MainThread/RenderThread and reduced many detail level settings, but kept full resolution). The experience of flying a fast jet was finally smooth and enjoyable this way. But tuning it back to better object quality will be a painful process.

The experience I had with a prototype Dream Air showed constant judder running DCS.  Judder is the effect that all motion, including moving your head to view a different part of the cockpit, looks as if the animation consists of a very quick succession of still frames, thus there really isn't any smooth motion unless you remain perfectly still (hence no motion other than the distant scenery outside the cockpit).  fakeoptimism (or any other Pimax HMD user), does this describe the experience with the Dream Air if MSFS can't sustain it's native frequency?

Edited February 25Feb 25 by TheFamilyMan

What about the built-in speakers?, or an upgrade to sell from Pimax?

Regarding the judder when handling insufficient fps, it is hard to say, because I cannot compare headsets side by side to easily see small differences. But they did something in this area in mid-January, saying in Pimax Play changelog: "Optimized the prediction algorithm to reduce latency and enhance image clarity during head movements."

The built in speakers are OK. Immersive when playing HL Alyx. I do not expect much from speakers of this size, especially in the low frequency band. It would be if the headset had a 3.5mm jack, but alas it does not. It has USB-C, but the current gasket covers the port, and I do not feel that the audio upgrade is needed so badly as to punch an ugly hole in the fabric. Pimax promised to start selling the hard strap with more powerful audio for Dream Air. I will probably get it once it becomes available.