Quest 2, hope you like white
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I want to hate Oculus’s latest headset, Quest 2. See, I’m part of the contingent of VR early adopters. We’re a stoic bunch, who have eagerly braved the waters of expensive, buggy, content-sparse, difficult to setup VR headsets while the rest of the world scratched their heads. Why? Because for us, these early years of VR have given us transformational experiences that have left flatscreen games feeling dull and uninviting, like leaving The Avengers in IMAX for a black & white movie—with subtitles.
I’ve written previously about my downright distaste for the approach taken by the original Quest.
Unfortunately, most of the world has disagreed, either because they’ve neglected to try VR, or are simply frustrated by its inherent clunkiness and price. I’ve spent the last few years arguing passionately in favor of that initial vision for VR, complete with a bulky headset, cables, and an expensive attached gaming PC. Quest 2 is almost the polar opposite of that approach. Comparatively light, inexpensive, and lacking the hyper-precision of external tracking or the raw power of an external PC, it’s the antithesis of the Valve Index headset I’ve put on a pedestal. I’ve written previously about my downright distaste for the approach taken by the original Quest.
So naturally, I want to hate Quest 2. Unfortunately, Oculus has made that very difficult indeed.
A Note on Taste in VR:
If you’ve never owned a headset before, you may think of HMDs just like any other gear; There’s a set of specs that each one has, and one device will have the best specs in every category. The reality is, VR devices are incredibly complex computer/camera/display hybrids that are pushing multiple technical limits of those categories all at once. As such, every headset that exists today has a set of tradeoffs. What you quickly learn when reading (and writing) about this stuff is that experiential taste varies dramatically. Some people NEED to have the widest field of view possible, but are indifferent to how sharp that view is. Others can’t stand glare, but are happy to feel like they’re wearing a small scuba mask.
To give you a clear understanding of my perspective, here’s my ranked list of VR features, from most to least important FOR ME:
MOST
-Resolution/Optical Clarity
-Tracking Quality
-Comfort
-Sound Quality
-Field of View
-Black Levels/Contrast
-Refresh Rate
-Adjustable IPD (The spacing between the left and right eye displays)
-Wireless
-Glare
LEAST
On to the review!
There’s a lot of formal Quest 2 reviews out there, so in the interests of originality, I’ll dispense with the list of specs, and focus on the experience of this HMD, both on its own, and how it compares to my personal HMD favorite, the Valve Index, when linked to a PC. For VR nerds who might already have a SteamVR headset, I’ll also share my thoughts on buying this as a second device for playing Oculus exclusives, as well as it’s upgrade potential for original Rift owners.
First though, here’s my thoughts on each element of the headset:
THE DISPLAY
Quest 2’s “Displays” are technically one panel split optically into two
Resolution:
The raw quality of the screens are a bit hard to gauge. Nowhere in my first month with this headset has the screen ever bothered me. Text is sharp, colors are vivid, and black levels are totally acceptable, but not remarkable. Coming from the Index, I was surprised to find I didn’t notice a huge difference between the screens, despite the Quest 2 having a mathematically significant increase in pixel density. This is largely because of other limitations of the Quest, namely that many apps don’t render at native resolution (due to processing power constraints) and the Oculus Link cable compresses the image, resulting in an appearance that’s maybe a hair softer than the Index.
Screen Door Effect:
This is by far the best aspect of this display. For the uninitiated, SDE is the result of putting a display panel inches from your eyeballs. In early HMDs, low pixel density created a visible gap between pixels, which left you feeling like you had a fine mesh strapped over your vision. With Quest 2, I feel like we’ve crossed the threshold where SDE is so hard to spot that I never noticed it during gameplay. The SDE is subtly but noticeably superior to Index, and it’s the only thing I miss when switching back to that device.
Refresh Rate:
The original Quest shipped with a 72hz refresh display, far lower than the 90hz that shipped with the original batch of HMDs. In practice, lowering the refresh rate can make you sick to your stomach, and subtly reduces the sense of visual permanence in your surroundings. Quest 2 can run at 72hz, 80hz or 90hz, but not every app supports the top refresh rate, and running at 90hz native res over the oculus link cable somewhat increases the level of compression applied to the image.
Overall, I’m thrilled that Oculus bumped up the hz
I’ve got something of an iron stomach for VR, but when I tried some Oculus Link titles at 72hz, I started feeling dizzy. Bumping up to 80hz over link eliminated that feeling, and I haven’t had issues with nausea in any titles running natively on the headset, in part because most titles that haven’t increased their refresh rate have comfort features built in to limit nausea (VR game design can have a huge impact on whether or not you feel sick). Overall, I’m thrilled that Oculus bumped up the hz, and I’m happy to report that this shouldn’t be an issue in most titles for most people.
The Optics:
Down the Rabbit Hole…
The best complement to the Quest 2 optics is that I really haven’t noticed them at all. With Index, Valve really went out of its way to push forward optical HMD design, increasing the “sweet spot” that’s sharp to encompass most of the image. While Quest 2 might not be exactly as sharp, I found I could easily switch from one headset to the other without noticing a dramatic difference.
Glare:
To be frank, most Quest games don’t tend to have a lot of high contrast bright content against a dark background (the situation where glare is most evident). Thinking back, I can’t say I’ve ever noticed significant glare, but it’s never been something I’m personally sensitive to, so YMMV.
Inter-Pupillary Distance:
Being able to set the correct IPD (I.e. the spacing between the left and right lenses) is critical for getting a sharp, natural looking image in an HMD. Oculus’s latest (and final) PC-only HMD, Rift S, eschewed any mechanical IPD adjustment. The original Rift had a wide range. Quest 2 splits the difference, opting for narrow, standard and wide settings options (58mm, 63mm, and 68mm respectively).
I think Oculus has found the right compromise here between design complexity and user experience
Being of geek nobility, I measured my IPD with calipers, and got 62.5mm, so it’s not surprising that the standard setting worked flawlessly for me. I think Oculus has found the right compromise here between design complexity and user experience, but if you’ve got a particularly narrow or wide IPD, you might have a slightly blurrier image relative to other, infinitely adjustable headsets like the Index, OG Rift, or Vive.