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Recently, Valve invited me to their headquarters to check out their new

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cutting-edge VR headset, the Steam Frame.

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As you might have noticed in this little B-roll shot here, I packed a whack of

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other headsets that I had intended to compare against it. There's just one

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small problem. I had less than 2 hours with the bloody thing.

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That was to learn about the headset, experience the headset, gather my

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thoughts, write a 1,700 word script, and then shoot the video, which I ended up

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having to do partially at the airport, and even then I still missed my flight.

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>> [music] >> We need some way to avoid this kind of thing in the future.

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>> [music] >> Anyhoo, now that I'm in the comfort of my own studio, they can't stop me from

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gathering up all the key VR headsets from the major players like Apple.

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Just kidding, Apple. From the major players like Meta and Valve themselves,

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as well as from some more niche players like

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Apple. And also Bigscreen and Sony.

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[music] That last one is pretty key because the Frame takes one of the best

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features of the PSVR 2 and steps [music] it up to a whole new level. But, it's

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not all sunshine and yachts. In some ways, the Steam Frame obsoletes

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everything [music] else on the market, but in others, it still lags behind.

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>> [music] >> So, let's sit down and talk about what I saw. Oi.

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This is a standing desk, just like the standing Segway. To our sponsor, Ow

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storage. And you can automatically backup files from your phone or

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computer. Check out the DH-2300 at our link in the video description. Before we

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jump into these headsets, let's do a quick recap of the Steam Frame. Elijah,

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time me. Powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 16 gigs of LPDDR5X memory, the Frame

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features an ARM-based computer running SteamOS with the ability to play native

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ARM games, Linux x86 games, and even Windows x86 games on a big virtual

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screen. Or, if you're more about total immersion, you can play the aforementioned flavors of VR games

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either on device or you can power them with your dedicated desktop and stream

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video to the Frame using the included Wi-Fi 6 GHz dongle. Valve uses an

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incredible technology called foveated streaming. More on this in a bit. To

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deliver low-latency, high-fidelity video wirelessly to the Frame's 2160 by 2160

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LCD displays at up to 144 Hz, all while

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weighing just 185 g including the integrated 21.6 Wh battery. Time.

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Pretty good, right? I think you were a little generous. With the head strap,

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it's more like 440 g. >> Ah, okay, not what I meant. And besides,

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even with the head strap, the Steam Frame is still around half the weight of

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some of the other headsets that we're looking at today. Why don't we start

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with one that isn't on the table? The original, the Valve Index. Right out of

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the gate, the Index has some glaring disadvantages. [music] The ergonomics

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were fine at the time, but when we compare to the Frame, not only does it

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weigh far more, not to mention need to ratchet onto your noggin, but the light

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seal is worse, the balance of the weight is worse with it all kind of hanging off

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the front of your face, and the constant drag of the cord is something that many

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have tried to overcome, but even the best solutions seem to be plagued with

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issues. And that's not the only way that the Index has aged

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>> [clears throat] >> ungracefully. [music] Even at the time of its release, its field of view and its resolution are

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hardly groundbreaking, and they were quickly surpassed by competitors like

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Pimax, HP, and HTC. The Frame is going

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to have a major advantage there, upgrading not only the display

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resolution, but also the optics to dramatically enhance the perceived image

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quality. With that said, that doesn't make the Index suddenly irrelevant for

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everyone who owns one. One area that Valve didn't even aim to improve was the

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field of view, and like the Index, the Frame uses LCD panels still. So, don't

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expect the same kind of mind-blowing contrast that you might get from some of

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our other headsets today. Another area that Valve didn't even try to improve

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was tracking. They told me point-blank that the target was as good as Index,

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but that also ain't a bad thing. The Index used anywhere from two to up to

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four base stations for room scale tracking. These little guys sweep

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infrared lasers across your entire play area to determine the exact position of

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your headset and controllers. This form of tracking, from the outside in, is

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still considered the best because even if one sensor gets blocked, you can

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basically guarantee that another will be able to pick up the slack. With that

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said, Valve sounded very confident that the wide, near 180° side-mounted cameras

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on the Frame would allow their new inside-out tracking to capably handle

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even unusual positions like drawing an

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arrow out of a quiver. What I'm less sure about is unusual VR accessories.

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I've had a lot of fun over the years streaming with a full-body VR avatar,

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and unless Valve releases one later, I have a hard time imagining a way to get

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reliable tracking on my waist and my feet [music] without relying on an

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outside-in system. Another mixed bag is the controllers. On the one hand, I can

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see why Valve chose a more industry-standard approach this time. It

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will make default keybinds simpler for VR developers, and it allows flat-screen

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games to be easily enjoyed without learning a new controller layout, but I

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and many others loved both the ergonomics and especially the

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five-finger awareness of the Knuckles controllers. The good news is that with

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a modestly priced upgrade pack, you can maintain a similar feel, and personally,

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I love the change to a single AA battery

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per controller because that means no more waiting around to play. You just

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drop a freshly recharged battery in, and you're good to go. The last point is one

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that I'm particularly nervous about. The Index's onboard audio is nothing short

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of legendary. The near-field speakers sound great, and somehow they leak very

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little externally. That can be a pretty big deal depending [music] on the things

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you [clears throat] like to do in VR. And the microphone is so good that my

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chat was often flooded with messages demanding to know what amazing

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microphone I was using. Now, Valve says that the Frame should be on par, and I

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haven't got a reason to doubt them, but I do worry a little bit that the

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position of the speakers might make it hard for them to sound quite as good,

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and it may cause more leakage. Thing is, I love my Index, and many on-paper

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superior headsets have come and gone through my house with the Index staying

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part of my setup. It's just one of those truly great products that is more than

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the sum of its parts. But, it's not the only great VR headset. Let's compare now

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to the GSOAT, the greatest selling of all time, the Meta Quest series. The

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current king of the hill for Meta is the Quest 3, and this really shows you what

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an unlimited budget will do for you. This thing is a couple of years old now,

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but it has aged like fine wine and still holds up surprisingly well. It boasts

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nearly the same per-eye resolution as the Steam Frame, and it also uses

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low-profile pancake lens objects. Meta has invested heavily in attracting VR

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game developers to their platform, even going as far as to acquire Beat Games,

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maker of the smash hit Beat Saber, and it even got a $150 price drop for the

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512 gig model, making it the obvious choice for a value VR setup until its

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little brother, the 3S, showed up more recently. Even now though, the Quest 3

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is going to be a tough package to beat from a bang for the buck perspective. It

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also boasts convenient inside-out tracking thanks to its camera array, and

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it also plays games on board thanks to its Snapdragon XR Gen 2 processor. It

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also allows streaming from a SteamVR PC either over a USB-C connection or

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wirelessly, and it features color rather

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than black and white passthrough cameras like Valve chose for the Frame. But,

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worry not, Valve fanboys, for GabeN didn't come to this gunfight equipped

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with just any knife. It's a Karambit Doppler Sapphire knife. OH MY DAYS.

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[screaming] First things first, the Frame is not only lighter than the Quest 3, but the

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weight distribution is noticeably better. See, all the weight of the

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optics, the computer, the battery hangs off of the front of this bad boy. Valve

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moved the battery pack around to the back, which gives you less weight

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directly on your cheeks and nose, and also less swing pull, which is not a

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real term, but it's like the way that when you swing, it kind of pulls.

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You know what I mean? Valve also holds a slight advantage when it comes to screen

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refresh rate. While both headsets officially top out at 120 Hz, Valve

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includes an experimental 144 Hz mode.

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Finally, the Quest 3 does not have out-of-the-box eye tracking. This makes

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it way harder for someone to realize that you're checking out their VR avatar

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and >> [music] >> uh come over and talk to you. Either to say, "Hey, I like your avatar, too."

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Or to say, "Stop looking at me, weirdo." But more importantly, it gives Valve a

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giant advantage for wireless streaming. It's time to talk about foveated

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streaming. See, when Meta beams a video frame from your connected PC over to

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your Quest 3, they do so using the same bitrate or the same quality for the

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entire frame. That's because Meta has no way of knowing where you're looking, and

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you probably wouldn't want them to the way they would use it. By contrast,

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Valve uses high-speed sensors to track your gaze, and then encode only the part

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of the frame that you're actually looking at at the highest quality level.

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In practice, it works amazingly well.

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Like, [music] I could not flick my eyes fast enough to focus on a

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crappier part of the image before it updated and started rendering it at full

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fidelity. And to ensure a smooth experience, Valve came up with a really

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clever way to reduce the likelihood of network congestion by giving you a 6 GHz

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wireless dongle that connects directly from your PC to your headset. 6 GHz

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wireless enables higher speeds and is less prone to interference. Now, one

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drawback of 6 GHz is range and obstacle

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penetration, but I mean given the bar is

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a cord, Valve seems to be clearing it handily. It's also worth noting that the

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Quest 3 also supports 6 GHz Wi-Fi, but

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depending on your Wi-Fi access point and your network configuration, your

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experience with it may vary. As for controllers, I'd call these a draw

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because Valve pretty much copied Meta's homework, but I do expect audio to be a

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disadvantage for the Quest 3 along with the closed ecosystem and its dependency

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on Meta, who no, we haven't forgotten,

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is basically Facebook. Only time is going to tell how battery life and

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tracking performance will compare and whether Valve will build gimmicky

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features like camera-based hand and finger tracking, which the Quest does

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have. Now, for the most gimmicky of all of our headsets today, the Apple Vision

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Pro. Not because it's bad. I mean, the technology is really cool. It's just

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that Apple really really like

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desperately wanted this thing to be anything but a VR headset. So, they

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ended up with this, which is maybe a great spatial computer, but nobody even

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now knows what the that is, which really sucks because as a VR headset,

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this thing had so much potential. Oh my god, it's so heavy. I haven't tried the

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the M5 one yet. It's so heavy. Starting

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with one of the highest resolution displays on the market and not just high

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res, high fidelity. Thanks to Apple having the R&D budget of a small nation,

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they shipped micro OLED displays that boast otherworldly contrast and

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incredible color accuracy. They also equipped the Vision Pro with probably

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the best full color passthrough cameras on the market, which makes it great just

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for VR, but even for augmented reality.

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For about 5 minutes. Apple should have

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borrowed Monster Truck marketing, right, for their battery life? 2 and 1/2 hours,

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but you'll only need the edge. It is no understatement to describe the

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ergonomics of this thing as horrible. Even after putting the battery

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in a separate pack, it is still among the heaviest headsets on the market and

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the way that it rests on people's cheeks or noses really does not do it any

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favors. The M5 version does come with a new strap that I'm trying for the first

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time and it does seem to actually help take some of the weight off of my nose,

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but oh man, it's still rough, dude. Now, one

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advantage that the Vision Pro currently has over the Frame is its ability to

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watch stereoscopic content. This is great for spatial photos and videos that

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you might record on your iPhone or for watching 3D movies. Valve does say that

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they're looking at adding that in the future, but hey,

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you can refer back to the Vision Pro for proof of this. You should never buy

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anything based on a promise. With that said, as easy as it is to rip

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into Apple for their confusing choices and prices, one thing that they nailed

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on the Vision Pro was hand gestures and the no controller experience. VisionOS

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really does provide a seamless way to move things around and interact with 3D

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space. Even if Apple's prudishness and

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their apathy towards gaming ended up boxing out two of the biggest app

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categories for VR users. Sorry. Excuse me. I mean, spatial computing

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enthusiasts. >> [music] >> Which raises another problem with this device. In spite of its up to 120 Hz

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refresh rate, not to mention god tier displays, it's not a gaming headset. So,

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no matter how good it is, and it is good, even the speakers are okay for

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their size, it's not really a competing product or maybe Apple wishes it was.

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Valve confirmed for me that the Frame is also going to support desktop

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projection, which was one of the best use cases that I personally found for

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the Vision Pro, just setting up like giant virtual monitors in your

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workspace. That leaves Apple with a pretty tough sales pitch and I've hardly

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even talked about the price. For the cost of this Vision Pro M5, I could buy

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a VR capable gaming system and our next

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VR headset, the Bigscreen Beyond 2. It's

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expensive. It's a little light on the extras, but it is impossible to not

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marvel at the size and the phenomenal displays that they packed into this

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thing. Like the Vision Pro, Bigscreen gets great contrast and outstanding

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motion performance thanks to using micro OLED displays. They are at a lower

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resolution and a lower peak refresh rate of 90 Hz, but with how close they sit to

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your face, not to mention their new upgraded pancake optics, you get a

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measurably wider field of view to go along with your great contrast. There is

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no question in my mind that the Frame will fall behind the Beyond 2 when it

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comes to image quality. And when it comes to weight, the Beyond 2 boasts a

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super lightweight of just 107 g.

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Okay. All right. They lean pretty heavily into that number in their

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marketing, which does not include the weight of their head strap, a head strap

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that I would describe as garbage on any other headset, but the Beyond 2 gets

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away with it a little bit because it is still so light and that's not even the

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best part of the ergonomics. When you get one of these, you can send in a scan

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of your face to get a custom molded face

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plate that will [music] fit you perfectly. Unparalleled comfort, zero

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light spill. Does make it a little trickier to share your headset unless

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your housemates also buy their own face gaskets, but with this level of

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immersion, are you going to want to share with your SO anyway?

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Well, maybe because otherwise they might object to a few things. First being the

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base stations and the headset tether that are going to be lying around in

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your shared living space. Yep, the Beyond 2 uses Valve's second generation

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outside-in tracking solution, which kind of raises some questions about how

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they're going to support themselves in the future now that Valve has moved

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their first-party base stations to end of life. The second big one is the

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price. This headset I'm holding is 1,100. That's for the base non eye

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tracking version and includes no base stations, no controllers, and not even

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an audio solution. You have to BYO USB-C

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headphones. Now, you can get an audio strap from Bigscreen, so you don't have

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to put headphones on and off every time and it's pretty nice. They use cost

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drivers. But it's 130 bucks, man. Still,

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you got to give these guys credit. They came out of nowhere. They set a goal,

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build a no compromises lightweight headset, and they absolutely nailed it

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with diamond encrusted golden nails. Which I guess brings us to the PSVR 2,

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which is on the other end of the spectrum, an unbelievable bang for the

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buck if you don't mind being tethered to your PC.

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Originally launched as a standalone accessory for the PlayStation 5, Sony's

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sales of this device allegedly did not meet their expectations and they later

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opened up compatibility for PC. They also dropped the price from a launch

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price of $550 to just 400 and there is a lot of value

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on the table at that price. I'm talking 2000 by 2040 OLED displays at up to 120

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Hz. There are some drawbacks. They're not micro OLED and they're using Fresnel

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lenses rather than pancake optics probably to squeeze out as much

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brightness as possible from those OLEDs and the ergonomics do leave a little bit

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to be desired with some light spill and kind of a one-size-fits-all approach,

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but again, at that price, you're getting the headset, you're getting the

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controllers, and you might not care about this, but you're also getting

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compatibility with the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation 5 Pro, something that

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you won't get from any of these other headsets. Which finally brings us to the

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Frame and maybe the toughest part of our discussion. What price does the Steam

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Frame need to hit to be the industry disrupter that we all want it to be? So

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far, all that Valve has said on the subject is that they expect it to be

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cheaper than the Index, but >> [music] >> as much as people might hope that they

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meant just the headset, there is zero

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shot of that. So, all that that tells us then is that they expect it to be under

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the $1,000 price of the Index bundle.

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And if I'm being honest, I don't think it's going to be by much. Incoming hot

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take here. Come closer. One of the reasons is that I don't think

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Valve has to price it any lower than the Index. I think they can charge however

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much they want for it. And that sucks. But [music] hearing people internally

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talk about this thing, it is very clear that people are willing to spend a ton

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of money to get this device because there are so many other layers to the

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Frame that none of our other headsets even approach. The FEX compatibility

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layer that allows you to play Windows x86 games on this thing or the expansion

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port that will allow third-party manufacturers to make all sorts of

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modules. The generally open approach that Valve takes to their hardware that

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you purchased. I hate that that sets them apart,

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but it does. Now,

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I have a pretty decent wish list for a Frame 2 already. I want OLED displays. I

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want a better light seal around the nose and maybe, I hope not, but probably

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better audio. But there is no denying that Valve has

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put together an outstanding package and even if it is $1,000, I'm going to be

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buying one on launch day and so will a lot of people. Just like I hope you'll

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buy this Segway to our sponsor. Micro Center. Just because Black

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Friday's over doesn't mean the great deals on PC parts have to end, too.

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Micro Center's holiday sales are going on all month long with deals regularly

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changing and updating. So, be sure to keep an eye on their website. If your games are looking outdated and stuck on

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medium settings, you can save on a new GPU including AMD's RX 6970XT.

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Or if you just want a pre-built, there's hundreds of dollars to be saved on

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gaming laptops and desktops. And with the current RAM market, why not just

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snag a new computer that already comes with 32 gigs of DDR5? That RAM spike did

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seem to happen overnight, but thankfully Micro Center's MC News is going live and

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can help you stay up to date with all things tech. So, check out the Micro

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00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:34,040
Center holiday deals at the link in the description below. If you guys enjoyed

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this video, why not go check out the original Steam Frame video where I got

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hands-on and gave my first impressions. I'm super excited to get my hands on

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this thing and take [music] a look at it in more depth in the future.