VR has been going through a period of explosive innovation,
but if you're a PC gamer, I wouldn't blame you for having missed it
because some of the biggest innovations have been so very small.
And sure, the Silicon Valley vision, pro,
of an AR headset that's integrated into every aspect of my life sounds cool,
but man, I just wanna be super immersed in my video games.
And the big screen beyond two may be the very best way to do that.
Let me put it this way. I can't see for s***.
The beyond one was so much better than my aging valve index
that it literally reignited my personal excitement for VR.
As for the sequel, somehow in one short year,
they've made it so much better that I now feel bad for anyone who jumped on the first one.
I'm talking dramatically improved optics,
multi-user friendly design, optional eye tracking.
And somehow it does all of that while being even lighter than before.
On paper, only a few things have changed since the original,
but those changes make this thing all killer, no filler.
First up, the transparent plastic. Now, he might not be able to see it,
but he looks dramatically more stylish. It's all relative.
And what I can see is the improved optics.
The pancake lenses in the original beyond, they were impressive for their small size and weight,
but they struggled with a number of issues that combined with some usability quibbles,
ultimately led to me abandoning my original beyond
in favor of my index in spite of its lower resolution.
First, there was the sweet spot, which is the area of the lens where the image is the sharpest.
It was so small. And outside of it,
things got pretty blurry pretty quickly with some gnarly chromatic aberration
sneaking in near the edges. The bigger issue though,
was that the multi-layered optics caused a pretty distracting lens flare
in high contrast scenes or even moderate contrast scenes with high brightness.
It's one of those things where it's absolutely a champagne problem,
but damn it, this is expensive champagne. And at this price,
there should be nothing to break my immersion. And somehow, despite them keeping the form factor the same,
all of that is resolved on the beyond too. I can pick out the lens flare if I'm looking for it,
especially in a menu or something like that, but in game, it's almost too good, too immersive.
Especially when like this. Which is impressive knowing
that they have the exact same 2560 by 2560 micro OLED panel
that's found in the original beyond. This is all just improvements to the glass.
We didn't even mention that they've improved the FOV at the same time
going from 102 degrees to 116,
putting it in line with competitors that are much bigger in size.
There are still lingering issues with pancake lenses in general, like reduced brightness.
Apparently the panels that are in here are supposed to reach as high as 3000 nits.
By the time that light reaches your eyes, it's more like 150, that's a yikes.
But it matters less than you might think, thanks to the excellent light seal
that you get from your custom face cushion that big screen manufacturers
using a 3D scan of your face. They're super cool.
They're 3D printed out of a TPE like material that has magnets that click onto the headset
for a perfect seal. Improvements to manufacturing have the new cushions
looking and feeling a little bit better, but we had new issues that we haven't seen before,
like both of our new face gaskets had magnets fall out.
But that could be a problem with just a specific batch, but we thought it was important to note.
The Linus, however, had a different problem. Yeah, see, my eyelashes are so long
that they constantly brush up against the lenses
on the inside, meaning that if I'm playing for more than about five minutes,
what started out as clear and freshly cleaned with a microfiber ends up a blurry, smeary mess.
The good news, though, is that big screen actually offers the ability to create
a custom gasket for you that is ever so slightly thicker.
They actually sent one over, which I haven't tried yet. Let's give it a shot.
Big screen does advise that it will cost you a little bit in terms of your field of view,
but if you're particularly bothered by the blurry lenses, that could end up being worth it for you.
For me personally, oh man, I think I'd be tempted
to just stick with the improved immersion. And if you think that this is just
some special YouTuber treatment, it's not. Big screen's actually very good about addressing problems
with their face cushions, and will print you a modified one if you have any issues with the one
that you get out of the box. And we appreciate their make it right approach,
even if there's something that they can't fix, and that's the major swamp eye you get
when you're really into gaming. But you don't have to worry about getting too sweaty
when you're in our sport button up, only available at lttstore.com.
It's stretchy too. Is it my turn yet? No, not yet.
We did say that the Beyond 2 would be more shareable,
and it is, but only some of those improvements are implemented today.
First up is adjustable IPD or inter-pupillary distance.
All you gotta do is take this little BB screwdriver
that you will definitely never lose, and turn this little screw.
Okay, that is substantially less convenient than the wheel on the Quest 3, but at least it's there.
And this is a huge deal, because a misadjusted IPD can lead to headaches
and general discomfort for anyone who uses your headset who isn't exactly you.
The second big improvement to shareability isn't here yet. It's the universal face cushion,
which attaches to their halo mount, which also isn't here yet.
So yeah, it's maybe much more shareable,
and maybe only a little more shareable. Let's turn our attention back to what is here then,
and talk about the audio strap. It was developed with cost audio,
and uses drivers that remind me of those found on the cost port of pros, which are stylish,
but aren't famous for comfort or durability. And I found that these flimsy little pieces
would pop off pretty easily. They're designed to do that, but it's too easy.
And the foam, again, just kind of comes off.
It also just feels extremely cheap, especially compared to what I'm used to.
And like, I get it, they're all about keeping the weight down. And I genuinely appreciate that.
But unlike the Valve Index or Pimax Crystal, these drivers are meant to be pressed
right up against your ears, using this little knob to adjust their distance.
So that cheap feel is something that I am constantly, keenly aware of.
And that would be fine if it was cheap, but the audio strap is $130,
which is $10 more than the price of an extra custom cushion,
and offers up an experience that is more than sufficient for music games,
but falls a little bit short in terms of immersiveness.
With all that said about its cheapness and midness,
the comfort it provides is so much better than the stock strap
that I wouldn't recommend buying the beyond two without also springing for the audio mount.
And maybe some third party replacement foam while you're at it.
Adam, would you spring for the eye tracking though?
Yeah, I kind of felt the same way, as cool as it is that for a $200 premium,
the beyond two can be equipped with what Big Screen calls the smallest eye tracking on the market
is the size of a single grain of sand. We didn't really get a chance to test it out,
and we're not really sure if we care because the biggest reason to care about high quality,
low latency eye tracking is foveated rendering,
where your GPU works the hardest on the part of the scene
that you're actually focused on, and then it renders everything else at a lower resolution.
But foveated rendering is not currently supported in Steam VR.
So the main use case for eye tracking continues to be social VR experiences.
It's worth noting that if those are your bag, well, you might be disappointed
that there's no face tracking. So other users will be able to see your eyes
staring at the breasts of their anime avatars, but not your eyebrows going like eh, eh, eh, eh.
Wow, whoa, will they see me doing this?
Yeah, actually. Now let's talk about something that I didn't feel was a big deal,
but for Adam is a big elephant in the room. The fact that the default refresh rate on the beyond two
is 75 Hertz, while the maximum refresh rate is just 90,
with so many other headsets hitting 100 Hertz plus.
Okay, what's your take on this? It wasn't really the biggest deal to me
when I was coming from an HTC Vive, but after using the Pimax Crystal,
which can get up to 120 FPS, even with the tiny, tiny sweet spot on that headset,
it's just like so much more immersive. And if you're playing a game like Beat Saber,
you kind of want the extra like feedback from having a high refresh rate.
That's fair enough. And it's not the only disadvantage
compared to something like a Pimax. This isn't really a knock against this,
but one of the issues with it being so small is that it loses tracking a lot easier.
I only have two lighthouses at my place. And if I turn the wrong ways or go to the corner,
because it doesn't go above any part of my head,
it will just lose tracking entirely. And the complete lack of any sort of inside out camera
is a real bummer. I mean, even the HTC Vive had a grainy camera
so that you could just see where a disconnected controller went,
or if you needed to get like a sip of water or something.
A sip of water or something. Over here, buddy.
It's also a nightmare for any kind of productivity, because even if you're a touch typist,
that's not gonna do you a ton of good if you can't find your keyboard at all.
Which brings us perfectly to the price. This thing is expensive.
It's $1,019 and that is just for the headset.
So once you grab the necessary accessories and some recommended accessories, it adds up pretty quick.
And with it's everything you need and nothing you don't approach to design
in both the hardware and software, which by the way includes a great little optimization utility
that actually explains what settings do. Valve.
It can be hard to recommend the beyond two over other premium or even over other non-premium options
that might even come with a whole computer inside them.
With that said, it's hard to deny how perfectly big screen has executed on their vision
by eschewing inside out tracking and internal hardware for rendering.
They've laser focused this product as the definitive upgrade for folks
that are already immersed in the PC VR space and don't mind the tether.
So if you're on an aging HTC Vive or even an index,
it's hard not to recommend it. Just like it's hard for me to not tell you about our sponsor.
If you guys enjoyed this video, maybe check out our review of the other best headset on the market, the MetaQuest 3.