What's the tierlist, so to speak, on VR Headsets as of 2021? I'm not talking merely specs, as important as they are. I'm also referring to features in general.
I've heard the Oculus Quest 2 is up there on top with it being wireless, but I haven't heard a whole lot about HTC and anything they've done in a while in terms of them standing out. I know about the Valve Index having some of the best specs for a price that's a bit of an ask for someone to plop money down on, especially with that new HP VR headset that's either released or just around the corner that's $600-700 iirc.
A tier list would be difficult. All the commonly considered headsets are good- for different things
HTC dropped out of the market for a few years, as they made... multiple massive failures in a row, last one being the Vive with the RGB tracking.
They will be revealing a new headset soon- it would make sense to do it at Vivecon. And when they do, that’s going to be their next attempt to renter the competitive market.
The Quest 2 is a great VR headset- and if you know what you’re doing with debug/encoder settings (Hidden in the oculus files), you can make it look amazing on PCVR.
Soon they’ll also be adding 120hz support as well for Oculus Air Link and Oculus Link
It’s a standalone headset too. Standalone mode will also be getting experimental 120hz support soon- but it won’t be in many games I assume
It features the Snapdragon XR2 to be able to create the best possible experience- but they do underclock it for battery life
The tracking... you can throw your controller across the room and it wouldn’t lose it once
The controllers, it seems some people don’t like them for the sole purpose that they’re slightly larger than the CV1. But there’s some better things though- they’re much quieter than the past revisions, best vibration by far (which is very important in VR), and they last up to 4 months on the batteries they come with alone, while the CV1 would last a month at most.
There are some bad sides however- they’re not the best for Beat Saber. You can’t hold them in different ways to make it easier.
But the trade offs are-
The audio is terrible. So they put a headphone Jack on the side of the headset (it also support Bluetooth but uh)
And the comfort... it’s nonexistent. You need the $50 headstrap to make it pleasant
They had to do these things to make the headset affordable. They priced it so cheap actually, that they’re losing money from selling it- they’re currently making all their money off software sales alone.
I predict HTC will be announcing another headset soon- a cheaper one.
However, the Valve Index is a great headset. It has the best controllers you could get anywhere today- but the headset’s resolution is... lower than the the other top headsets these days.
Nonetheless it’s a great headset if you can afford it.
The audio isn’t breathtaking- but it won’t let you down either
The tracking is great if you have the proper setup. This headset is great for several purposes-
It’s rival, the Reverb G2, is another great headset. It has a better resolution than the Valve Index, and it’s cheaper. The audio I’m told is around the same- the controllers don’t exactly meet the industry standards, with a severe lack of sensors and buttons in the controller itself- which kills immersion.
And it falls behind in tracking- doesn’t really matter for people who only play VRchat or something, but people who like to snap their neck playing Beat Saber or competitively play/speedrun games should not get this headset.
The Rift S was a failure and they should’ve abandoned it earlier.
However the Rift CV1 is still a viable option today. The most comfortable headset on the market- and still uses lighthouse tracking. Inside out tracking will never be able to match the low latency levels of lighthouse tracking.
It just depends on what you’re looking for in the end- what games you’re going to play. Some headsets are better for some things than others.
