Rift S...

Couple of first impressions..

The blacks are good, space looks great, colours looked ok to me, can't say it looks washed out compared to my CV1. God rays are pretty much gone, there a tiny bit, but I've tried other HUD colours and it's all good. Clarity is excellent, and the resolution bump makes everything look nice and crisp, text looks great.

The headphones are crap, great positional effects though, they lack anything resembling bass though. I use my 5.1's most of the time anyway. But my Astro A50's just squeeze over the headband, so thats a relief.

it's also way more comfortable than CV1

Overall it's a pretty decent step up, I'm pleased so far. DCS looks significantly better.
 
Couple of first impressions..

The blacks are good, space looks great, colours looked ok to me, can't say it looks washed out compared to my CV1. God rays are pretty much gone, there a tiny bit, but I've tried other HUD colours and it's all good. Clarity is excellent, and the resolution bump makes everything look nice and crisp, text looks great.

The headphones are crap, great positional effects though, they lack anything resembling bass though. I use my 5.1's most of the time anyway. But my Astro A50's just squeeze over the headband, so thats a relief.

it's also way more comfortable than CV1

Overall it's a pretty decent step up, I'm pleased so far. DCS looks significantly better.
Agree with all of this Baron, except the washed out look. If you look at passed posts on how Elite space looks in this forum there's a definite pattern of subjectiveness in this area. For me the brightness is noticeable and distracting, for others it's not. It's the way of the world :)

I have Sony bass earphones I use for Elite, so the bad sound issue not caring about. I'm using it for a few hours today so will by the end of today I'll hopefully have it setup as I want.

Good luck with all your new S's those who get them this week (or whenever) you won't be disappointed! And put your thoughts here, it'll be great to read all your opinions!
 
I’ve caved, so now I’m waiting until Friday to get mine (due to getting a discount this weekend), but then I’m off for a week visiting so I won’t be able to play with it for another week after that.

Early impressions sound good (apart from the sound); I’m looking forward to reading more Elite-centric reviews.
 
Its lower resolution than the Lenovo explorer which has been out some time and is cheaper. It's also lower resolution than the quest they're also releasing for the same price. I really cant get my head around that.

Granted the setup is easier than wmr, controllers are better and the optics might be really good, but I cant figure out why people would choose the rift s over some of the other options... I'll be interested to see some reviews!
what's crazy is the quest has better screens but reduced graphics power due to being on a stand alone head set, so they reduced the detail, it's almost as if they screrwed up what screen went to each head set.
 
Please will you compare FoV? Maybe sit in the ASP E cockpit and see how much of those two side lights you can see either side of the HUD?

The "helmet feel" of the CV1 is definitely gone. You still have parts of your peripheral vision blocked to the sides, but up and down FoV really improved. Especially on older games you can see parts of the scenery, that were not meant to be seen (tested inCell f.e.). I will do your proposed check in the AspX tomorrow.

Godrays are almost completely gone - gone to a degree, that you simply don´t notice them and you have to search for pixels to see the tiny bit of screen door effect that is left.
The image sharpness is incredible, especially noticeable when reading text. The CV1 is nothing but soup compared to the R-S. Color vibrance and contrast is better and when you turn down gamma by one pip in Elite, space is back to black, without losing the extra detail and contrast. Performance was more steady as well.

The first impression was mindblowing so far, with onboard sound being the only downside. Regardless what i see next, todays experience was so good, that i can already say, that it was money well spent. More detailed reports coming tomorrow.
 
Do we know if the Rift and the Rift S sit the same for those of us with glasses?

I've worn glasses in the CV1 since it came out, no problems. For me (and I emphasise "for me") the Rift S is uncomfortable, it pushes the specs against the bridge of my nose, despite being able to pull the front bit forward I'm going to have to pad it it some way. And the eye cups fell off twice while removing the headset from my face. And as I was doing a spot of trading I mistook a planet for a star, it was that bright. Other than that... It's fine.
 
The only time I noticed SDE is in hyperspace and focusing on the destination star, it's fairly apparent then, but that's the only time I've noticed it. I've now changed the HUD colours a few times and had no god rays even with the most glaring colours.

Having spent a couple of hours playing DCS last night, that's where the improvements in the S really shine, it's a massive difference in visual quality over the CV1, the ground looks crisp and detailed, dials and switch labels, DDI's are all readable, seeing into the distance is also hugely improved.

Other things I've noticed, the pass through camera is kind of trippy, plus it can get a bit laggy when it's on. If you do anything energetic (beat saber etc) the head band is very absorbent, so it'll be nice and juicy after half hour or so of working up a sweat.

Insideout tracking is excellent, can't say I've noticed any difference from CV1 in terms of accuracy, except for the fact it's now roomscale, and i can turn around now (only had a 2 camera set up before).

The cable into the headsets placement is awkward, my pc is on the right of my desk, the cable is on the left of the headset, so I've had to feed it round and tether it to the right hand side of the headband, so I'm not tripping over it all the time.
 
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what's crazy is the quest has better screens but reduced graphics power due to being on a stand alone head set, so they reduced the detail, it's almost as if they screrwed up what screen went to each head set.

it may look that way on paper but is not so cut and dry.
quest is OLED... better blacks but worse contrast
Quest is higher res but pentile display vs RiftS which is a full RGB matrix. (any CV1 owner should "get" that... it is why so many hacked their hud to be green).
RiftS refresh rate is 80hz... something it seems to be just about ok but many complained about dropping from 90.... quest is 72hz and is definitely noticable by some people who are ok with 80hz..


The bottom line is, The quest was actually designed before the RiftS (and iirc was even designed before the Go).......... had the fast switch LCD panels been available when the Quest was designed then it would have had the same screen as the RiftS I think. There must be a reason why almost all the new hmds coming out have backed away from OLED.

all that said.... going from 2 screens with manual IPD adjustment to 1 screen with digital adjustment is a big concern for me.

RE the sound.... this sounds daft but i have heard now from a number of people if you cup your hands over the riftS sound tubes you get a massive improvement in sound, which has lead to some suggesting mounting paper cups to their heads for a free sound upgrade :D
 
I’ve got a feeling I’m going to end up looking like I’m cosplaying a cross between a 1980’s John McEnroe and a 1950’s sci-fi robot :D
That is half the fun :D

My wife took a video (unknown to me at the time) of me playing superhot VR. it was a hot summer and i was just in shorts, nothing else, it was so not a pretty sight!. i threatend if she did not delete it i had various images of her she would not like getting put on facebook ;)
 
Has anyone successfully fit a gaming headset over the Rift S? I have a Logitech G933 that I would want to use, but the halo strap looks rather cumbersome.
 
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