*Laughs* I can see the lenses moving right now. That’s pretty cool.
I need this on every headset! That’s an auto IPD adjustment and this headset
also has integrated eye-tracking and foveated rendering and more. But uh.. let’s roll
the intro first! This is the Varjo Aero, and it is the highest
fidelity PC VR headset anyone can buy right now…. I’m not kidding, and you know, I’ve
reviewed many headsets before. But there is a catch… it’s for the prosumer. So I’ll
be upfront to tell you that this headset isn’t cheap. One of these is 1990 US dollars, but
there’s a reason. It packs a punch! So I’ve had early access for the past three
weeks, thanks to Varjo for loaning me a review unit. It’s going back after this review,
but before that, let me tell you everything about it. This is my full review.
Please leave me a like because I might need to sell my liver after this :P Subscribe for
more VR content, and now, join me beyond reality. So, Varjo has been in the industry for a while.
They’ve released several high-resolution mixed and virtual reality devices for the
enterprise. Their unique selling point? True to life visual quality. They claim to recreate
the exact feeling and conditions of real-life by offering the highest resolution headsets…
Pretty big claims.. but when I tried their headset at events they did deliver.
However, since these are for businesses, they also came at a great cost. For example, the
Varjo XR-3 is available for 5500 US dollars, and then there was this required subscription
of 1500 dollars a year too. This is where the Varjo Aero comes in. Varjo’s
first move from enterprise to the VR gamer. Although… They are targetting enthusiasts.
Like those into flight or racing simulators, but also creators, or just people with expendable
money ;) So is it worth the price? I’ll let you know today. Let’s start with the
part that got me very excited… A feature you won’t find on other headsets
(yet). It has integrated eye tracking with 200 Hz sub-degree accuracy. This gives us
two advantages. 1) It can detect the distance between your
pupils automatically… So your exact IPD and then a motor in the headset will automatically
move the lenses to match that! Which will give anyone using the headset the best clarity
they can get just by putting it on. The supported range for this is 57–73 mm
This feature is great as many people don’t know their IPD, especially if you show it
off to new people. But okay, an enthusiast probably does know, so here comes the 2nd
advantage that’s cool for anyone. The eye-tracking allows for 1-dot calibration
for foveated rendering. So what you’re looking at is constantly tracked, enabling the software
to make whatever you’re focusing on sharp. Everything outside the focused area will be
made blurry, which you won’t notice much as you’re not looking there. This has the
benefit of reducing the PC resources needed for the best possible visual quality.
So you’re able to use lower spec PCs than headsets with the same resolution without
foveated rendering. This is a huge plus for a high-resolution headset like this one.
Of course, eye tracking will also be interesting for social VR games or for devs that can use
the eye-tracking data to enhance our games. And once your eyes are calibrated, this combination
works so well. Sometimes I can see what everything looks like without the correct IPD and no
foveated rendering because the eye tracking thing is not calibrated yet. It is then that
I realize how uncomfortable that is. In Varjo’s software, you can trigger the
eye calibration whenever and show others this creepy footage of your eyes too…. So funny
but I’ll talk more about the software later. I'm currently looking at my monitor or something
and I think the colors are even better than my own editing monitor in real life.
Then the display is also something special. It offers Dual Mini LED LCD; a whopping 5760
x 2720 pixels total resolution at a refresh rate of 90hz. And, the colors & contrasts
look good. The blacks aren’t as deep as OLED, but it’s a ton better than the LCDs
we have on other headsets. These are some beautiful screens. I don’t notice anything
weird in the display; it just runs smooth *Chefs kiss*
The lenses are Custom-made variable resolution aspheric lenses. The sweet spot feels large,
and there are wonderfully no noticeable god rays or glare at all. Clarity is almost edge-to-edge.
Only at the far, far edges, it becomes a bit blurry, and I notice chromatic aberration.
I have to repeat; though, it’s almost edge-to-edge clarity. Honestly, it’s pretty much insane
how good this all looks. But the lenses are shaped in a way that makes
the field of view quite small. The marketed field of view is 115° horizontal and 134
diagonal at 12mm eye relief. But with the headset at my comfiest, this is what I’m
getting. As you can see, I’m getting lower values. This is personal and will vary per
person, but it is smaller compared to other headsets side by side. And if I try to increase
my FOV by putting the headset closer to my face, I seem to be able to see the top edges
of the display as I see strange fringes when I look up.
This does not bother me while gaming, though. When in-game, I’m just astonished at how
good everything looks :’)! But before we move to gaming and performance. Let’s talk
about the other side first… the design. Say hello to the glossy front. This is iconic
to Varjo’s headsets which I think is beautiful. The strap is unique, too; it has a three-point
fitting with the usual back dial. A forehead strap that also has a dial. Then there are
two dials on the sides that can bring the front closer to your face. The cushions have
some wiggle room, which is nice. The only thing I don’t like about the strap is that
there are no springs, so I need to dial the backstrap every time I want to put on the
headset. The face cushion is made of polyurethane,
it’s removable and easily cleaned. It’s a nice soft structure that feels quality.
Something our faces deserve ;) Little nose flap here takes care of the light bleed; there’s
almost none. And do glasses fit? Yes, glasses fit in there
as well. Just make sure they don’t touch the moving lenses.
The headset is big, though. Without the strap, it weighs 487 grams; the headband weighs 230,
totaling it to 717 grams in total. That makes it one of the heaviest out there. Still, once
I found the sweet spot with the strap, it is very comfortable for hours at a time because
the forehead strap holds most of the front heaviness, which is a smart move.
I’ve spent hours in this headset, and it has stayed comfortable throughout. Although,
after like an hour, there is a prominent mark on my face…
But this is actually a nice bridge to gaming and its performance.
So the PC system requirements for the Varjo Aero is as follows:
Not the most lightweight PC, yes I know. More about performance in a bit.
The headset comes with a 5-meter USB-C cable attached to a breakout box with a DisplayPort
and USB-A 3.0 cable. These cables are connected to your PC, and to turn it on; it needs a
power cable and plug. Then you also need SteamVR tracking; versions
1 and 2 are both supported. This means it gets more expensive as you need to buy the
sensors if you don’t have it yet. But SteamVR tracking is still the best and most reliable
out there, so there isn’t much to say here aside from it being more hassle to set up
than Quest 2’s inside-out tracking. So I’ve been using the Valve Index base
stations and Index controllers with the headset, and I played various games like Lone Echo
2 and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Gotta say, Lone Echo 2 in this thing is absolutely gorgeous!!
I played most of the game with the Varjo, and I noticed that I just didn’t want to
go back to the Quest 2 anymore…. which is interesting because there hasn’t been a
headset that made me feel like this yet. The visual acuity on this headset is incredible.
I measured a 20/30 visual acuity in the FOV measurement software.
This is better than all other headsets I’ve measured. The lower this number, the better
and further in the distance I can see. And I was also surprised that my 2080TI graphics
card could handle this headset’s resolution, my widescreen monitor, and a second monitor
so well too. The performance is better than I remember with the HP Reverb G2, even though
the G2 has a lower resolution. This has to be because of the eye-tracking and foveated
rendering. However, my PC could not handle it with all
games. In well-optimized games, it ran fine, but for resource-heavy games like Lone Echo
2, I had to dial it down. In the Varjo software, you can set the render resolution to a lower
res for a better frame rate. There are a few more settings to play around with for performance.
But once I found the settings that worked best, it performed well. Like, I put my render
resolution on 80%, and games like Lone Echo 2 worked a lot better for me while still looking
great. What I did find was that some games take a
very long time to load, sometimes they even load intensively choppy, and it’s really
intense if you’re in the headset. It even happened with Beat Saber sometimes, so I think
this is a bug with the Varjo software because it works well after the game loads fully.
I’m guessing this should be fixable with a software update.
There is active cooling too. When I’m wearing it, I can actually feel the warm air blowing
away to the top, and some cold air blows on my face, which is ‘cool’. However, there’s
loud fan noise. You can hear it when you’re wearing the headset but also when it’s on
your table. You can tune it out if you wear your own headphones but using external speakers,
it might be distracting. But in summary, I’m really happy with its
performance but be prepared to get a monster PC if you want the highest of the highest
fidelity. And here’s a thing with audio. It doesn’t
come with speakers nor microphones on the headset. But in the box, it comes with in-ear
headphones that include a microphone. Unfortunately, these headphones weren’t yet available,
so I couldn’t test this. When I get my hands on this, I’ll share my impressions on my
socials. So follow me there 😉 I’ve been playing using my own headphones with the 3.5mm
audio jack on the side of the VR headset. Then I was surprised by another thing. The
Varjo software is mature; the setup was easy to do. All you need to install is the Varjo
Base software and SteamVR. All else is similar to set upping any SteamVR headset.
You can tell the Varjo software was made for the enterprise by the features, but it’s
all actually very handy. For example, you can turn on the headset’s view, eye camera,
and gaze dot so you can see what the VR player is looking at. Or you can use the Pointer
to help out someone in VR as it will show them your mouse in-game.
There’s also a Developer Analytics window with handy tools like this performance window,
which you can use for troubleshooting or best settings.
But my favorite part of the software is the Workspace feature, where I can see my desktop
streamed inside the headset and change the layout, size, and position of my virtual desktop
anywhere I want. So I can position it exactly what’s comfortable for my body. SO I can
just lay down and sleep and work or something. However, if I open a high contrasting window
like white text on a black background, it does seem like I can see the dimming of the
display’s mini-LEDs as it looks like it all flickers a bit when I look very closely.
It’s just not as comfortable as looking at an actual screen yet. But it is still so
sharp, so it still became my preferred way of working as I can make it so comfortable
to my neck. I even wrote this whole script inside the headset. I haven’t felt this
way before with any other headset. Honestly, I almost can’t believe we’re already here…
Concluding. Well, you can tell that I enjoy the headset’s fidelity a lot, and I can
understand where the price comes from. Varjo has given a lot of thought to comfort. Calibrated
the display and lenses incredibly well and included features you won’t see in another
headset. Yet. This combined makes the Aero one incredible headset and for sure the best
headset I’ve tried so far that anyone can buy.
The biggest gripe is that, well, in the box, you only get… the headset…. So take into
account how much extra stuff you need like your own controllers and base stations. You
need a powerful VR-ready PC to run it and everything combined is going to add up…
Whether this is worth it depends on what you want it for and your budget. I think it’s
the most suitable for hardcore VR enthusiasts, like racing simulator fans where high fidelity
is important. In my personal opinion, the average VR consumer may not get their money
worth yet, until we get a lot more games. But I did find it’s the best device I’ve
tried so far to use for work and gaming, which can be incredibly valuable to some too.
In any case, Varjo’s innovations here are setting the stage for the future, and while
they had to sacrifice some things to lower the price. The things they did include are
amazing, and they’re just the first. Seeing the latest trends, I don’t see it far away
in the future for more of these headsets to show up at more affordable prices, which is
just really exciting! So what do you think about the headset? Would
you get one now, and why? Let me know below! I’m giving away a random SteamVR game key
to those who answer my question. So keep your notifications on! Thanks so much for being
here, and a special thanks go to all our Champions, especially these Patrons right here. As always,
VR on!