If you want to hook up your Quest 2 to a PC so that you can play PC VR games then you've got two
options. Wired and wireless. Now, no matter how good a wireless connection is,
a wired connection is always going to be faster and more reliable,
and that's especially important for fast games like Beat Saber. So,
the data cable connecting your VR headset to your PC becomes critically important.
So here I'm going to take you through three cables from Kiwi Design, Cable Creation and Syntech.
And I'm going to compare them against the significantly more expensive
official cable from Meta.
And let you know what's worth buying!
Welcome to my Tech Gear…
Let's get into it!
I should point out that Kiwi Design,
Cable Creation, and Syntech, have all sent me their cables for review, but they are
not paying for or sponsoring this video so the opinion you get will be honest my own.
Before we get to the data cables, you do need to make sure that your PC is good enough to play PC
VR games. Now I'm not going to go into this in too much detail as I have covered this in other
videos. But in summary, you're going to need a PC with at least an Intel i5 or a Ryzen 5 cpu. 8GB of
ram, although I would recommend 16. And at least an xx60 nvidia graphics card. Like a 1060, a 2060,
or a 3060, or a 4060, depending on when you're watching this video, or it's AMD equivalent.
For reference, my PC has a Ryzen 5600X CPU in it paired up with 32gb of RAM
and an nVidia 3060 Ti graphics card, which has generally performed pretty well.
I do get some low graphic memory warnings in games like Half-Life:
Alyx which is generally caused by the graphics card only having 8GB of VRAM. Having said that,
despite the warnings I've had no problems whilst playing the game.
Once you've got the right spec PC then it's on to the data cable.
When looking at any data cable you should consider three main areas. There's the technical spec,
like the data speeds and the charging power. There's the physical spec, like the build,
the length, the weight, of the cable. And finally, the price.
Looking at cable specs, all the cables here support USB 3.1 with a data transfer rate of
up to five gigabits per second. Now that max is a theoretical maximum and no data cable,
even the official cable from Meta, can get anywhere near that figure. For a good data cable
I would expect transfer rates around 2.5 gigabits per second, and here all the cables here do not
disappoint. They all compare favorably to this, and also in line with the official Meta cable too.
The Quest doesn't use anywhere near that amount of bandwidth for transferring data
from your PC to your headset so all these cables are going to be more than good enough.
So it's a point to all these cables for supporting good data speeds.
For power, it's a little bit more complicated. All the cables here connect to your PC over a USB-A
port which is not going to provide enough power to charge your headset and keep it fully charged
whilst playing. So whilst using these cables you will see the Quest 2 lose power as you play,
but at a slower rate than if you were playing standalone as it is getting some power from the
USB cable. You'll still be able to get hours of gameplay out of it before it needs fully charging
though so unless you plan on playing all day without a break it's not really going to matter.
The Meta cable on the other hand can keep the headset charged as it is powering the headset
over a USB-C port which can deliver more power, up to three amps. So on pure charging power alone,
it's the official cable that wins this round. I'll give Meta plus two for winning this round,
and the rest plus one as they do charge the headset to some degree.
So whilst the official cable from Meta wins the power round, it then loses
the compatibility round. This is due to the USB-C connection. Now whilst it is a better
port type, it's just not as common on PC’s as the more traditional USB-A port.
So the other three cables here are going to be more useful to more people.
So for the compatibility round, the Meta cable loses out to these other three cables.
With the cable being taken in and out of the headset, and potentially stood on,
pulled, snagged on things if you're not careful… well, it's got to be durable.
Which means has to be well made. And to be honest, all these cables are.
The Kiwi Design cable here is the thinnest out of the three which makes it nice and
flexible and the plastic outer on the cable feels strong and well made. The USB plugs on
either end have metal casings on the outside, and reinforced plastic sleeves on the cable to
help prevent the cable bending and breaking at the USB plug end like cheaper cables can.
It also comes with a velcro strap for keeping the cable nicely attached to your headset.
The Cable Creation one here actually feels the most durable,
but it is also the thickest cable here which makes it the heaviest and the stiffest cable
here as well, which I'll get to in a minute. It does also have metal encasing on the USB plugs,
like the Kiwi Design, although it is missing the plastic sleeves.
But it does come with two velcro straps for attaching to your headset which is nice.
The Syntech one feels the cheapest. The USB plugs on either end are plastic rather than
metal and the cable outer doesn't feel as premium as the other two.
It also comes with a velcro strap for attaching the cable to your headset.
It also has something the other two don't. It has LEDs built into the USB
plug that plugs into your Quest. This lights up whenever the Quest is plugged in or it's charging.
So for cable design I'm going to give three points to the Kiwi Design,
two to the Cable Creation one, and one point to the rest.
VR cables typically come in two different lengths. They are either 10 feet or 16 feet,
or in metric that's 3 or 5 meters long.
Now if you are only going to play sedentary sit-down games then a three meter cable is
more than enough. For everyone else though, to ensure you've got enough room to move around,
you are going to need five meters in length. All the cables here are five meters long, or 16 feet.
So that does add more weight to the cable, and as you're moving around,
playing, you want to make sure that you get a cable that's as light as possible
that is also flexible as well so you're not feeling dragged back by the cable as you play.
The weights of these cables was actually quite a surprise because the official cable from Meta
was actually the heaviest out of the four. It is 224 grams in weight!
Next up we have the Cable Creation one.
That was 211 grams.
Then we've got the Syntech at 183 grams…
and the Kiwi Design at 182.
So there's about a 30 to 40 gram weight difference
between the heaviest and the lightest in this test.
So I'm going to give plus one to the Kiwi Design and the Syntech
one here for being the lightest cables here.
So given the weight, the design, the flexibility, what are they actually like to use? Well,
they all fit the Quest 2 well. The USB plugs here fit into the PC and the Quest 2 well
and they aren't likely to disconnect from either.
In actual use though the cables here all do feel very different. I definitely feel the extra weight
of the Cable Creation cable for instance. It is also the thickest and stiffest of all the
cables here and it does add some cable drag. That feeling that the cable is pulling at your head
whilst you're playing. I didn't get that same sensation with the other two cables here from
Kiwi Design and Syntech because they're a lot lighter and they're also a lot more flexible.
So in use I prefer the Kiwi Design and the Syntech one. So it's plus one to both of those.
Here is where things get interesting… price. Now all these prices are in US Dollars.
The Kiwi Design one is $25
The Cable Creation one is $22
And the Syntech one is $19
Which, given the build quality of the cables plays out about right.
However, compare that to the official cable from Meta.
That's $79 US Dollars! That is significantly more expensive than these three cables here.
Now I know that the Meta cable is an optical cable rather than a copper cable,
and technically it is a better cable. But in real world tests it doesn't really make
any difference. I feel like I should knock a point off the Meta just on price alone.
Actually that's what I'm going to do! I'm going to knock a point off the Meta,
and plus one to the rest.
So with all things considered, which one should you get? Well, given that there is no real world
difference in technical performance between all of them you would have to be crazy to buy the
official Meta cable. At over four times the price of some of the others here it's just
too high a price to pay for no real benefit. So I'd definitely cross that off your list.
For the other three here, I had no technical issues with any of them. They all performed
well. There were no issues with connectivity and my data speeds remained high.
However, there does need to be a winner here, and it is very close, but for me it has to be
the Kiwi Design one. It is the lightest and most flexible of them all which just makes it
the easiest to use, while still being durable and well made, so I definitely recommend it.
If you can't buy it though, and they're out of stock or something,
then the other two are no slouch either and are more than commendable for second place runner-ups.
I will place purchase links to all of them in the
description down below so you can go check them out for yourself.
If you'd rather play PC VR games over a wireless connection then be sure to check
out my easy step-by-step guide on how to set up Airlink in the link up here.
Thanks for watching. If you have enjoyed the video please don't forget to like and share it.
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And as always…
I'll see you in the next one!