Pimax Crystal Super review

Even in the year 2025 where it’s relatively commonplace, VR still feels like a futuristic progression for gaming. VR headsets are becoming fairly popular, but the dream of putting on a headset and seamlessly teleporting to an immerse new world, while my lounge room fades away, is yet to be realised. While modern headsets have come a long way, they either lack the visual fidelity to fool the eyes, the comfort to convince the body, or more likely a bit of both. The Pimax Crystal Super is an example of a headset that does a lot to solve one of these problems, while kinda forgetting about the other.

The Pimax Crystal Super boasts some pretty impressive specs, but as such needs a mighty PC to run. Pimax recommends you have at least an RTX 2070 to run the thing, but realistically, if you’re running anything less than a 4080 then you’re not going to scratch the surface of this impressive display. There’s simply no reason to drop the $2,000 on this headset without a high-end PC to power it. You’re far better off grabbing a lower specced VR set-up and upgrading later.

You’re also beholden to Pimax’s software, which acts as a driver hub and is required to be configured to play some games like MSFS. I found the app quite easy to navigate and haven’t had problems, but it is an extra step to consider.

Unboxing the Pimax, the first thing I noticed was the heft. This is one of the largest modern headsets I’ve tried, and lifting it out of the box really drove that home. It became even clearer when I added the speaker module, upping the weight of the headset once more. With thick cables, and sturdy black plastic chassis the construction feels very solid, but also undeniably heavy.

Despite the weight, I’ve been surprised by how generally comfortable the fit is. It can be adjusted via a Velcro top head strap combined with a dial tightened back strap, similar to the one on PS VR, and I found it really easy to get a good fit. The plush face rests are also very comfortable. It’s just when there’s over 1 kg of gear on your head, it’s impossible not to notice.

This is worse in fast moving games like Beat Saber, and gets heavy really quickly. Even a few songs had my neck complaining from the weight. Games where I could sit and play, like racing sims and MSFS 2025 fared the best. I’ve managed about an hour in the headset without noticing the weight too much when significantly distracted by the game.

This is where the Pimax Crystal Super shines. The high-res display combined with a-wider-than-usual 140° field of view makes this one of the most immersive headsets I’ve used. The 90 Hz refresh rate is great too. It’s easy to be distracted when soaring over the clouds as I stick my head out of my little Cessna and almost believe I’m looking at the horizon line. Or while zooming in fast paced racing action, I can almost pretend it’s the weight of a racing helmet.

When the scene is particularly bright I can just make out some screen-dooring, and there’s also some occasional chromatic aberration. It also highlights the sort of goggling effect of the round screens. These weren’t things I tended to notice while actually playing a game, more during a title screen or similar. Something that did bother me a little during gameplay was the lack of true blacks making it never really feel quite dark enough inside the headset.

While they make the headset even heavier, the speaker modules really do help add to this sensation. I loaded up some Half Life: Alyx and was truly taken by how real the world felt with this combination of sight and sound. When looking out a dirty city window at a passing drone I went to push my hand against the glass, and was a little surprised when it wasn’t there. I haven’t had VR do that to me before.

It also comes down to how few problems I’ve had while using the Pimax Crystal Super. It can be a bit to get everything set up, but once it is this headset has been easy to use consistently. I had one issue where controller tracking stopped working, and it was fixed with a simple restart. It’s yet to bother me with any issues while I’m actually in a game, and it’s always my neck and head that times out before anything else.

The Pimax Crystal Super is a hefty unit in more ways than one, and comes with a price tag to match. The field of view, and high-pixeled display allows this headset to trick my brain in ways VR hasn’t managed before, but the weight means I can’t keep it up for anywhere near as long as I’d like. $3,000 Australian doolery doos is an awful lot of money to drop on something you have to limit your use of. If you’ve got the cash, the kit, and the neck to run it, the Pimax Crystal Super offers a breathtaking VR experience.