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Rift-S User Reviews - comparing Rift and Rift-S (pros and cons)

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
One of the first new Rift-S owners' review and comparison:


My early impressions of the S from a CV1 owner.


My Rift S came in today and after spending a quick couple of hours with it here are my take aways.

NOTE: I need to spend much more time in the headset but here are my initial thoughts/ramblings.


Optics

WOW, the best part about the Rift S by a long shot. I have a 63 IPD so right on the money and the edge to edge clarity is quite a large jump up from the CV1.

The LED panel does seem a bit of a drop in quality from its younger brother but the clear optics are something else. It’s almost too clear at times as I do see some aliasing.

One concern I have is the refresh rate, not so much if you are hitting 80 but when ASW kicks in it’s not as smooth as when running on CV1. This may be down to early software support? I hope so. But it’s one of my main concerns at this point.

I was able to use my desktop in OH though and comfortably read text. The jump up here is quite remarkable.


Audio

The audio solution is quite frankly crap. A 3/10 at best. I really hope we have some 3rd party options here.


Comfort

It’s fine while the headset is on and you are using it. For me it’s about the same comfort as CV1. One thing I noticed though, you can’t take it off and rest it on your head. I did this frequently with the CV1 so that I can control my pc. It does seem to put a bit of pressure on my forehead, not sure how I’ll go after a long session. I also maybe need to spend more time on how to adjust it for comfort.


Tracking

It’s been flawless so far but I haven’t really spent too much time testing it out. Early signs are good.


Summary

Early signs are positive but I’m already preying for a decent 3rd party strap with good audio, and possibly a redesigned facial mask. I would say Oculus have provided optics, tracking and touch. Lenovo probably looked after the rest.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/bqv9e2/my_early_impressions_of_the_s_from_a_cv1_owner/

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

180 REPLIES 180

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Just cleaning up on Reddit and found  o:)

"Obscuring a controller in first person shooters to aim. Can no longer hit anything.

Got my rift s today and was happy, although the ipd and audio complaints are valid, the loss of a tangle of sensors more than makes up for it.

However, I just had a game or two of Contractors, and immediately hit a problem. To bring a scope to my eye, I have to obscure a controller underneath the headset, which seems to cause it to lose tracking, which makes aiming almost impossible. Even trying to hold the controller out in front of me, half the time it still seems to lose tracking while I'm lining up a shot. This is a big problem for me since shooters make up the most of my vr gaming.

Has anybody else had this issue? It seems like an oversight but I feel like I must be doing something wrong because nobody else has complained about this."

- and maybe there's hope for the kids  😉

"Rift S, 56.5mm IPD, No Problems At All!

I noticed a lot of people talking about people at the higher IPD ranges, but not as many on the lower end. Just thought I'd share for anybody who was worried, I've got an IPD of 56.5mm, and even though I couldn't use the Go for more than 10 minutes, I've been using the Rift S for hours now and I don't have any problem at all!

The only downside I have with the headset so far is that the speakers are, by a mile, probably the worst speakers I've ever heard. Like, pound/dollar-store quality. But I'm willing to deal with that and just use headphones if it means higher screen quality and no sensors!"

"Not so sure how I feel about FPS tracking on the Rift S

Just got the Rift S Today! Super excited! First thing I did was jump straight into Pavlov. It works pretty damn good minus using two handed weapons with scopes.

I watched all the Videos online about it, ive watched nearly every single one I can find including Virtual Reality Oasis's review with the gunstocks. I don't own a gunstock and I am running into this tracking issue.

Does anyone have any recommendations or tips to improve the tracking in these scenarios? How do you guys feel about it?

Otherwise the Rift S is awesome! I'm hoping this isnt a dealbreaker."

"PSA: For anyone wondering, the Rift S audio situation really is bad

Just bought my Rift S after a lot of internal debate, I'm really enjoying almost everything about it, besides the audio, I don't know how to better describe it then it fucking suuuucks, it's like having headphones on that are half way down your face and floating an inch off your head, the maximum volume output is also a joke

If you're going to get the S, make sure you have some decent earbuds as at least there is a headphone jack on the Rift itself so you can compensate, but as it stands, the audio situation for the Rift S is terrible"

"First Impressions Oculus Rift S

**CV1 owner

So full disclosure, my rift had a black screen when I first tried it, super annoying but after updating GPU drivers and restarting computer it works now

I do think this headset is overall better than the CV1 but it may not be for everyone.

  Pros

+New panels look incredibly sharp +Headset is comfortable

+Pass through camera is incredibly useful (I didn't think it would be)

+No more external sensors!

   Cons

-FOV seems kinda squared off instead of circular

-No headphones

-Headphone aux sticks out right where I place my hands to remove the headset

-No nose hole to look through (I guess we have pass through cameras for that now)

-The top of the lenses got kinda foggy during play

-Godrays are still definitely a thing (might just be my astigmatism tho)

-The controller tracking absolutely shits the bed whenever I am aiming my rifle in pavlov while looking down, like from a second story window for example

Most of the cons are minor gripes, hopefully Oculus sends out a couple updates for the tracking issue"


Also some dude with IPD 70 loved the Rift-S, another dude (IPD 69-70) didn't - it may depend on individual expectations and preferences. No one loves the audio, everyone loves the screen. Most like the tracking, but it seems to depend on using rifles or not...

Many have troubles getting Rift-S to work, I haven't quoted such complaints, as these may depend on many other factors than Rift-S (hardware problems, drivers, OS updates etc).

Let's see how everyone feels in 2 to 4 weeks, a new girlfriend is always amazing the first days/weeks - but nothing beats the test of time 😉

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

KlodsBrik said:

Damn sde and godrays gone ? Coming from you Cyber, im even more tempted to pick up an Rift-S as well when I finally will be able to pick up my Quest. (  Im buying from a danish shop. ( The electricmutant ). It was first suppoed to be availabe for pickup the 24th. That changed to the 27th. Yesterday it then changed to 5june. 😞  )


Oculus.com can ship May 27, free shipping, arrival in probably a day or two... 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

KlodsBrik
Expert Trustee

RuneSR2 said:


Oculus.com can ship May 27, free shipping, arrival in probably a day or two... 


Im aware of that offcourse. 🙂

Im bying it physically for a few reasons.
  I have a good backlog of purchases through elgiganten and if any problems occurs I will get my my devices switched promptly. Also I get a discount there.
 Also the post delivery in my area is always the same person, and it seems he gets rid of his frustrations while at work.
 The way he handles the packages.. lol

Be good, die great !

Anonymous
Not applicable
I think if people hadn't been spoilt with the top drawer audio of the Rift's built in headphones then nobody would have a problem with the Rift S sound tubes. The sound quality isn't great but I don't think it's as bad as some are saying. We're just used to dog's bollocks sound quality so it's a bit jarring going from that to the Rift S sound quality.

I'm going to have to get a DisplayPort extension at some point though because sitting down on my sofa playing Elite Dangerous stretches out the cable a bit which makes it a little awkward.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Another happy customer:

Some notes about Rift S after an evening with it

I received the Rift S today, been working with it the whole evening. I worked on quill, Big Screen and Dash. Here are my notes:


  • Passthrough is extremely cool but doesnt solve the keyboard/phone readability problem because you can't read anything through the passthrough video (too blurry)

  • I am very happy with the resolution/clarity update. It is quite significant. Not perfect yet, but much much better than CV1

  • There should be some kind of "wizard" or tutorial for adjusting ipd.

  • I can now drink beer in VR without fumbling/dropping stuff which is great.

  • my headphones (nuraphones) fit perfectly, even better than on cv1

  • room lighting is an issue, but a low intensity light works fine.

  • set up is very easy compared to cv1. I actually prefer the tracking of Rift S. With CV1, if my cat touched the sensors or if I bumped into my table, tracking would start failing, and I often really didn't want to go through setup again. Rift S ends all that friction and frustration.

Overall, it's a great update! And much nicer to work in. I'm happy."


And @Snowdog posted his review on Reddit too (35 minutes ago), not going to repeat it again in here, yes, the eye sees everything  😄

Image result for sauron eye


Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee
===EDIT: I've changed my review score due to poor tracking! - FPS games and Archery games don't work on the Rift S - disappointed.===

I've just played Echo Arena and Beat Saber for past 45 minutes with my Rift S and I really love it.

As I expected though, the sound isn't that great and I seriously want a solution to attach the original Oculus headphones to the side of the headset. 

Other then that though I'm loving it. I was so shocked at how well made the Halo design is, it's very comfy to wear and easy to put on and adjust, the design is amazing.

And the clarity is perfect too, everything is so clear, the optics are great, large sweet spot, I find this headset better then my original Rift CV1 in every way apart from the audio.

Tracking has been perfect in my 45 minutes of play time.

Did you guys notice in the new Oculus Touch demo (Oculus First Contact Demo) at the start of setup it no longer lets you duel wield pistols those fiends!!

When I was playing the First Contact demo I was looking around and was like wow! Look how amazing and high res the textures look, you could even look inside that shiny 3D printing machine and see the parts inside and also the wires on the ceiling. Really impressive!

Also I really like the new Touch controllers, they feel great too, no complaints.

Everything is as I expected it to be. I could instantly see the resolution increase and clarity when I went into Echo Arena, everything was so much sharper and looked better then before.

I just wish I didn't have to use PC headphones as I find them difficult to fit over the top of the Halo design.

Also does anyone have a solution for the wire from the headset that goes past your left ear? It gets in the way of your headphones.

My Score for Rift S = 7/10 (I took 1 point off because someone at Oculus >>> cough Lenovo>>>cough>>>forgot to add the original Rift built-in headphones!! Crazy fools!! 😛

EDIT: I will update my score to 10/10 when Oculus release the headphones they forgot to put in the box! lol

====EDIT: I've changed my mind due to poor tracking! - FPS games and Archery games don't work on the Rift S - dissappointed .===
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
I just want to add what some people may have missed and it was a big problem for me. Yes the ipd adjuster has gone, but the Rift S only using 1 display instead of 2 displays has got rid of that horrible binocular effect. The one where you see a slight line in the middle of the screen which looks like looking though a pair of binoculars. Now with just one screen that line has gone and it makes playing games and watching movies so much fun. I used to hate seeing that line, it distracted the hell out of me especially while trying to watch movies.

@RuneSR2 - Just saw your post about the scoped rifles on Reddit. I can only pray they will allow us to use an external sensor as added option if we want on. That would really make my day if Oculus did that, but the Rift S is a great VR headset still. I hope there's a way around this through Oculus or from the games devs. 


Nij
Heroic Explorer
Gotta say, after having DK1/2 and having CV1 since release I'd pretty much made my mind up that I wasn't gonna go for Rift s as it didn't seem enough of an upgrade for me to justify getting it but after reading all of this, I'm seriously starting to change my mind

About 10 months ago aswell I'd spend half a day mounting my 4 sensors on the ceiling with extension cables, trunking and sensor holders which was something I'd been meaning to do for ages but obviously now I would need to take them all down again

I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger though so giving me a push may well help

Reasons to get one

- I can free up lots of USB's and also my HDMI port and do away with all my extension cables
- I still get the red mist or smearing sometimes on my CV1, even after having replacements
- Audio i'm not fussed about as I use my AKG in ear headphones with my go, so I'd just use   these and not sure if you could use Beats x wireless headphones connected to your pc but this would mean changing the audio output so may stop Rift s sound working
- The passthrough will be perfect for weekends when I like to drink beer and play games and would mean no more removing the headset
- I've got extension cables for the headset embedded in a cable sleeve that I usually drag around with me when I'm moving around so I may not need this now as the cables are longer
- I've got a good sized games library so I don't want to jump ship for this reason and I don't really like steam vr a great deal neither
- And it will probably be at least a year before oculus release anything new and plus the fact I was a kickstarter and I didn't pay for my cv1 in the first place and I could probably sell it now anyway and use the money to put in my Rift s kitty

So all of this aside, I've been debating for a while on getting a Pimax or waiting for Index but then it's the hassle of setting up new base stations, getting all my old and new games off steam and not to mention the hefty price tag, so I'm seriously starting to think getting a Rift s, is a must

Show me the light? 😄
Headsets: DK1 Kickstarter edition, DK2, Rift CV!, Oculus Go, Rift S, HP Reverb G2 System: i7-8086K, Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming, 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz, 11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti, 1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit

Anonymous
Not applicable
Well I decided not to get the Pimax because I was a bit worried about their Quality Control and the reports of distortion around the edges of the displays put me off. Plus I'd need to buy Lighthouse base stations and their Sword controllers on top of 700 quid for the headset.

I was then considering the HP Reverb but was put off by the crap WVR tracking and the reports of issues with mura.

Next up, the Valve Index. For £920 I'm going to want more than a 1600p headset with a 20° increase in FOV. Valve are price gouging. If it was a couple of hundred quid cheaper I would have bitten but there's no way I'm jumping in for £920 for those specs, they're taking the piss.

Get a Rift S, like I've said earlier the difference between the Rift and the Rift S is night and day. If you already have a Go then you know how good these displays and optics are with regards to clarity.

Do it

You know you want to.

 😄 😄 😄

jayhawk
Superstar

RedRizla said:

I was also worried by comfort but this has to be the most comfortable VR headset I've worn. I actually hope they stick with this halo design. On the Rift CV1 the foam used to hurt my face by pressing against it to much. That doesn't happen with this halo design and is super comfortable.

So no more VR face?