As I predicted back in January, 2023 has been a huge year for advancements in gaming hardware. Handheld streaming consoles like PlayStation Portal and Razer Edge have introduced new ways to play games, while PSVR2 and Quest 3 are pushing virtual reality in bold new directions. Perhaps my favorite new category of tech is XR glasses — wearable displays that let you play and play on massive 200-inch screens that only you can see. I’ve had the pleasure of testing devices from all the major competitors in the XR space, and while they all impress me for different reasons, the one I’m most impressed with, at least visually, is the RayNeo Air 2.
TCL has been iterating with XR glasses for a while now with the Nxtwear and RayNeo series, and the RayNeo Air 2 is the brand’s lightest, brightest, and most gaming-oriented frame yet. The 76g glasses are equipped with a dual micro OLED display that simulates a 201-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate for clear, high-performance gaming. Of the three frames I’ve tested, the Air 2 has by far the best image quality, but unfortunately just about everything else about it lags behind the competition.
The Air 2 is the most minimalistic package you’ll find among XR glasses, which has both pros and cons. There are only two buttons on the bezel, a brightness control and a volume control, which have different functions depending on how long you hold the button, including 3D mode and discreet mode for private listening (more on that later). We will explain more). There are no extra nose pieces for different sizes, you simply want to bend the nose pads into shape, which made me worry about them breaking. The arms themselves can also be bent up and down to find the right fit, and while it takes considerable force and makes a sound like snapping plastic, I appreciate the simple adjustment of the glasses. I wish Viture One XR glasses were this easy to adjust.
These are all the functions Air 2 offers. There are no shades to cover the lenses like other XR glasses, and the lenses don’t have any kind of multi-step electrochromic lighting. I was worried that the glasses wouldn’t be dark enough without the extra tint, but luckily those worries were unfounded. Thanks to the 600 nit display, I had no problem seeing the image clearly even in the brightest environments. These pups are ridiculously bright – much brighter than other models I’ve tried and need more shade for daytime enjoyment. Considering I already lost one of the One XR’s shadow covers, I think I like this approach better.
The glasses connect directly to your phone, tablet or Steam Deck with a USB-C cable from the back of the right arm. As soon as I put them on, I was amazed at the image quality. Having tried other XR glasses, it was clear that the Air 2 was visually on another level. The picture has excellent color clarity even at the dimmest settings, and there’s no screen door effect, even though they’re only displayed at 1080p resolution. They tend to crush blacks, like all XRs I’ve tested, but I didn’t see any of the distracting color banding that usually happens in dark environments. If the best image quality available is your priority, I think the Air 2s are the best.
But that’s where the positive things I can say about these glasses end. The sound quality, I’m sorry to say, is atrocious. Every game I tested on the Steam Deck was very quiet, even at maximum volume. While I could clearly hear things like dialogue, gunfire, and what was happening in my vicinity, the entire environment was completely lost. If you scrunch up your ears to direct the sound towards you, you can notice how much of the soundscape you’re missing out on, and there’s a lot you can’t hear wearing them normally. Discreet mode just mutes the sound and makes it even quieter.
Testing videos on Netflix and YouTube showed the opposite problem. A loud enough audio track will completely blow out the headset’s speakers, causing them to blare and sound terrible overall. I know there isn’t much room for quality speakers, but the sound output from the Air 2 is basically worthless.
There are limits to the XR right now, and each brand has found different ways to work around it. The Switch is still the most ubiquitous mobile console, but unfortunately its USB-C port doesn’t have video output, so an adapter is required. TCL’s solution is a battery-powered dock called the JoyDock that you mount your Switch and attach your glasses to.
I wasn’t given the JoyDock to test, but instead I was given a completely different accessory: the Miracast Portable Adapter. It’s a portable battery bank that attaches to your phone and has pass-through charging capabilities so you can keep your device plugged in while wearing your glasses. It has a magnetic mounting bracket so you can attach it to the back of your phone like a wallet. The design has some flair, but in my testing on two different tablets and a Samsung phone, the adapter simply didn’t work.
Rather than plug-and-play, TCL’s portable adapter requires you to download a Miracast app. The app doesn’t work on either device, so when everything is plugged in, the glasses just display a “Please connect your phone or tablet” screen. Virtue has a similar dock that works for all devices without the need to download any apps, so I’m not sure why the Miracast app is needed here when you connect the glasses directly to the phone.
Requiring multiple accessories to make the Air 2 work with all your devices significantly reduces its portability, especially when the Miracast app doesn’t work at all. The glasses retail for $299 as an introductory special, which is significantly cheaper than other XR glasses I’ve tested, but the trade-off isn’t worth it. There’s certainly room in the XR market for entry-level devices, but the RayNeo Air 2 will have to be significantly cheaper to justify what you’re losing in sound quality and device compatibility.
Still, with picture quality this good, I can’t wait for TCL to keep iterating on the XR. You can learn more about the RayNeo Air 2 XR glasses on the official website and sign up to be notified when the frames launch on Amazon. First 100 customers also get JoyDock for free. You can use these savings to get a decent pair of headphones—you’re going to need them.
#OLED #glasses #Cyberpunk #stunning #Steam #Deck
Image Source : www.thegamer.com