Pimax Crystal Light vs Pimax Crystal Super

Pimax’s own pages give two answers, sometimes three, for several of these headsets’ specs: field of view, refresh rates, the graphics card you need and Crystal Light’s weight. None of those disagreements changes which one to buy. The specs that do are the same everywhere Pimax lists them: Super’s 3840 × 3840 panels and eye tracking, against Light’s 2880 × 2880 and none.

Crystal Light and Crystal Super side by side

Spec	Pimax Crystal Light	Pimax Crystal Super
Resolution	2880 × 2880 per eye	3840 × 3840 per eye
Pixels per degree	35 PPD	57PPD or 50PPD, by optical engine
Panel	QLED + Mini-LED; local dimming marked optional on one Pimax list	QLED + Mini-LED with local dimming
Lenses	Glass aspheric	Glass aspheric; interchangeable optical engine
Refresh rate	72, 90, 120 Hz (one Pimax page adds 60 Hz)	72 Hz, 90 Hz
Field of view	110° horizontal (115° and 130° on a trade-in page)	57PPD: 106° horizontal; 50PPD: 120° or 127°, 138° in Labs mode
Eye tracking	No; fixed foveated rendering 2.0	Yes, at 120 Hz; dynamic foveated rendering
IPD	58–72 mm, manual	58–72 mm, automatic
Room tracking	Inside-out, four cameras; optional lighthouse faceplate	Inside-out SLAM, four cameras; optional Super lighthouse faceplate
Weight	815 g (450 g on a trade-in table)	Not published
Controllers	Two 6DoF controllers in the box	Two controllers included
Connection	DisplayPort 1.4a, USB 3.0, external power adapter	DisplayPort 1.4a, USB 3.0 or better, 5 m cable
Minimum GPU	RTX 2080 or RTX 2070, by Pimax page	RTX 2080, RTX 2070 or AMD 5700 XT, by Pimax page
Recommended GPU	RTX 3070	RTX 3070 or better; RTX 3080 or 4070+ on the comparison chart
PC memory	16 GB; 32 GB for the best experience	16 GB; 32 GB for the best experience
Audio	Integrated, 3.5 mm jack, two mics; DMAS compatible	3.5 mm jack, two mics; optional DMAS headphones
Glasses	Not published	Not published
US price	$899 full payment	$1,599 sale; $1,799 regular

Super’s panels are sharper; Light’s refresh faster

Super’s panels have a third more pixels in each direction: 3840 × 3840 per eye against 2880 × 2880 on Light. Pimax names Super’s two optical engines after their sharpness, 57 or 50 pixels per degree, and rates Light at 35. Pimax’s comparison chart puts Super’s total at about 29.5 million pixels, while Light’s page states its total three ways: 16, 16.5 and 16.58 million.

Both use QLED panels with a Mini-LED backlight and local dimming, behind glass aspheric lenses. One of Pimax’s Light pages marks the local dimming as optional; the other doesn’t.

Light is the one for high refresh rates. Both of Pimax’s Light spec lists include 120Hz alongside 72 and 90Hz, and one adds 60Hz. Super’s panels run at 72 or 90Hz; the 120Hz on Super’s pages is the rate of its eye tracking, not the screen.

Field of view depends on the engine

Pimax’s consumer pages give Crystal Light 110 degrees horizontally. A Pimax trade-in page says 115 degrees in its text and 130 in its table, and the 105 degrees on Pimax’s business site is for Crystal Light Enterprise, a separate headset.

On Super, the field of view comes with the engine. The 57PPD engine is 106 degrees horizontally wherever Pimax lists it. The 50PPD engine is the wider one, and Pimax gives it two widths: 120 degrees in Super’s specifications and 127 on its store and comparison chart, where the store adds 138 degrees in Labs mode. Either way, the 50PPD engine is wider than Light’s 110 degrees, and the 57PPD engine a little narrower.

Eye tracking, IPD and room tracking

Only Super tracks your eyes, and it uses that for dynamic foveated rendering, which renders full detail where you’re looking and less around it. Light has fixed foveated rendering 2.0, which lowers detail toward the edges of the view and doesn’t follow your eyes.

Both cover the same IPD range, 58 to 72 millimeters. Super sets it automatically; on Light you set it by hand.

Room tracking is inside-out on both, using four cameras on the headset. For base-station tracking, each takes its own optional lighthouse faceplate, and Super’s doesn’t fit Crystal Light, so a faceplate can’t move between them. Light also shows you the room when you double-tap.

What your PC needs

Neither headset has a battery, a processor of its own or a wireless mode, so your PC does all the work over a cable. Light connects over DisplayPort 1.4a and USB 3.0 and runs from an external power adapter that comes in the box. Super asks for DisplayPort 1.4a and USB 3.0 or better, and includes a 5-meter cable. Both run on Windows 10 or 11 through Pimax Play, with SteamVR or OpenXR games, and neither opens the Quest store.

Pimax’s graphics card advice changes from page to page. Its marketing pages ask for at least an RTX 2080 for either headset, while the minimum lists on its product pages include an RTX 2070, and Super’s FAQ also accepts an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT. Pimax recommends an RTX 3070 for Light and an RTX 3070 or better for Super, and its comparison chart goes further for Super: an RTX 3080, or an RTX 4070 and up. Super also has about three-quarters more pixels per eye to render. Both want 16 GB of RAM on the minimum and recommended tiers, and 32 GB for Pimax’s best experience.

What they share

Both come with two controllers (Pimax calls Light’s 6DoF), and both have a 3.5 mm headphone jack and two microphones. Light lists integrated audio and works with Pimax’s DMAS headphones, which are an optional extra on Super. Pimax doesn’t say whether either headset works with glasses.

Check which Crystal you’re buying

Pimax sells several headsets with Crystal in the name, and some appear next to these on its store. The 8K Micro-OLED Crystal Super, from $2,199, has 3840 × 3552 panels, roughly 27 million pixels and ConcaveView optics. There’s also an ultrawide engine rated at 140 degrees, the business-only Crystal Light Enterprise, and the original Tobii Crystal, a 2880 × 2880 headset with a different default field of view. At checkout, look for the consumer Crystal Light, or for Crystal Super with a QLED 50PPD or 57PPD engine.

Price

Light is $899 on Pimax’s store, as a full-payment purchase. Super was $1,599 on sale against a $1,799 regular price, and Pimax’s comparison chart lists it from $1,799; the 50PPD and 57PPD engines cost the same. At the regular price, Super costs almost exactly twice as much as Light. Prices move, so check Pimax’s store before you buy.