Best VR Headset 2022: Battle Of Titans | Comparison & Buyer’s Guide

VR has become something of a hot topic in technology in recent years, very much mimicking the 1990s in that regard. Unlike the 1990s, though, modern technology, for an admittedly escalated price, can actually accommodate the type of somewhat immersive experience promised back in the days of parachute pants and mullets.

Of course, gaming is the biggest industry backing this technology, boasting potential for all new kinds of gameplay and immersive experiences. Let’s be honest with ourselves, though. Any kind of new digital technology, we all immediately want to try out for one specific thing – porn, as it requires full immersion. So, let's focus on this.

UPD: 12/12/2020 Late in 2020, a new model of the Oculus Quest 2 came out on the market. To date, this is the optimal choice: advanced and reasonably priced. I have already tested this headset and it is suitable not only for VR games but also for watching videos. It gives high-quality image (the Quest 2 has a resolution of 1832*1920 per eye, which is much more than the previous version offers) and 100% immersion.

This time, Facebook has done a great job. From my perspective, it can be safely called the Best VR Headset at the end of 2020, and I think it will hold the lead in the first half of 2021 as well. Made with a premium high-resolution display, this all-in-one VR system will allow you to catch every detail while watching your favorite porn. Moreover, you will be able to experience true immersion and hear in all directions with built-in speakers. The Oculus Quest 2 features intuitive controls, an ergonomic design, a fast processor, backward compatibility, and nice color reproduction.

Basically, there are two models competing for the first place: the new Oculus Quest 2 and the Pimax 5K XR with OLED panels, 200° diagonal FOV, and a total resolution of 5120*1440. However, let’s be honest: a price matters. That is why, personally, I opt for the Oculus Quest 2, which is half the price of the Pimax.

There are two types of people in the world – people who enjoy erotica and admit it, and people who lie and say they don’t. It’s only natural, sexual repression/frustration is actually severely unhealthy, and the more immersive and effective erotica can be made, the better. VR has a lot of potential in this regard, though admittedly it’s an underdeveloped and somewhat missed opportunity for the moment.

Various erotic game developers and content creators, however, have expressed interest and intent to pour a lot of effort into making the fullest use of VR for better, more immersive experiences. At the moment, this is mostly achieved through stereoscopic 3D and 360-degree fields of view placing you in the action, as it were, not unlike with normal games. This may not sound like much, but if you haven’t tried an erotic production that places you as a player in the goings on, you’re missing out.

But there are a lot of VR headsets on the market, and none of them are a light purchase. So, let’s take a look at four of them, and see which one wins the title of best VR headset for porn.

Best VR Headset: Pimax vs. Oculus Rift vs. Oculus Go | Comparison

• Color Reproduction
• Resolution
• Immersion
• Convenience
• Price
• Autonomy and Portability

Color Reproduction

It’s easy for the importance of color and resolution to be lost in today’s technology. We’ve been enjoying 16-million color, high-definition video on even the cheapest devices for at least fifteen years now, and we might just assume that any old VR headset can produce a good enough picture. How would a few extra colors, or a little bit of extra definition make erotica better?

For one, better color with a proper refresh rate abates the motion sickness and dissociation caused by early attempts at modern VR, and the added realism and smoothness actually work well with autonomic perceptive centers of the brain, thus providing a legitimately more sensual and engaging experience.

• Pimax 5K XR – This is an OLED display, and OLED can provide a wider range of genuine colors. A problem that a lot of display systems have is the inability to create true whites and true blacks, instead providing slightly off whites and very dark grays. This might seem like no big deal, but without proper black and proper white, the picture will never feel as real nor as vivid as it should. We want VR to surround us in a world that can pass for real, and the real world isn’t a washed out thing.
• Oculus Rift Quest – The Oculus Rift is one of the more well-known PC VR headsets, but it’s also slightly aging technology now, lacking the OLED clarity of the Pimax, relying in high-resolution LCD instead. It’s about like living in a 1080p reproduction of the world, which could result in a slightly less vivid experience. The Oculus Quest shines in other areas we’ll get to, but for picture, it’s average at best.
• Oculus Rift S – This one can actually provide a “4K” quality image though, when it comes to stereoscopy, the resolution system doesn’t quite translate the same way. This is a sharper image than the Quest, but still doesn’t quite hold up to the warm, vivid clarity of the OLEDs in the Pimax.
• Oculus Go Standalone – This one shines in some other areas too, but actually has a disappointing color clarity, looking very washed out, sacrificing video bandwidth and display refresh power for portability. It’s not horrid, you won’t rue the day you bought it if the strengths of it outweigh your desire for vivid colors, but it’s very average.
• Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2 – Facebook has done a great job in 2020. Made with a premium high-resolution display, this all-in-one VR system will allow you to catch every detail while watching your favorite porn. You will be able to experience true immersion and hear in all directions with built-in speakers. The Oculus Quest 2 features intuitive controls, an ergonomic design, a fast processor, backward compatibility, and nice color reproduction, and a reasonable price. It gives high-quality image (the Quest 2 has a resolution of 1832*1920 per eye, which is much more than the previous version offers) and 100% immersion.

Winner for Color Reproduction: Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2

Resolution

Resolution goes hand in hand with color reproduction and is honestly a more perceptible part of the experience. A lot of VR headsets have a “screen door” effect, because magnifying lenses and a closeness to the eyes makes the pixel grid more visible than what we experience from screens we’re a foot or more away from.

Resolution in the traditional sense isn’t really quite applicable when it comes to VR, so we’ll be comparing more by reduction of that screen door effect, and comparability (not equality) to HD classifications. You will notice most VR doesn’t list a specific resolution because optics are weird with this kind of platform.

• Pimax 5K XR – The Pimax equates itself to 2560x1440p, though again, these resolutions don’t quite mean the same thing here. That’s about a 2K resolution comparably-speaking. The problem is that while the gorgeous OLED display system makes some vivid colors and a sharp picture, the Pimax’s reduction of screen door effect is frankly piss poor. You’ll stop noticing it after a while, but it takes a bite out of the immersion.
• Oculus Rift– Oculus doesn’t try to give you hard numbers on their resolutions for the most part, because they know how more or less meaningless the numbers are to people used to screen resolutions. The Quest is comparable to the Pimax, but the screen door effect is worse due to slightly older display technology. It does however have some post processing to take the edge off “chunky pixels” and do some frame smoothing, which actually does give it something of an advantage for 60fps experiences.
• Oculus S – The Oculus S is hands down the winner in this category, thanks in no small part to far better postprocessing with minimal lag, excellent anisotropic scaling capabilities, and advanced optics for screen door reduction. You actually can’t see the pixels on this one unless you’re looking for them, and you kind of have to strain your eyes in a weird kind of focus to see that. Don’t do that.
• Oculus Go Stand-Alone – This one claims to have fantastic optics, and while it does have the broadest range of view, oddly enough, its optics do a poor job in post-processing and in screen door reduction. The next iteration of this will surely surpass the S, however.
• Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2 – It gives high-quality image (the Quest 2 has a resolution of 1832*1920 per eye, which is much more than the previous version offers) and 100% immersion.

Winner for Resolution: Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2

Immersion

At the end of the day, Immersion is the ultimate goal of VR, be it simulation, escapism into a surreal world or, in our case, experiencing the most realistic erotic experience possible. A problem with a lot of VR headsets is that you’re so aware of the damn thing being attached to you, that the immersion of the optics is negated by discomfort, cumbersome design, and so forth.

You’ll be surprised which one wins this category. Then again, maybe not.

• Pimax 5K XR – This one doesn’t involve a billion cables, and isn’t super heavy, and with the vivid colors, it’s definitely a pretty immersive experience. However, the dependence on limited range, occasional use of wires and the controllers kind of breaks some of the illusion. Also, let’s face it, when we’re enjoying porn, for reasons, we may not want our hands occupied by clunky controllers.
• Oculus Rift – This one frankly has the same problems, for the same reasons, so there’s no sense in repeating ourselves.
• Oculus S – This one’s advanced optics (despite its less fantastic color reproduction) does make it one of the most immersive experiences on a purely visual standpoint. Unfortunately, it does still have a little bit of clunkiness that takes away from immersion.
• Oculus Go Standalone – This one is the winner in this category, solely because it requires no controllers unless you want them, it can work via Bluetooth or other devices, and has full free range movement. You’re not plugged into anything, it’s just you and the headset in any position you like. Take that as you will.
• Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2 – You will be able to experience true immersion and hear in all directions with built-in speakers. The Oculus Quest 2 features intuitive controls, nice color reproduction, and a reasonable price. It gives high-quality image (the Quest 2 has a resolution of 1832*1920 per eye, which is much more than the previous version offers) and 100% immersion.

Winner for Immersion: Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2

Convenience

Another big problem with VR is how uncomfortable it is. These things are heavy, they’re sometimes complicated, they’re claustrophobic. So, they can have the most amazing image ever, but if they’re not convenient and comfortable, well, it doesn’t ultimately matter.

This category was hard to pick a single winner for, and so I will break the rules and name two.

• Pimax 5K XR – This isn’t a heavy headset considering the use of crystal in its optics, to be completely honest. It’s 1.04 pounds, which is about like one and a half cans of soda. That’s kind of heavy, but for what you get, it’s not THAT heavy.
• Oculus Rift – The quest weights a little more at 1.1 pounds, and has seen a lot of complaints about this weight being a bit painful as it digs into the cheekbones and stresses the base of the skull with its front-loadedness. The Quest isn’t comfortable, and it isn’t very easily portable. It’s also a bit on the fragile side, which makes transporting it a risk it could become misaligned. Yeah, this one doesn’t win convenience from any angle.
• Oculus S – This thing is bloody heavy! It weighs 1.87 pounds, which makes it a pain to lug around, it’s complex to connect, and it’s not that comfortable in all reality. It has a nice optic system, it’s not uncomfortable to the face, but this kind of weight strains the neck. Sorry, S, you’re a clunky headache.
• Oculus Go – The Oculus go is the lightest-weight one, at 12.5 ounces, or just a tiny notch heavier than a can of unopened soda. This is about as light as you can get without going into “garbage smartphone VR” solutions. This can be a slight disadvantage to some, as if you don’t tighten it, it may wobble about on your face a bit, but if you adjust it correctly, it’s comfortable and light. It’s also stand alone, meaning it can be easily set up and transported.

Winner for Convenience: Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2

Price

VR is expensive, isn’t it? Well, putting aside quality of optics and comfort, if we just look at price, it’s pretty clear-cut. You can probably guess the winner of this comparison before I even get into it. I won’t list specific prices, as they change on a whim, but the tier of pricing here is not going to change anytime soon.

If price is a driving factor to your VR entry, well, here you go.

• Pimax 5K XR – This thing is expensive as hell. It’s the most expensive VR headset I’ve seen in the home market, and I nearly choked on my coffee when I read the current price tag, which approaches a grand. It’s because of the optics and compatibility, but man, if budget is your concern, this ain’t it, chief.
• Oculus Rift – The Oculus quest is significantly cheaper than the Pimax, being about on par with a new gaming console. That’s still kind of absurd, really, especially with the wilted tech packed into it.
• Oculus Rift S – The Oculus Rift S is a bit cheaper than the Quest, making it about like a game console a couple years into its lifespan. This isn’t a bad price for what you get, but it’s still a bit of a purchase if you’re new to VR and not even sure how much you’ll enjoy the technology. For porn, honestly, you’re paying more than you need with this one too.
• Oculus Go – The Oculus Go is about like buying a game console from the previous generation right as the new generation comes out. It’s still an expense, but one most can manage, and not feel too awful at a loss if they wind up not even liking the experience. Considering the portability and light weight, and factoring in the slight compromise in resolution and color reproduction, it’s still the best all-around deal.

Winner for Price: Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2

Autonomy and Portability

We talked a little bit about portability before, but that’s just in the physical ease of taking the thing somewhere else and then hooking it back up. When we talk about autonomy and portability here, we mean the most compatibility, and the most free range of movement, configuration and personalization you can do.

Some VR is a limited implementation compared to other VR. We’ll be having two winners with this one as well, for different reasons.

• Pimax 5K XR – This one is a little complicated to connect to random systems, but its compatibility (provided the hardware can keep up with it) is fantastic, and while it may seem a little complex at first, it’s honestly pretty straightforward to set up. It’s also pretty durable. As far as autonomy, it has an excellent range of view, mobility, and it doesn’t handhold you if you don’t want it to, being about as flexible as any other interface once you dig into it.
• Oculus Rift – The quest is fragile, it’s bulky, and while it tries to be cordless, it’s really not. It’s also a bit dated internally, limiting range of view and requiring more software intervention to maintain a steady experience, limiting autonomy severely. The Quest has yet to win a comparison here. It’s almost like Oculus is trying to sell dated technology for a marked up price isn’t it? Nah, couldn’t be!
• Oculus Rift S – This one’s about what people expect VR to be by way of portability and autonomy, which is a middle of the line experience. It’s not very flexible for configuration and it does require a lot of drivers to be messed with. Provided every machine you want to use it with is properly set up, and you don’t mind some handholding and limitations in compatibility, it’s not the worst, but not a winner here.
• Oculus Go – The go is barebones, so you can’t do as much customization, but it also just either works or doesn’t, with the various things you try. It’s lightweight, durable, and basic enough that it’ll work with most modern things, and it doesn’t try to chime in and ruin the experience by mitigating it. This means things can go weird sometimes, but better that than menus arguing with you, right?

Winner for Autonomy and Portability: Oculus 2020 Newest Quest 2

And the Winner Is...

I had to really think about this for a minute, because there were two clear contenders for the winner, and while I feel that image quality is very important, I also think that price being reasonable is crucial for the further adoption and refinement of VR. This technology is underutilized by erotica creators and game developers because it’s still a bit uncomfortable in many cases, and it’s very expensive for something with so little content.

That in mind, my ultimate choice for winner of this comparison has to be the Oculus. It beats out the Pimax by price and ease of use. Sure, its picture is subpar by comparison, and its post-processing is middle of the road, but it’s comfortable, it’s easy, its lack of mitigation means more things work for it, and it won’t break your bank. If you want to experience VR erotica, this may be a compromise on resolution, but not by as much as you might think.

The Oculus Quest 2 is for now the best VR headset. Give it a try, it’ll be like discovering porn for the first time all over again!

Best-Selling VR Headsets in the UK | Comparison Table