Hey guys,

I recently picked up the Pimax Dream Air for my sim racing setup, but I am running into a major issue with eye strain.

I’ve been using VR for over 5 years (most recently driving on a Quest 3) and have never had eye strain or burning like this before. Today I did a 45-minute session, and ever since taking the headset off, my eyes have been burning severely for the entire day.

While on track, I noticed pretty obvious peripheral warping and stretching whenever I scanned around with my eyes or looked toward the edges of the FOV. The center image is sharp, but the edges feel distorted, and my eye muscles feel like they are constantly fighting to keep the stereo image merged.

Before I open an official RMA ticket with Pimax (since I'm still within my 14-day return window), I wanted to ask the community if anyone transitioning from a flatter pancake setup like the Quest 3 to Pimax has successfully dialed this out:

What horizontal/vertical software IPD offsets are you using relative to your actual hardware IPD?

Did changing the cushion thickness or distance from the lenses fix the peripheral warping for you?

How sensitive is the vertical positioning on your head for keeping the visual sweet spot clear without edge distortion?

I really want to love this headset for sim racing, but this level of eye fatigue is completely unplayable for me right now. Any settings tweaks or alignment tips you recommend trying before I pack it up for a refund?

Appreciate any insight!

I've tried a number of Luke Ross mods on my Dream Air using the sboy driver and they all crash on startup.

No issues using the Pimax runtime though.

Does anyone know what the issue might be?

For the last few weeks ive been enjoying my dream air alot, its resolution is truly next gen, and its so light. it makes me quest 3 feel like a toy.

But a few days ago i accidently left my dream air on with the cleaning cloth slightly on top of it, so it kept on the whole night, and potentionaly got a tad hot, and i honestly don't think its the issue at all but when i put my headset on again i just couldn't get the audio to work anymore, i tried to reinstall the audio drivers but it didn't do much. Like honestly i don't think this is necessary a pimax problem since when i read up on like old index posts it seemed to have the same issue for some people. all in all its not a deal breaker since i could just put on headphones or buy a pair of earphones to keep the lightness, but i would love for it to be fixed , so does anyone have any suggestions for me to try perhaps . Many thanks in advance :)

I’ve seen enough similar reports that this may be a common issue. If anyone has actually solved it, I’d love to know how- especially since I need to decide whether I’m keeping this headset before my return window closes.

The attached video is an extreme example (I don't normally have a 3rd lighthouse right in front of it) but it demonstrates the same jitter I experience at varying intensities and seemingly at random. It happens whether the headset is on my head or resting on a table, using my normal two high-mounted base stations or the additional third station positioned directly in front of it for testing.

I bought the Lighthouse version of the Dream Air to use with my existing Index base stations. I genuinely missed the Lighthouse ecosystem and was excited to return to it. Initially everything seemed pretty good, but over the last couple of weeks, it has developed, or I have at least started noticing, a very visible and extremely annoying positional micro-jitter. Its severity seems to change randomly, but it’s never completely absent.

I have a motion simulator, force-feedback peripherals, and a dozen pieces of software calibrated to work together. Somehow, this $2,000 headset has become the part of my setup with the most friction. And no, before mentions of EMI, it doesn't seem to care whether not any of my hardware is plugged in or powered on.

So far, I have:

• Covered reflective surfaces
• Tested with the motion platform and direct-drive motors completely unplugged
• Tested the headset completely stationary on a solid table
• Tried different base-station combinations and positions
• Bought a brand-new third Base Station 2.0 and positioned it directly in front of the headset as an additional test

The jitter remains. In the attached video, the headset is resting motionless on a solid table with the brand-new base station directly facing it. It isn’t always quite this severe, but it is never genuinely stable.

To be clear, I don’t normally have a third base station sitting directly in front of the headset. My usual setup has two base stations mounted near the ceiling on opposite ends of the room, angled approximately 45 degrees toward the center. I used my Valve Index with this arrangement for years without tracking problems.

Is this the same micro-jitter other Dream Air Lighthouse owners have reported? Has Pimax acknowledged a tracking or factory-calibration problem, or does this indicate that my particular unit is defective?

If anyone has found a real fix I’d greatly appreciate the details.... Thanks.

Edit: to comply with automod -

• Steps to Reproduce: start the headset
• How Frequent: more often than not
• System Info: RTX 5090, i9 13900kf, 64gb ddr5, windows 11, latest drivers and everything is up to date
• Pimax Info: latest version of pimax play and sboys (happens with both drivers)
• Game(s): doesnt matter, I notice it even in steam home.

I fly dcs world and use a motion platform. Wondering if a dream air would add to the vr experience..

Anyone playing it? I've played it a bunch but i got the pimax crystal super ultrawide and it has thrown all my settings off. I have a 5090 64gb ram i9 cpu so i know i can run it. Im playing kcd2 in vr with it and it looks amazing and plays great. My biggest issue right now is i can't force the resolution in lukes mod overlay. It just crashes. Never had it happen before. The in game setting are forced to that 1080x1080 by the mod haven't changed it. Wondering if i am missing something. I should be able to force the resolution. No clue why i can't. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I'd really appreciate it.

Just finished almost 3 hours with no black screens. Don't want to jinx it, but ANYONE ELSE?!

Today I focused on testing the Dream Air SE’s inside-out SLAM tracking and the built-in audio.

For the tracking tests, I played Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, and spent some time in the SteamVR Home environment.

My overall impression is very positive.

The controller tracking feels stable and responsive. I don’t notice any visible controller jitter, and when the controllers leave the tracking volume they return to the correct position almost instantly once they become visible again. The headset also keeps track of their last known position very well, making reacquisition feel seamless.

Based on these tests, I would have no concerns using the Dream Air SE for rhythm games like Beat Saber. I still want to compare it directly with my Crystal Super, but so far the inside-out tracking on the Dream Air SE feels excellent.

I also tested the built-in speakers.

They don’t quite reach the audio quality of the DMAS speakers on the Crystal Super, but they sound good. I’d compare them roughly to the Quest 3’s integrated speakers. For my personal use, I don’t feel the need for better built-in audio.

The microphone is still on my testing list and will be covered in a future update.

One final note regarding image quality: I’m intentionally holding back my final opinion for now.

The micro-OLED panels already deliver excellent blacks and contrast, but with the current facial interface I simply can’t get my eyes close enough to the lenses. Since Pimax has confirmed that the new facial interface, which is expected to ship this month, brings the eyes noticeably closer to the lenses and increases the field of view, I don’t think it’s fair to draw final conclusions about the overall visual experience just yet.

I’d rather evaluate the headset once that updated interface is installed than base my final judgment on what appears to be a temporary limitation.

Main Thread (Start here)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/s/gVftYD5MUr
Update #1 – FOV & Glare Test, Comfort & Thermals
https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/s/sTY422KgOT
Update #2 - You are here

HI guys - I do mainly DCS and have been using mbucchias quadviews for ages now - but noticed that the latest pimax play keeps disabling it in the API layer (without my permission). So my question is, is the new pimax quadviews better these days and worth getting off mbucchias quad views?

Image for funsies.

Cheers.

Hi everyone,
I’m running my Pimax Dream Air Lighthouse in native SteamVR through the SBoys3 CustomHeadsetOpenVR driver (not the standard Pimax Play runtime), and I’d like to confirm one thing before I bother tuning it.
My setup:
• Headset: Pimax Dream Air Lighthouse (firmware V1.0.3), Lighthouse 2.0 tracking
• Driver: SBoys3 CustomHeadsetOpenVR v1.2.0 STABLE, launched via the SBoys3 GUI button (Pimax Play stays logged in in the background)
• Software: Pimax Play 2.0.1, SteamVR 2.16.7
• PC: Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 32 GB DDR5, RTX 5090, Windows 11 25H2, NVIDIA driver 610.62
My question:
In Pimax Play → Settings → Games there are the post-processing options GPU Upscaling (FSR / NIS) and Sharpness / Enhance Sharpness (the one that’s only available when GPU Upscaling = None).
When the headset is launched through SBoys3 instead of the normal Pimax runtime, are these two options actually applied to the rendered image, or are they bypassed because SBoys3 replaces the Pimax compositor/runtime?
Has anyone tested this? And if they do work, is there a reliable way to visually confirm it (e.g. a clear before/after with Sharpness at max, or a known artifact)?
Thanks a lot for any feedback.

u/QuorraPimax or anyone knowledgeable, I decided to purchase the Dream Air and won't be needing my Crystal Super 50PPD. I do have an extended warranty on the device (purchased Jan. 2026). When I sell the headset and unlink it from my account, can the extended warranty be transferred to the new owner? The language in the terms was not that clear.

Also, if anyone is interested, I am selling it for $1200 shipped with dmas earphones and studioform comfort kit!

I don’t see the holes like the ones in the crystal light. How do i install the comfort strap? Is it even possible to?

Another false promise?

I havent used my Crystal Super in a couple weeks, but I just went to put it on and use it, however I noticed a Play update. So I did that and now i cant get the SLAM controllers to detect at all. Ive tried resetting them, and I cant pair them because they are not listed in the pair controllers section.

I got extremely lucky and bought my Pimax from my local Microcenter, knocking on wood but no issues out of the box so far.

The only anomaly is in the Pimax (space?) when you first power and headset the foveated eye tracking doesn't seem to work but when I load into iRacing it seems fine.

Also to note the PSVR2 eye tracking seems to be much more accurate.

I'll run through the usuals that every post has.

The facial interface is bad but not as terrible as people make it out to be. I will still upgrade which I agree shouldn't need to be done on this expensive of headset.

The headstrap is terrible, there is absolutely zero stretch to it. You have to unvelcro and restrap to your face every single time.

The two wires going off the back are as annoying as people made it out to be. You have to position them just right in a seated position or else they get in the way when looking around.

Tracking has been perfect, no issues with the inside out or the controller tracking although I will admit the controllers feel like a 90's third party cheap console controller that you give your younger brother, the buttons feel terrible to press and they are extremely light and cheap feeling.

Passthrough is Oculus Quest 1 levels bad, its usable to pick up objects and see people but screens go pitch white with zero ability to see anything on them.

One huge thing I was worried about that I have issues with in a lot of other headsets is the bridge of my nose often touches the lens and I have no issues with that here despite how large the lenses are.

Overall I am blown away by the clarity, I feel like a broken record saying the same thing as others have but I just wanted to tell people the Pimax Lottery isn't all bad and I know how blessed I am to live in a city with a Microcenter that sells these as I didn't have to deal with shipping.

The Dream Air is my 3rd Pimax headset*. Prior to this, both my Crystal OG and Crystal Super 50PPD were flawless. There's been a minor tracking update that wasn't great here or there, but Pimax customer service has always been helpful in terms of sending udpated tracking DLLs and whatnot that have resolved issues. They've generally been pretty good to me.

That's changed with the Dream Air. I'm on my 3rd Dream Air. I had 2x LH ones that both had unacceptable tracking jitter, and my Dream Air SLAM has developed a pretty constant black screen. They initially said my audio stems were the issue, and I waited ~3+ weeks to receive new ones. When those finally arrived, it was evident that these didn't resolve my issues. Pimax asked for logs, which I submitted, and told me the headset was defective and needed replacement. They then immediately rescinded that guidance, because they state that their internal warranty policy (which differs from that posted on their website) is that a user can only get 2 replacements, and then they're refunded.

I don't want a refund. I want a working headset. I pre-ordered, and I want my pre-order bonuses, one of which is an extended warranty. Literally the entire point of dealing with a Pimax pre-order is all of the benefits that come with it, despite the risks. Pimax trying to tell me that I'm not entitled to a working headset is a complete slap in the face.

I don't know whom to reach out to anymore to address this issue, but I'm really losing my patience. My first Dream Air arrived back in April. I've essentially been dealing with issues for months. I didn't want to have to write this post, but I feel like unless it gets views Pimax won't actually fix it at this point. Their internal CS policies seem to be beyond unhelpful. I've provided documented evidence of my issues to them every step of the way. If the headset didn't black screen I'd be over the moon. It's the best headset I've ever owned in every other way that matters to me. I just need a working one!

I've always recommended Pimax to people in the flight sim community, as I've genuinely had good experiences and figured that even with shoddy QC, their CS would take care of you. I don't think this can at all be the case if even documented issues are treated this way.

Here's an imgur album of some of the relevant support tickets/responses: https://imgur.com/a/wBBseyN

revisited ReShade and Depth3d for the first time since getting my Dream Air SE. It's such a fun way to play 2d titles, especially third person games. If you like games such as Moss, give it a go with Sackboy. Spiderman 2 was serious fun too. Also just set up Super Mario Galaxy (Wii/Dolphin) and this has a FSBS option in the settings, great fun too!! a much more immersive way to play your 2D catalogue!

Edit - just discover UEVR! Holy shit!tballls! Massively late to the party I know!

I was away on holiday for a few weeks, so I've only just started messing with the new EVO software and have a couple of questions.

First, to get Sboy working, is the process:

- Open Pimax EVO

- Make sure Steam is selected as the runtime

- Enable Open Port

- Load the Sboy driver

- Click Launch

- Start SteamVR

I couldn't see any indication of whether Sboy or EVO was actually being used. If the above is correct, hopefully it can be streamlined in the future to a single click after setting it up for the first time.

Also, when using Sboy, do the SteamVR settings still do anything, or should we only be tweaking settings in EVO? Or is it the other way around?

EDIT: Thanks for the replies. I have one more question - is it possible to enable eye tracking with sboy and if so, how?

Are dream air displays canted at some degree? I am wondering why is parallel projection needed for games like xplane 12 (native open xr) and il2 (open vr). I did not need PP with xplane 12 on bsb2.

And if I leave it on, is it still applied to games like dcs that work fine without PP? I have no idea how more pixels dream air has to render when parallel projection is on

I only see people talking about “ Flight Sim “ and “ Racing Sim “ with this headset .. that’s a very small portion of VR games that’s out there .. even flat screen ..how do you like the Dream Air other than Sim games ? I’m curious

Help, pimax dream air slam, makes me a midget in games.

(comparison of pictures between quest 2 (pcvr), and pimax dream air. One having normal height, one being much smaller.)

anyone has a solution to this?

calibrated well, but can only get normal height by changing the world scale - which makes objects shorter!

playing online, people state me seeing as half kneeling.

i think this is a software bug from pimax.

when automatically calibrating my height in into the radius 2, it stated '172', while i am in real '191'.