Varjo today announced its latest high-end headsets, the XR-3 and VR-3, with a range of improvements including an expanded field of view, inside-out tracking, and a redesigned headstrap. While still expensive and definitely aimed at large enterprises, the new headsets also get a significant price reduction compared to prior models. As far as XR headsets go, Varjo's are quite unique. The company's headsets use two displays for each eye: a high-density 'focus' display at the center, and a larger 'context' display to fill out the field of view to immersive levels. The two displays are blended together nearly seamlessly, allowing the very center of the field of view to achieve retina resolution that's unmatched by any other headset on the market. The company's new XR-3 and VR-3 headsets—available for order today and due to start shipping in January—are based on the same concept, but push it further still by expanding the field of view of both the focus display (such that a larger area of the screen is retina resolution) and the context display (for a larger peripheral field of view). At the same time as expanding the field of view, the company has also boosted pixels per-degree across the board. Boosted Field of View & Resolution [caption id="attachment_99409" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] Compared to the company's prior headsets, the XR-3 and VR-3 expand the FoV of the focus display (retina resolution area) from 26° × 16° (30.5° diagonal) to 27° × 27° (38° diagonal). At the same time, the focus display's resolution is boosted from 62 pixels per-degree to 71 pixels per-degree, offering even finer resolving power (assuming your vision is sharp enough to appreciate it). From a resolution standpoint, the focus display is 1,920 × 1,920 @ 90Hz (compared to 1,920 × 1,080 previously). As for the context display in the periphery, the field of view is boosted from 87° horizontal on Varjo's prior headsets to 115° horizontal, the company says. And while the context display hasn't yet crossed the retina resolution threshold of 60 PPD, it gets its own significant boost from 14 PPD to ~30 PPD. In terms of resolution, that's an upgrade from 1,440 × 1,600 to 2,880 × 2,720 (both at 90Hz). [caption id="attachment_99402" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Through-the-lens photo | Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] If you haven't had a chance to look through Varjo's headsets, it's difficult to appreciate what all these numbers mean. For a coarse idea of relative resolving power we can consider the megapixels of the displays as compared to consumer headsets: Headset Megapixels per-eye Rift DK1 0.5 Rift DK2 1.0 Rift CV1 1.3 Vive Pro 2.3 Rift S 1.8 Quest 2.3 Index 2.3 Quest 2 3.5 Reverb G2 4.7 Varjo XR-3/VR-3 9.7 That is to say: that's Varjo's headsets are far beyond anything in the consumer realm. And of course we'd hope so... given what they cost. Lower Price (but still pricey) [caption id="attachment_99408" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] While Varjo's new headsets aren't cheap by any means, the company has managed to significantly drop the price despite boosting specs. Here's the breakdown: Headset Varjo VR-2 Pro Varjo VR-3 Varjo XR-1 Varjo XR-3 Purchase Price $6,000 $3,200 $10,000 $5,500 Support (annual, required) $1,000 $800 $1,000 $1,500 Total $7,000 $4,000 $11,000 $7,000 Both headsets are available for order starting today, with shipments expected to begin in January. Eye-tracking, Automatic IPD, & More [caption id="attachment_99407" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] There's no doubt these headsets are expensive, but Varjo is loading them full of premium features. Like the company's prior headsets, the XR-3 and VR-3 both feature 200Hz eye-tracking tech developed in-house, which the company claims is the "world's fastest and most accurate" integrated eye-tracking solution. Eye-tracking is also used for foveated rendering and automatic IPD adjustment, allowing the bi-convex lenses (not Fresnel) to align themselves with the user's eyes for optimal clarity and comfort. Both headsets also include hand-tracking from Ultraleap. XR-3 and VR-3 see a brand new industrial and ergonomic design, reducing weight by 40%, according to Varjo. The new headstrap uses a halo-like design with tightening dials on both the back and top strap. Both headset's displays also now boast pro-level color reproduction with 99% sRGB and 93% DCI-P3 color gamut. Continue on Page 2: XR-3 is Built for High-quality Mixed Reality » XR-3 is Built for High-quality Mixed Reality, Now With Inside-out Tracking [caption id="attachment_99399" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] While Varjo's VR-3 headset is purely aimed at VR use-cases and implements SteamVR Tracking, the XR-3 is specially designed for mixed reality applications and uses new inside-out tracking tech that the company says it has developed in-house. Varjo has loaded the XR-3 with high-quality pass-through cameras and sensors that allow the headset to expose the world outside of the headset to high-quality, wide-field of view augmentation with full opacity control (something transparent AR headsets can't do). [caption id="attachment_99404" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] While you arguably call Oculus Quest an MR headset thanks to its passthrough capabilities, the world you see through the headset is grainy and black and white. With XR-3, Varjo has gone to great lengths to make the headset's passthrough fidelity match its incredible resolution. As a cheeky (but effective) demo, the company shows how a user wearing XR-3 is able to easily thread a needle—something you'd have an awfully hard time doing with Oculus Quest. https://gfycat.com/discreteonlyalpineroadguidetigerbeetle Beyond the high-quality pass-through cameras, XR-3 also includes a LiDAR scanner for depth detection, which allows for more accurate augmented reality and convincing occlusion of virtual objects by the real world. The company says it's fusing both the LiDAR and RGB pass-through camera to achieve a depth-map that's accurate out to 5 meters. [caption id="attachment_99405" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] Varjo Calls Prosumer Space "interesting", But Remains Focused on Enterprise [caption id="attachment_99398" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Varjo's VR-3 uses SteamVR Tracking and supports SteamVR content, but mostly as a matter of practicality rather than consumer interest | Image courtesy Varjo[/caption] Given that Varjo's high-end enterprise headsets have the kind of features and performance that everyone in the VR space would love to see in consumer-focused products, the executives at the company have become accustomed to me asking if they're thinking about the consumer space. The answer is still pretty much "no." For the most part the company is laser-focused on making the best professional headsets on the market. But as prices continue to decrease, this time Varjo's execs told me they find the 'prosumer' market "interesting." Modern VR headsets haven't really been around long enough for 'consumer' and 'prosumer' price segments to solidify, but personally I tend to think of 'consumer' headsets being in the sub-$1,000 range, while 'prosumer' headsets would fall in the $1,000–$2,000 range. Varjo's VR-3—which uses SteamVR Tracking and already natively supports SteamVR content—is still well outside of even the prosumer range at $3,200 (plus 800 annually), but it's starting to get within striking distance. Interesting indeed.