Logitech this week introduced a brand new VR accent which goals to carry the nice off-ear audio answer of Valve’s Index headset to Quest 2
Valve’s distinctive off-ear headphones had been a elegant answer for highly effective but snug audio on the corporate’s Index headset which launched again in 2019. The off-ear headphones method means the headphones don’t get in the way in which when placing the headset on, nor do they even contact your ears whereas carrying the headset. With massive drivers positioned barely away from the ear, this method can also be mentioned to offer a extra correct sense of spatial audio due to the truth that the soundwaves are interacting with the geometry of your ears in a extra substantial manner.
Whereas Quest technically has ‘off-ear’ audio, the headset makes use of a ‘sound-pipe’ design the place the sound emanates from a small slit close to your ears. The result’s a lot much less highly effective sound with much less correct spatial audio as a result of the slit doesn’t actually align together with your ears. We’ve been saying for the reason that unique Quest that higher off-ear audio on the headset would do wonders for immersion, however the suggestion has fallen on deaf ears.
However now Logitech could also be headed to the rescue. This week the corporate introduced the Refrain accent for Quest 2 which clearly goals to emulate Index’s off-ear headphones.
For $100 the Refrain can connect to a Quest 2 utilizing both the default mushy strap or the official deluxe Quest 2 straps from Meta. The Refrain connects to the headset by way of the USB-C port on the aspect, and thoughtfully additionally gives a passthrough USB-C port so you may proceed to cost the headset with out unplugging the headphones. Nonetheless, Logitech warns you can’t use Oculus Hyperlink with the Refrain headphones because of the nature of the passthrough USB-C connection.
The corporate has additionally added its personal sensible characteristic to the off-ear headphones: when you flip them up into the folded place the audio is routinely muted. That makes it simple to shortly flip up the headphones to speak to somebody within the room after which get again to your recreation.
The Refrain accent itself weights 182g, which is a non-trivial quantity of further weight. Even with out the accent we’ve all the time really helpful one thing higher than the default Quest 2 mushy strap, however with the added weight it’ll be much more vital to have a greater headstrap possibility. Whereas the headphones work with all of Meta’s first-party straps, it isn’t clear which third-party straps they are going to be suitable with.
The Refrain headphones for Quest 2 are at the moment out there for pre-order from Amazon and Logitech for $100 with a launch date deliberate for September 2nd.
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This isn’t the primary audio accent that Logitech has made for Quest 2. The corporate additionally beforehand launched a pair of headphones and earbuds that had been supposedly particularly made for the headset, however neither possibility appeared actually custom-made for the VR use-case. Logitech has additionally dabbled within the VR house in a handful of different methods over time, together with experiments with a VR stylus and keyboard monitoring accent.