An typically missed issue for a terrific VR expertise is audio high quality. I would not really feel so strongly about this if it wasn’t for the Valve Index (opens in new tab), which launched me to glorious VR audio able to tricking your mind into pondering you are someplace else. The difficulty is I do not personal a Valve Index—it is a $1,000 headset. I personal a Meta Quest 2, and I have been looking for one of the best ways to imitate the Index with it ever since I bought it.Â
The Logitech Refrain is one of the best ways I’ve discovered up to now of doing simply that.
The default audio resolution for the Quest 2 leaves quite a bit to be desired. I get why it wasn’t high of the priorities listing for the entry-level headset: it does lots of different issues very nicely as an alternative and it was once frightfully low-cost (it’s, nevertheless, somewhat pricier now). However I do typically want for somewhat extra oomph within the audio division. The 2 tiny cut-out audio system on the Quest 2 do an inexpensive job of blasting the audio in direction of your ears whilst you’re sporting the headset, however they do not ship a lot readability, bass, or sound isolation. Additionally they do not deal notably nicely with excessive quantity. All of which takes me out of the digital actuality expertise.
The plain resolution is to plug in a pair of headphones. Simply carried out, the Quest 2 affords up a typical 3.5mm port for many headphones to fit proper into. That is been my go-to method for the previous few years—I haven’t got a pair particularly made with a brief cable run for the Quest 2 however a daily pair of SteelSeries Arctis Professional Wi-fi headphones I’ve for calls works nicely sufficient. You simply should cope with the mess of cables when taking the headset on and off.
Refrain specs
Drivers: Twin customized constructed and tuned open kind drivers
Connectivity: USB Kind-C
Value: $100/ÂŁ90 (opens in new tab)
Headphones are first rate sufficient however they don’t seem to be a totally excellent match for the VR expertise. VR ought to beget a extra bespoke audio expertise to mirror the 3D world surrounding you whenever you’re sporting the headset—stereo headsets do not do that very nicely.
That is why I’ve at all times come again to the Valve Index’s audio resolution: two off-ear BMR drivers designed to each totally embody the wearer’s ears with audio and keep long-term consolation. It achieves each objectives very nicely. Audio comes by means of loud and clear, with an open-back design delivering an expansive sound stage for higher directional audio. Regardless of the plain hole between you and the drivers, it is surprisingly good on the sound isolation entrance, too.
The Logitech Refrain is near a precise reproduction of the Index’s audio resolution in a Quest 2-friendly kind issue. The Refrain additionally consists of two off-ear, open-back BMR drivers to near-enough mimic the audio properties of its inspiration.
It actually is sort of a easy like-for-like audio resolution and it really works in addition to I had hoped. The audio high quality is sort of merely glorious and it nails that stage of immersive audio in a method that my headphones simply could not hack. They’re additionally able to going a lot louder than the built-in audio system.
Set up is straightforward: the Refrain clips on simply and securely to the Quest 2 body. It is comparatively ambivalent to the strap you have got put in in your headset, as clips onto the 2 strong arms connected to the headset correct. It labored simply effective with my Elite Strap, and naturally it can work with the usual cloth strap, too. Third-party straps with the same design precept to those needs to be equally appropriate. You want solely plug within the compact USB Kind-cable run into the headset and also you’re able to go.
The brief USB Kind-C connection additionally means there is not any extra cables to tangle your self in with the Refrain. Whereas it does take up the one USB Kind-C port on the headset, the Refrain affords a USB passthrough so you possibly can nonetheless run a line to your PC for Oculus Hyperlink or cost the headset simply.
At $100/ÂŁ90, the Refrain rivals an entire new pair of headphones in value, and admittedly it is much more restricted in use. It is simple to have a look at the Quest 2 as a less expensive possibility than many different higher-end PC VR headsets, such because the Valve Index, however if you wish to piece collectively a extra snug, spectacular VR expertise with the Quest 2 you do should spend fairly a bit to get there.
My VR headset setup now consists of the $100 Logitech Refrain, $60 Elite Strap, and $80 Hyperlink Cable. If I purchased all this right this moment, with the Quest 2 at its new $400 value, I might be spending $640.
Positive, it is not the $999 that Valve asks for the Index, however it all provides up. The entry-level Quest 2 can rapidly turn out to be an entire lot costlier with a number of, in my view, must-have equipment.Â
Admittedly, a extra snug strap is more-so vital in my view, if just because I could not stand to put on the Quest 2 with its unique cloth one after some time of utilizing it.
The Logitech Refrain hits an ideal word with me, nevertheless. It is precisely what I have been searching for in an audio improve for the Quest 2, and it delivers all-round immersive audio to rival the most effective available on the market in my books. In case you’re after the same improve or simply sick of the cable tangles, it is nicely price contemplating the Refrain.