First Look at Pimax Crystal Super’s New 57 PPD Optical Engine

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First Look at Pimax Crystal Super’s New 57 PPD Optical Engine

Martin recently got his hands on the brand-new 57 PPD optical engine for the Pimax Crystal Super, and the results are nothing short of impressive. The upgrade pushes VR visuals closer to true retina clarity, and while the change in numbers might look small on paper, the difference in practice is striking.

What Is the 57 PPD Module?

Crystal Super is a modular headset. Instead of buying multiple devices, users can swap in different optical engines. Until now, Crystal Super has shipped with:
  • 50 PPD QLED Engine – a balanced setup offering high pixel density and ~126° horizontal field of view.
  • Ultrawide QLED Engine – similar clarity but stretched to ~140° FOV by sacrificing some binocular overlap.
Now, the long-teased 57 PPD engine has entered production and begun shipping:
  • 57 PPD QLED Engine - a lower field of view with increased retina level clarity

The jump may sound small—just 7 more pixels per degree—but in practice it delivers roughly 14% more horizontal pixels per degree. And the difference is more noticeable than you’d expect.

Why PPD Matters

PPD (pixels per degree) measures how many pixels are packed into each degree of your field of view. The higher the PPD, the sharper the image.

For example, in DCS World (a flight simulator packed with tiny cockpit details), the move from 50 to 57 PPD makes gauges, knobs, and text noticeably clearer. Small round objects appear more circular, fine edges stop shimmering with head movement, and aliasing drops dramatically—sometimes enough to skip anti-aliasing altogether.

The Trade-Offs

Of course, squeezing higher PPD out of the same 3840 × 3840 QLED panels requires compromise. The main one: field of view.
  • 50 PPD engine → ~126° horizontal
  • 57 PPD engine → ~105° horizontal

So yes, clarity improves—but at the cost of a noticeably smaller window into VR. Pimax achieves this by using redesigned aspheric glass lenses that project a narrower view while keeping full panel utilization (~29 million pixels combined).

First Impressions

At first, it was tempting to think 50 PPD was already enough. But once the 57 PPD engine was slotted in, the difference was hard to ignore.
  • Text clarity: Far-off boards in SteamVR Home became razor sharp, while the 50 PPD engine showed blurrier, less defined letters.
  • Aliasing: Jagged edges on objects like bookshelves almost completely disappeared at 57 PPD.
  • Overall sharpness: The world felt cleaner, denser, and more natural—closer to how the human eye expects to see.

Even better, performance improvements were noticed in some scenarios, thanks to the way the optics project pixels more efficiently. That’s not what most would expect, but it’s a welcome surprise.

Final Thoughts

The 57 PPD optical engine transforms Crystal Super into a headset capable of retina-level clarity. For sim enthusiasts, productivity users, or anyone obsessed with visual sharpness, the difference is striking.

The trade-off, however, is a reduced field of view compared to the 50 PPD options. Whether the clarity outweighs the immersion loss depends on your priorities and the kinds of experiences you play.

One thing’s for sure: VR hardware has never looked this sharp.

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