Somnium VR1 Base Model Price Rises to €3000

Somnium, a startup hailing from the Czech Republic, initially made waves with its social VR platform, Somnium Space. However, towards the end of 2021, they shifted gears by unveiling the Somnium VR1 headset, boasting an impressive set of specs for its era. This move was in collaboration with VRgineers, a company renowned for producing the high-end XTAL headsets designed for enterprise use. Originally, the VR1 was conceived as a hybrid device, featuring standalone capabilities with an onboard Snapdragon XR2 chipset. Yet, by 2022, the company decided to pivot, focusing entirely on making it a PC VR headset.

The VR1 sports the same 2880×2880 QD-LCD with Mini-LED panels as seen in the Pimax Crystal. These displays offer a staggering 20,000:1 contrast ratio enhanced by local dimming, a full 100% NTSC color gamut, and various refresh rates—72Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz—along with an “experimental” 144Hz mode. With output brightness reaching 210 nits, it’s about twice the brightness of the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro.

Pairing these cutting-edge displays are large dual-element aspheric lenses that Somnium claims provide a field of view approximating 130° horizontally and 105° vertically. This breadth surpasses any other VR headset currently available, although the previous Pimax “5K” and “8K” models offered broader views, they also suffered from considerable peripheral distortion and are no longer being produced.

This commitment to a wider field of view explains why the Somnium VR1 appears relatively bulky, especially when compared to the slimmer profiles of newer pancake lens headsets.