PSVR 2 vs Meta Quest 2: Which VR headset should you buy?

The PSVR 2 and Meta Quest 2 are heading head-to-head in the consumer mindshare battle. However, since they’re both accessible VR experiences, which should you buy?

With the advent of the PlayStation VR2, there’s a new VR headset in town. But, it’s a vastly different experience from other existing headsets. But, since they are both relatively close in price, and will likely have some overlap with regard to their audience, comparing the two headsets just makes sense.

Price

• Playstation VR2 price: $549.99
• Meta Quest 2 price: $399.99 (128GB), $499.99 (256GB)

The Meta Quest 2 is cheaper than the PlayStation VR2. However, the PlayStation VR2 offers a higher-end VR experience, and a much more modern design compared to the Meta Quest 2, which was initially released on October 13, 2020.

Specifications

Meta

Originally named the Oculus Quest 2, it is now known as the Meta Quest 2 — although it’s the same headset.

While headsets both may share similarities in their controllers, or their gaming library, The Meta Quest 2 and PSVR2 are two fundamentally different headsets. The Meta Quest 2 is relatively low-powered, and has a significantly inferior display, but manages to be wireless, thanks to the Adreno 650 GPU inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip inside it.

Meanwhile, the PlayStation VR2 makes use of the sheer horsepower of the PlayStation 5 in order to power its games. If we were to compare pure rasterization performance, the PSVR2 possesses 10.28 teraflops of pure power, while the Meta Quest 2 only has 1.1 teraflops by comparison.

This will allow the PlayStation VR2 to run significantly better-looking VR titles, since it also has a sharper, higher-quality screen, too. The big tradeoff for many is that the PlayStation VR2 uses a wire, whereas the Quest 2 is purely wireless. We don’t think the PSVR2’s wire gets in the way all too much to detract from the experience as a whole, but you do lose the portability and freedom that the Quest 2 has.

The Quest 2 can also be hooked up to a PC, whereas the PSVR2 cannot.

The PlayStation VR2 is the clear winner in this comparison, as the newer tech, and groundbreaking features like eye-tracking and facial haptics work wonders for the headset itself, while the Quest 2 remains much more basic and slightly aged.

Design

Dexerto

The Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR2 share a number of similarities, with both headsets opting to use something named inside-out tracking in order to position yourself in the space, there are a few significant differences that will affect your day-to-day usage of the devices.

The PlayStation VR2 has a wider field of view, with a 110-degree angle, whereas the Quest 2 can only manage a meager 89. This is fine in most cases. However, you should also note that the PSVR2 is also able to make use of eye-tracking, which has the ability to unlock a feature named Foveated Rendering.

Foveated Rendering allows the headset to put more of its graphical horsepower into what you are actually looking at. This is something that the Meta Quest 2 is not capable of, though the Quest Pro does.

The PlayStation VR2 also has a headphone jack with included earbuds, whereas the Quest 2 has built-in speakers. We love that we can stow away the PSVR2’s earbuds at a moment’s notice, and they are of much better quality than the Quest 2’s integrated speakers, too.

Games

Geurilla Games / Firesprite

The Quest 2, by virtue of having been on the market for a few years, has a much larger gaming library than the PlayStation VR2 as it stands, it also has the ability to connect to a PC, for further PC VR experiences. In this regard, the PlayStation VR2 has a lot of catching up to do compared to the most popular VR headset around.

While ports are coming thick and fast for PlayStation VR2, the Meta Quest 2 just has a much greater diversity when it comes to titles to choose from.

Where you will be making the real tradeoff is in the overall experience and fidelity of the headsets themselves. Since the PSVR2 houses a gorgeous pair of OLED lenses, you can be sure that games will look better, and the HDR certification imitates reality in a way that we’ve never seen any other VR headset really manage to do quite yet.

The ace up the PlayStation VR2’s sleeve here is going to be VR versions of AAA titles. In Horizon: Call of the Mountain, you can traverse through great vistas, while you can also get a stellar sim-racing element in Gran Turismo 7. Experiences like that simply are not accessible on Meta Quest 2. It’s sort of like HBO vs any other sitcom. Production values will be higher, and you will also be able to play some of the most popular VR games around on the system.

With that said, you’ll still get much more diversity from the Quest 2, but we think that the tradeoff in technology and AAA experiences is what sets these two headsets apart. We would recommend that you pick up the PlayStation VR2, as more games are being announced, and they are all just going to look much better than the Meta Quest 2 could muster.

Which one should you buy?

Dexerto

Right now, we think that the PlayStation VR2 is the better buy for anyone who currently owns a PlayStation 5. The Quest 2 doesn’t really manage to match up to its technical prowess. While the Quest 2 has a much broader range of titles, the PlayStation VR2 is likely to have higher-quality ones, thanks to being powered by the PlayStation 5 itself.

It ultimately ends up being a question of whether you’d like a wireless headset you can take anywhere, or being tethered to a more powerful system. Right now, we’d say the better buy is the PlayStation VR2.

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