In Brazil, we had monthly instalments’ payment options with no interest since I can remember, back then you would get something like a “reverse-cheque” payable in any bank agency (Carnê das Casas Bahia for example), and now you can do it with Pix, a Brazilian digital payment system that replaced Visa, Mastercard and most paper transactions in the country. But I digress, what I meant to say is that it was a no brainer to buy the cheapest XR glasses (< 250 USD), with 0% APR monthly instalments, the RayNeo Air 3s PRO (technically the non-pro is cheaper, but not for me at the time).

In a sense, I blame Patola’s review of the nReal Air for bringing these kinds of tools to my attention. And every time we talked in the Boiling Steam’s Matrix chat room, I get bombarded with ads (they know - who are they? - I don’t know!) and suggestions on socials about VR games and accessories. And it was not different with RayNeo Air 3s Pro.

Reality of Ads

All the videos that popped on my feed felt like too much on the nose advertisements, like how these glasses are the best thing ever.

Claiming how it looks like a big screen or how the speakers are great for audiophile and changed their lives. Yeah, I don’t believe that. I feel like there are not many tech reviewers anymore, the vast majority are just tech hypers also known as influencers.

It is easy to manage your expectations: look for the product sheet (often hidden or non-existent), and try to find truths in the brochure - the glasses frame looks like everything that came before, declared field of view (FoV) too, and if the speakers were for audiophile, they would make sure to mention details. So I knew at the time of purchase what I was getting into, a personal projector with speakers, well, mostly.

The big-screen promise. I expected it to be some sort of gimmicky to make it feel like a screen being projected at distance. If you have tried to watch movies in VR, you know what I am talking about. But what I got was a very tiny screen directly into my eyeball. It was quite annoying at first, and even after getting used to it I was never able to reach the maximum recommended time of use of 20 minutes before having to take a break. You also need to find a perfect fit to your head, or the angle might blur the corners of the screen.

Even if you survive longer than me with the glasses, you will be reminded to take a break because of the heat. I don’t think I ever used a VR headset which gets this hot, at least not in parts touching your face.

What it does well.

The glasses come in single size, and it is a bit small for my head. But they come with adjustable temples (arms, legs, or whatever you call the things that braces your head): 3 levels of tilt, and they can open the temple quite a bit. With a proper adjustment, the felt snugly over my ears, yes not on top, over. I find the glasses’ temples quite thick to fit properly on top or behind the ear. People with smaller heads did not have this issue.

Ergonomics

Rayneo Air 3s PRO is heavier than thick frame sunglasses, but not as heavy as a VR headset or some headphones. While the later devices find easy rest on top of your head, with Rayneo you might find a little discomfort on top of your nose and ears if you are not used to wearing glasses.

It was comfortable and fits snugly enough that I could use it while walking around the house or on the treadmill, at a brisk pace but not running, without falling off my head. I manage to play some games and read some texts without bumping in the furniture or falling off the exercise machine. I would feel more confident to run faster if there were a sports straps accessory, and a wireless connection, but that is ok for now.

Using them also helped with my posture. Strangely, no “reviewer” mentioned this. You know how some people tilts their neck weirdly while playing on Steam Deck, or using a laptop computer, or on their phones. I find it annoying when it happens to me, it took me a while to get used to the Steam Deck until I found a comfortable chair where I can sit properly without doing that neck tilt. With glasses like this I could play anywhere with a neutral position.

With these glasses, a phone and a foldable Bluetooth keyboard I have, I can ditch the 13-inches laptop I usually bring to travels. While in total volume they are a bit bigger, they can fit neatly together in my small hiking backpack with some extra stuff, where my laptop is too wide and long to fit in.

It is worth to mention that very few phones supports video through USB-C, check their compatibility info and your phone specs. Some phones are limited in hardware, some are blocked at operational system level, but I could not find a fix for some of the phones we had around the house.

Lastly, it would be hard to use your regular glasses under Rayneo, like you can do with some VR headsets. If you need prescription lenses, the glasses come with a clip-in frame so you can make them to measure. I am not sure if there is a standard for this type of thing, but they look similar to the ones offered by other companies.

Privacy

Only you can see your screen. It reminded me of shitty monitors advertisements saying it was private because it did not have a good angle of view, but that was just marketing doing its thing. Here, if you wear it slightly wrong, even you will have problems reading the screen.

The audio can be very private, it sounds very loud if you are wearing the glasses, but anyone nearby would have to be very close to hear it. There is also an option of whisper that makes the outside noise less noticeable. I have some audio samples on the next part.

Technical Aspects

Before we move forward, we need some disclaimers, as the things we will discuss are hard to convey fully through any media. When you are shopping for TVs/monitors online, the image you see of the object is coming from a camera, encoded for your streaming services, and showed on your screen? Every camera is unique, different set of lens would give you different outcomes, the processing, and colour correction… I could nerd about this all day long, but the point is the samples shown here are different from every individual real life experience.

I also do not have the tools to get proper data and charts, neither could I find something in the local library that would work for such small screen. I also do not know, or better I do not understand most of the esoteric lingo and beliefs that is not associated to technical terms that I see on audio devices reviews. Nor am I brave to open it up while under warranty to explore its parts.

For me, the best way was always to try it in real-life, but it is hard to find novelty devices since the big-box stores took over. I will do my best to convey them to comparison to other devices, and my experience.

Video

If you ever tried a VR headset - it is not that. It is lighter at the cost of Field of View (FoV), resolution and freedom.

The pixel density is ok, 1080p in a small area in your view. I noticed the picture I took might look pixelated or blocky, but remember you are seeing a single screen of the glasses, through my camera, cropped to match only the screen, compressed for web, seeing through your monitor. In real life it is almost imperceptible, maybe because you have 2 tiny screens illuding your eyes. And the pixel density might not be as good as found in some phones or VR headsets, but it is still competitive.

The only problem I faced with FoV was with the tip of the bottom corners missing, kind of rounded. Not sure if it was the fact it was too small for my head, or just poor quality. Any attempt to make the bottom corner visible would hide the top of the screen. Overall, not a problem with games where the focus is in the centre of the screen. But problematic for software and games that display small stats at the corner.

I had no problem with resolution while playing games, but text can be problematic. I wrote some of this while using Rayneo, while tweaking the font and colours to make it more comfortable to the eye. When using my Linux PC, I also changed KDE to scale the desktop to 125% (I used my main monitor at 100%), that helped with those corners and to make the easier to read.

About colours, while some VR headsets let you peak the outside world through camera pass-through, with glasses like this you see the outside world except for when colours are being projected on that little FoV screen space.

So the quality of the video would vary a lot depending on the light and other objects in the room. For example, it was hard to see the game when facing a window during the day, while staring at an empty wall in a darker room provided the best results.

The results vary so much, I saw that in the official website they started shipping a plastic covert to block external light, sadly I got mine before that.

This also played a role during game sessions, I will go through more of that later.

Last, it was also quite annoying when you are “immersed” (read “the illusion kicks in and you think it is a TV”) and you move your head but the screen “comes with you”.

Audio

In my youth I used to buy the cheapest IEMs (at the time I just called them ear-phones “because they go inside the ear”) available at the newsstand close to work, they would last 1 to 3 months. Similar or one-step below the ones airlines used to give, depending on the airline. The first time I got a proper device, I realized they can last way longer.

On the other end of the spectrum would be a live band, here I will list opera or orchestra because you probably can hear the voices and band without the intermediate of microphones and speakers.

This spectrum I am sharing is a way to baseline where an audio device fits in quality, based on conversations I had with audiophile friends that got me into more quality audio devices (not necessarily expensive). They were talking that so-and-so was good because the sound was more “cheio” (Portuguese word, not sure how to translate in the context, I will go with full). More full went over my head, and after some more explanation from them, and trying different devices and live music for a couple of months it finally clicked. It means how well one can perceive the sounds.

The first time it clicked for me was going downhill in big leaps right away. Go to watch a live orchestra, buy their CD and listen at home. It has the same voices, notes, but it will not fell the same. You can try to use multiple speakers and complex setup, and it will sound great, but things will still be missing.

Once you get used to more full sounds, you start getting aware when they are missing. There are plenty of other terms, that people use for different things, but a lot of them can either be partially solved with equalizer (bright, dark), software or are too esoteric(burn-in) and ridiculous (syrupy). There are a lot of personal preference, depending on how one like to experience music, movies and games. To makes matters simple, I will just use the spectrum we discussed above.

We could also go lower in that spectrum than my youth’s ear-phone, but I think of those as more specialized devices. Think about alarms, “bone conductor” or chiptune speakers. The speaker in your computer case just need to make specific beeps, not narrate your boot process in neutral English. On a side note, maybe one of the reasons that orchestral arrangements of chiptune games soundtrack are so popular, is the re-imagination of those games sounds and making it fuller.

With some overlap depending on the quality, we have in the spectrum: in-ear(IEM, in-ear monitors), on-ear(supra-aural, rest on the ear), over-ear (circumaural, cover your ear) with a bunch of varieties depending on how they are built. Then we have a leap to speakers (bookshelf, tower) but we can forget that here.

The price can vary a lot depending on durability, intended use, components, etc. You can get 5 USD parts, put a coat of paint, some random artist or brand name, and sell it for a lot. But even if you get the best cost benefit of each category, you face diminishing returns. The improvement is great when you go from those dollar headphones to something that costs 15 USD, it was very noticeable when I tested jumping from 30 USD to 100 USD, and from there to 250~300 USD. Then, a slightly noticeable jump were in the 2k USD, but I found in hard to justify unless for personal taste and trust, or professional use.

Rayneo 3s Pro audio

Now, back to Ray Neo, where does it sit?

I would say it sits around the on-ear/over-ear area in the spectrum. It is better than some IEMs. People that are not used with things inside the ear might find a little speaker on the temple more comfortable.

If you ever tried those “sports” headphones with little speakers that are close but not covering your ear, the quality is close to that. It is definitively better than “bone-conductors”.

Putting a price on it, headphones priced between 10USD to 30USD would have a similar sound. But it can go +200USD if you include brands like Bose and Beats to the list.

The quality of the audio is ok for the price of the device, which is rare. A 30 USD sound system for a 250 USD device would be like if your VR headset would come with a studio reference headphones.

Rayneo has 3 audio modes: Standard, Whisper and Spatial. Spatial is horrible, it might need some special tool from the phone app to work properly. Whisper is as a bit quieter than the Standard, still good if you are wearing the glasses, but difficult to hear for people on the outside - the option to use in the public transport. Below are some audio examples for the game Lil Gator Game.

I did the measurement using the following setup:

For measurements on the outside:

For measurements as close as possible to the inside of the glasses:

Here are the results:

Standard Inside audio sample:

Standard Outside audio sample:

Whisper Inside audio sample:

Whisper Outside audio sample:

As you can see, there’s nothing much people can hear outside in whisper mode.

Gaming

I used it to play games on both Steam Deck and my Linux PC, and it worked great. For the PC I plugged it straight to my GPU and it worked fine, with both audio and video coming thought the USB-C cable. I had to buy a new longer cable for the PC because the longer USB-Cs I had at home did not support video. They are more expensive than the basic data/charger types.

At first, I thought I had a similar experience that Patola had with games: it makes 3D games more enjoyable with the Steam Deck. But after going thought a bunch of games, I realized that it was the palette of colours that affected my enjoyment and immersion.

Games with darker colours were easier in the eyes. they are “less” opaque, which helps with the immersion by blending in more, regardless of being 2D or 3D. While bright and colourful games felt more like a screen blasting pain into my eyes.

I love the Steam Deck screen, it is probably the best OLED in my home right now. But there are some games that I prefer playing on my PC monitor (also OLED), but two of those games also worked well with Rayneo, Tomb Raider (2013) and Valfaris.

Valfaris was the game that made question the 3D rule, being a 2D side-scroller, I was very invested while playing with the glasses. And I dare to say that I enjoyed it more with the glasses than with Steam Deck or monitor.

So I went on a spree testing games with it - and because I cannot use it for more than 10 minutes at a time it took me more than a month to get a good diversity of games, missing the return window (more on that later). With that, I narrowed down to the colour palette rule.

Some of the 3D games that were not as pleasant to play with the glasses, given the bright colours, were Lil Gator Game, and Persona 4. Persona 4 was interesting because some levels are very colourful, and others are more sober, creating a bit of a contrast.

That said, you can mute it a bit by reducing the brightness, tweaking the colours with your Desktop Environment, or with the help of shaders.

I do like the 120Hz of the screen, it is usually what I use for my monitor. And as I play mostly old or well optimized games, it is nice to go beyond Steam Deck’s 90Hz. The other option is 60Hz, and Steam Deck adapts well to those changes, but I noticed some screen artifacts on the Deck when I switch that setting on the go, where it was supposed to just be black. I could not find any answer online, except people suggesting faulty cables.

Cassette Beasts

Let’s see how a few games look like through the glasses. First, Cassette Beasts.

And the thing in motion.

Persona 4 Golden

It’s gold, it’s Persona, and it’s fun no matter where you play.

Here’s a short video.

Tomb Raider

Now here’s what Tomb Raider looks like.

Lara in movement below.

Valfaris

Now back to more modest titles with Valfaris, a really cool action game.

It looks better when things are moving.

Best Accessory’s Accessory, Dell Dock WD19?

As surprising as it may sound, this accessory is best supplemented by other accessories, depending on your use-case.

From Patola’s nReal Air review it seems that charging Steam Deck with these kinds of glasses would be a bulky chore. And it still is.

I was looking for a dock that would allow charging the Deck and also output video through USB-C there were not many options. I found only two in my region: a USB-C video splitter and, for about the same price, a second-hand refurbished Dell Dock WD19T (they all go WD19 + something, T means it supports Thunderbolt and 3.5 mm jack).

And that is by far the best Dock I ever had. Way back then, for work I had one of those ThinkPad there I hold in high regard that would just click the notebook, but Dell really hit the spot with this one.

While not as practical as just clicking a computer in place, it works for multiple devices we have. Everything works well, fast charging, plenty of outputs, and so far, very reliable.

It now has a dedicated space connected to a monitor, that we use for or mobile devices. Or if I need to use the Deck + Rayneo and charge at the same time.

The WD19 provides audio throught the USB-C as well. The default settings is if you plug headphones to the 3.5mm audio jack, they will have priority over the glasses, but you can tweak that.

The downside is that it is very bulky compared to small splitters. Not that great to have with you on the go.

If Xbox Ally does well, maybe the next interactions of Valve’s Steam Deck would come with an extra port and save us the trouble.

Is it really “XR”? Or AR or VR for that matter.

At the beginning of the millennium I was doing some research on AR (the university kind, not the vaccines will make frogs gay), and, I believe because of that, those ridiculous marketing terms, like XR and MR bothers me a bit. But they are also invading academia now, so I guess it is my problem.

But to answer the tittle question, think a bit with my old definitions. Back then, we used VR when we immerse into a virtual world, and AR when we enhance the real world with virtual elements.

But there is a key point here, for both you need some sort of interactivity, usually through tracking. For a blind person, we would do VR with audio clues through headphones (or a room with speakers if your supervisor has good contacts) and navigate the world with a game controller (or cameras with pose estimation), for example.

For AR, the most common method in the lab was to attach a cheap webcamera to a cheap projector (actually attach both to a computer or notebook if you need mobility). And use the camera to track positions and update the video output to the projector to match the world.

These glasses, does not come with any sort of position tracking (the nerd in me want to attach a camera or gyro, but my wallet tells me to wait until the warranty is over). As I mentioned before, if I move my head the “screen” comes with me, it would be no different from attaching a monitor, TV or projector to my head.

To that extent, this device is just as XR as my monitor, projector, headphones, speakers, rumble in game controllers are. What for me is no, there are the interactive element missing. And yes, to that logic, a modern mobile phone is a XR device, and great at it (and for a while, my main VR headset).

Competitors, like the new xReal (formerly nReal), come with independent AR features, and attachable extras. But at the cost of weight and price (almost double of the Rayneo - probably because they went with Bose audio), and hard to find in my region.

Lack of Linux support

As the rule I keep breaking: avoid buying hardware that depends on software. This is another device that works on Linux fine, but depends on a phone app to unlock features.

The thing is, the website has no description of what the features of the app are, red-flag. You have to download an apk, red-flag. And the changelog or source are nowhere to be found, red-flag.

I am very curious about reverse engineering what can be done with this piece of hardware, but it is going to wait in the bucket list. Right after fixing the Esc mapping in the firmware of the Aula WIN68HE keyboard

TL;DR

If you are suffering from FOMO, don’t. Honestly, the whole current technology is a hard pass for most people. And I cannot think of a single use case that I can recommend this to someone. I already had some good settings for my posture, and for my privacy. The only reason I did not return it is that I have this bad habit of thinking the problem is with me. Trying with different phones, computers, etc.

I think for this technology to become more interesting they need to progress in a bunch of stuff: better heat dissipation, increased field of view, either built in trackers (camera, gyro) or with option to add those as accessories. And, of course, something that fits my big head. I do like to tinker, so an open-source firmware, or at least a well documented firmware would be a must.

If you want to check for yourself where this technology could be in a couple of years, and you have a mobile phone with gyro, the cheapest way would be to build a cardboard VR headset. You can use the camera as a pass-through, and the gyro will track your head movements.

And if you want to buy something, and if you are ok with Meta products, last I checked the Meta Quest 3s entry-level price is very similar to the Rayneo Air 3s Pro. It is heavier and bulkier but will give you much more.