Oculus Rift DK2 Review

It’s been more than a year since the Oculus Rift DK1 headset shipped to developers.

Since then we’ve enjoyed 12 months of blurry, head-tracked virtual reality gaming, and it’s been mind-blowing. We’d go so far as to say the last year has been the most exciting 12 months of gaming that we can remember. Developers have released some incredible games for the Rift, including Among The Sleep, My Neighbor Totoro and Lunar Flight; and there are more to come, including Technolust, Radial-G and Dreadhalls 2.

Needless to say, the Oculus Rift DK2 has been highly anticipated; not only by those developing games but also those desperate to get in on the VR craze. When it became available to pre-order back in May, the company advised consumers to wait for the final hardware kit in 2015; but few are patient enough to wait that long, resulting in more than 40,000 pre-orders to date. It’s easy to understand why, because the DK2 introduces a full 1080p display that dramatically improves the image quality, it comes with a positional camera that enables players to lean forward or side to side; its display features richer colours and true blacks, and the software powering it is more versatile and advanced.

Today our DK2 box arrived via UPS, three days late after being left in a depot by accident. We tore it open, took some photos and gave it a spin. Here’s our in-depth first impressions and review…
What’s in the box


It turns out to be quite a lot. There’s a bewildering amount of unwrapping to be done, and there are silica gel packs everywhere (we counted seven in total). Here’s the full list of cables and equipment within the DK2 box, each wrapped carefully in crisp plastic bags:
Oculus Rift DK2 Headset
Positional Camera
USB to USB-mini cable
HDMI to DVI Adapter
DC Power Adapter
Four international power plugs
Near-sighted lens cups
Positional Tracker sync cable (looks like a stereo audio cable)
Lens cleaning cloth

While on the subject of the DK2 box, don’t expect to receive a sturdy carry case as with the original DK1. Instead, it comes packaged in a cardboard box, with a plastic handle and logo printed on the side. It’s a nice box, and should stand the test of time, but it doesn’t have that premium feel of the DK1.



Unwrap the DK2 and it’s immediately apparent that this is a new piece of kit. Its edges are rounded, and it feels more solid in the hand. But the first thing that really leapt out at us were the lens cups; they’re huge compared to the DK2. We were hoping this would lead to a better FOV, but that’s not the case, as we’ll discuss later in the review.

The headset is slightly heavier than the DK1 (440g compared the DK1 at 380g), but it’s just as comfortable on the head. We struggled to feel any difference in weight. Two screws on either side of the headset enable you to move the display forwards and backwards – just as they did on the DK1 – but here they appear to be slightly larger, with clearer indents for each setting. Out of the box the screen is at it’s nearest setting, so we had to move it back by 2/3rds to stop the lenses touching our eyes.

The front of the device hides several infrared lights that the positional camera uses to track your movements. You can’t see them, giving the front of the device a nice clean appearance. The HDMI and USB cables are now intertwined together, and come out of the top of the headset, running through the top strap and then over your back, before splitting into two at the end. It’s a nice and tidy arrangement that simplifies the setup, and means there’s one less cable running across your body.

The top of the headset has a small power button and LED light. Again, this simplifies things greatly when compared to the DK1 with it’s hardware box with multiple buttons. The LED has two colours: blue for when the screen is active and orange for when it’s off but the headset is connected.

As for the feel of the headset, it’s solid and smooth. It feels more expensive than the DK1, and has the appearance of a finished product, instead of a prototype. Oculus could put this on-sale today and we don’t think any consumers would complain about build quality.