My main headset is a Valve Index, which is a wired PCVR headset. It is a substantial cable that runs off the back of my headset, down my back, and across the floor to my PC. Sometimes it gets tangled. Sometimes I have to adjust it while I’m doing something in VR and it breaks my immersion. It’s a cable and it’s not great.

The Meta Quest 2 has given a lot of people the opportunity to experience PCVR without a wire. This is often highly regarded as a significantly better experience, as you don’t have immersion breaking experiences like a tangled cable.

While I see the benefits of such a system, I personally don’t yet enjoy wireless experiences for a few reasons:

1. Battery management - Thinking about the battery is distracting. Getting cut off from doing something because the battery runs out feels very disappointing. Anticipating when it will run out becomes something I think throughout my experience.
2. Video compression artifacts - Both Quest Link and Virtual Desktop produce artifacts in the display that I find distracting. I am likely more sensitive to these issues than most people, since I am interested in this technology and how it is actually doing what it is doing. Muddy colors, compressed flat tones in dark values and over-sharpening are all very noticiable to me when using wireless PCVR.
3. Performance issues - Hitching is immersion breaking for me. It is prevelant over a wireless connection. The data stream is less stable than it would be over a cable. When using a computer or cell phone, if I have a temporarily lost of data, I end up having to wait slightly longer to accomplish my task. In wireless VR, the world stops responding to my movement.

Freedom of a cable is undoubtedly advantageous, but the combined experience of having to worry about a battery, compression artifacts and performance glitches makes wireless PCVR unappealing to me.

I actually worry if I will one day be the curmudgeon of PCVR, still plugging in my headset because I won’t tolerate anything but a uncompressed display. I view it as highly likely, as my mouse and keyboard are still plugged into my computer for mostly simlilar reasons.

Another major reason I love wired PCVR is when I put it my headset, it just works. The software launches and I can do what I want to do. I’m usually not troubleshooting or restarting my headset. Reducing the number of variables in the experience also feels advantageous to me.

I’ll wrap this up by mentioning the original Oculus Rift. It was an extremely light and comfortable headset at 470g. A truly lightweight next generation wired PCVR headset seems dreamy to me without a battery or wireless components. But, a dream is probably all that will ever be. The future of VR certainly does not appear to be wired PCVR-only headsets.