HTC VIVE Deluxe Audio Strap

This audio strap and ear phone upgrade is a significant improvement over the original design. It is much easier to don your headset, adjust the fit and position the ear phones. With this upgrade I can wear the unit longer and more comfortably than before. The ear phones are very comfortable with a very light touch / pressure on your ears. The sound is very clear and it is in stereo though it does not provide the same level of stereo immersion that a really good set of headphones provides. For me, the comfort and ease of use of the 'built-in' headphones outweighs the sound quality of the premium headphones I had previously used. One caution, my HTC Vive headset was an early model. It is designated as: HTC Vive Pre on the headset cover plate that goes over the cable connection area. After a lot of effort trying to connect the strap to the headset I contacted Vive to find out what the problem was and they transferred me to the Vive Pre support staff. They immediately sent me a packet of parts that allowed me to modify the headset and attach the strap. It was three days from contact to receipt of parts. The conversion took 15 minutes, is fairly simple and all parts and tools required are provided free of charge. Once installed, the new strap snapped right in and I was off to a VR! The only downer is I just read HTC Vive announced at the 2018 Commercial Electronics Show (CES) a new, higher resolution headset will be available in a couple of months. It will be adjustable, and have built-in headphones as well as 2880 x 1600 resolution - 78% greater than the current headset. Price has not been announced.

I consider this a "must have" upgrade if you won a HTC VIVE. I think this is what the vive should have come with to begin with. It is way more comfortable than the original strap the vive comes with and much easier to use and adjust when taking it off an on especially if taking turns with other players. My friend ordered one of these too and both of us notice we can even see a little clearer especially in the peripheral area on the edges it holds the mask more securely and center's your eyes in the lens better. It also feels like it takes some of the weight off of your nose feeling less front heavy. I love the audio better with this too. The earbud's that came with the vive would not stay in my ear's or anyone's ear's that used my vive for that matter, so I was using my pc headphones with the vive which was another wire to deal with, and more clunkiness on your head. the speakers being built into this is much better, no wire to get in the way and I can either leave the speakers over my ears but spaced out away from my ears so i can still hear my friends in the living room with me, or I can even swivel one speaker back out of the way. If you don't care about hearing what is around you in the room you can press them into your ear and they click and hold in place against your ear so you can hear the game even better. I rate this a 5 start product and Highly recommend this upgrade to your vive. The directions were not the best but they have a online video that is pretty good, It is easy to change out the old and install this to the headset. If you own a vive just buy this you will be happy that you did!

I just received my Vive Strap but I don't have any of the other components yet. They're all shipping out and being delivered on different dates. I don't even have my Oculus Quest 2 yet, or the adapter that's required to attach the strap to the headset. I can only say this, as I pulled this headset out of the box for inspection, it looked visually stunning and awesome. I didn't think Amazon delivered on Sundays but it's here and it was sitting at my front door today. I only wish that I had everything else so I could try it out and post my results here. So, with that said; I will update this review at a later date and let you know how it holds up. So far so good, and I can't wait until I get this attached and get my Oculus Quest 2 up and running. For now it gets 3 stars until I can test it, but I'm sure it will work just fine. It will only be a matter of how good it sounds and how comfortable it actually is. Update: I have everything now and I've been using the audio strap for the last couple of weeks. I can happily say that this audio strap sound great for what it is, and it's very comfortable. I say for what it is, because I could have bought the Oculus strap and used my Bluetooth headset, which by the way cost $400 bucks and you can definitely hear the difference. Other than that, the convenience outweighs the sound quality because they really don't sound that bad. They sound much better than the speakers built into the headset. So I would highly recommend this and also say that it's worth every penny. I gave it 5 stars and I don't do that very often.

The sound quality of the speakers is quite good, and they can be adjusted to fit nearly any head shape. The foam pads on the speakers are very comfortable and can be cleaned easily. The strap is comfortable and feels solid. You can freely move your head, and know that the headset won't fall off. The foam padding comes off for cleaning, and can also be replaced with original or aftermarket parts. One thing I don't like is the matte finish of the plastic on the speakers. If your ears are a bit higher up and further forward than normal, you may end up with the speakers scraping against the metal bands that attach to the headset. It sometimes happens to me when putting the headset on, and it produces a 'nails on chalkboard' sound. The written installation instructions are good, and I especially like the inclusion of a section dedicated to repairing/replacing the speakers. There are also replacement screws included, in case you lose one during a repair. That's the way it should be done.

Using this for the Oculus Quest 2 with adapters. I've used the elite strap. Had 2 of them break on me so I've stopped using them. I've used a cheap chinese strap which wasn't as comfortable but at least it didn't break. Also out of all of them, it could open the widest to allow you to put it over your head easily. Good for people with bigger heads. The Deluxe Audio Strap has 3 main points of interest. Comfort - mainly the area that cups the back of your head It's decent. I would say the elite strap from oculus was a little more comfortable but only by a little bit. If you're coming from another strap, it's not going to blow your mind but it's adequate. Ease of putting it on - the springs on the arms that connect to the headset I wish you could extend the arms just a little more to make it easier to put on and take off. Like I said, the cheap chinese strap had the most headroom to extend the arms so you can easily place it over your head. This one, even at the longest the arms will extend, it's still rough getting it over my face. But unique to this strap, there are springs in the arm to allow a little bit of adjustment without extending the arms. It's good for comfort as it prevents you from over tightening the strap to the point of hurting your face. But the tension on the springs are a little higher than I would like. If they just made the arms extend an extra 2 inches, it would make all the difference. Audio - the included headphones attached to the strap Good audio from the included headphones. But they're not mindblowing. It's only slightly better than cheap plug in earphones. And you could make that work with some wire ties and cable management. The included audio is good to have but I don't think it should be the deciding factor on whether you get this or not. In the end, there are a lot of good things about this headset but not one of those things individually would make this worth $100. That said, when we average it out, it beats the other straps in overall performance and comfort and is going to be my main strap until something better comes along.

Paired with a silicone or other type of facial cover, this headstrap is excellent. The audio quality is outstanding and greatly increases immersion. It is worth the $100 for the audio alone, in my opinion. Just make sure you research which adapters you'll get if you're purchasing this for the quest 2. I had to return the first adapters I bought because the headstrap wouldn't snap into them. A quick recommendation for those who have access to PCVR and are buying this headstrap for their Quest 2. Buying this with a Quest 2 basically boots up the base price to $420 (+$20 because most adapters are worth that much). If you plan on using the Quest 2 primarily for PCVR, I would recommend that you wait until the HP Reverb G2 goes on sale for $400 instead. You may not get controllers as ergonomic as the Touch controllers, but it's worth having a VR headset dedicated to PCVR instead of the Quest 2. You get the great audio and comfort this headstrap provides for the quest 2, but also greater clarity and a wider field of view. The quest is portable, yes, but if you're going to use PCVR more often than mobile VR, then it might be worth your time and money to wait for an HP Reverb sale.

This audio strap is a great improvement over the one that comes with the Vive. It is comfortable and the easy adjustment knob makes it far easier to swap from one person to the next. I don't think the speakers are anything to write home about but the sound quality was fine and they are conveniently placed. The extra padding makes it more comfortable than the actual strap, and it you have a TP Cast you can un-Velcro some of the padding and use it to cover the part that would be on top of your head. It is unfortunate that this didn't come bundled with the original Vive headset and it is certainly on the expensive side for what it is. However, it gets the job done and I would recommend it if you can swallow the price. I also have a TPCast wireless system to I ended up zip tying the battery pack onto the back of this strap so now I basically have to put on the headset and I am good to go. It is great, but now there is a bundle of cords on the back of the strap. Although this is likely not the intended use (since I am zip tying something onto it) but it would be nice if there was some accommodation made for this scenario.

I know the newer Pro model comes with one from the factory basically, but if you got a Vive for Christmas, have been rocking the crap strap for a while, or like me got impatient waiting for the next model I highly suggest one of these. Whether you need the audio or not, the strap itself makes it worth 100 bucks. It's WAY easier to adjust on the fly, it puts more pressure in more comfortable areas of your head compared to the strap, it doesn't leave you feeling like you ran with a sweatband on all day, and due to the nature of it you can put the HMD on with one hand.....usually. In my previous position at work we got a Vive when it came out. My biggest complaint was the terrible implementation of the head strap compared to what Oculus did with the Rift. Speaking of the Rift, I fully believe the Vive audio strap is much better than what is on the Rift. It's easier to adjust, as said earlier provides pressure to more comfortable areas, and the audio quality (in the short time I used it) seemed better than the Rift's speakers. Speaking of that audio, using the headphones is so much better than the earbuds they provided at launch (seriously, what were they thinking?). Oh, and it didn't come with a dud speaker like our Rift did. If you're into using your own headset, you can do that too. Simply remove the headphones off the strap. Just bear in mind that due to the strap being thicker using a headset will be slightly more uncomfortable. It is for me as I have an unusually large head. It's worth it if you have a nice headset though. Up to you. I'm guessing if you have a Vive your gaming PC probably has a nice virtual surround sound headset. Although the strap headphones are decent for what they are, they are no comparison to a nice headset. If you're looking into using a TPCast, it fits perfectly on this strap and doesn't move around either. Because the foam is thick on top I don't even notice the wireless transmitter on top of my head. Take note, it's kind of a pain in the butt to get the cables in and out of the HMD attachment plastic piece, but once you're done you probably won't look back anyways. This strap also appears to be more kid friendly in my experience, fitting my 6 year old and 9 year old better than the stock strap. This strap plus an 18mm memory foam face piece and your kids can enjoy VR too just like you comfortably...or not. Up to you, but sharing is caring right?