A package arrives. Your long-awaited Oculus Quest 2 is here! You strap on the headset and eagerly await some VR action.
And then comes the moment of disappointment (and worry) – the image quality is just not what you expected. Whether the text is hard to read, the sides of the image seem blurry or there is glaring throughout the visuals.
You are not alone! Many people have faced similar issues with the Oculus Quest 2 headset. So what can you do to make Oculus Quest 2 less blurry and get the sharpness you desire?
- Make sure the lenses are clean and wipe them with a microfiber cloth.
- Take your time to find the best IPD setting
- Learn to adjust the headset and straps properly
- Do some testing if you wear glasses
- Increase texture size
- Fiddle with software settings if you use Oculus Link or Virtual Desktop
- Check for defective lenses
Let’s look at all of the options in a bit more detail.
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1) CLEAN THE LENSES
It’s rather obvious, but so important! Using good lighting, check that the lenses are clean. It’s worth wiping them even if they seem clear.
Use a dry optical lens microfiber cloth and starting from the center, wipe clean both of the lenses using a circular motion moving outwards.
Do not use liquid or chemical cleaners as they might damage the lenses.
2) FIND THE BEST IPD SETTING
You might be thinking “Duuhh, Captain Obvious, I have already adjusted the IPD settings!” but stick with me.
The Oculus Quest 2 uses Fresnel lenses in front of the actual display to magnify the image from the LCD panel. The problem with Fresnel lenses, however, is that they have a rather small visual sweet spot. It`s therefore crucial that you adjust the lenses properly and find the correct IPD that is centered on your pupils.
Note! Adjusting the IPD setting and finding the correct placement horizontally is crucial for optimal clarity. However, it is similarly important to adjust the lenses horizontally (moving the headset up or down on your face).
If you have tried all of the 3 settings that are available and none of them seem to give the optimal visual clarity, then the following tips might come in handy.
2.1) USE IN-BETWEEN IPD SETTINGS FOR THE QUEST 2
Writing this paragraph, I am assuming that you have already tested all of the 3 IPD values of the Quest 2 headset (58, 63 and 68mm) and found the best setting for you personally.
What you may or may not have known is that with a little bit of tweaking, you can adjust the IPD of the Quest 2 headset to “in-between” values (1.5 and 2.5)
Start with adjusting your headset to one of the 3 configured values that gives you the best image quality. After that, try and manually push the lenses closer or further apart to an “in-between” value using the video tutorial below
See if tweaking the IPD adjustment this way gives you a more clear image from the headset.
2.3) USE IPD SETTING “HACK” FOR PEOPLE WITH 70+ IPD
If you have tried everything else and are out of ideas, you can try out the following IPD “hack” that was discovered by a Youtuber. Keep in mind this is indeed a “hack solution” and proceed at your own risk.
The idea here is to first set the IPD for the 3rd setting (68mm) and then hover a magnet over the headset to trigger the sensor within the headset.
This causes the headset to adjust the IPD value (on the software side) and results in an “alternative” IPD setting. In the tutorial, the person had an IPD of 74,5mm and using a magnet he adjusted the IPD to 63mm to find the best visual clarity.
Do your own testing and see if using this trick you can get better image quality out of the headset. As mentioned earlier, do it at your own risk.
3) LEARN TO ADJUST THE HEADSET AND STRAPS PROPERLY
Place the headset on your head without the straps first. Play around with the headset on your face and really put an effort to find the best adjustment.
Move the headset up and down, left and right. Push it closer and further from your eyes. Sometimes tilting the headset up or down also gives a more optimal result.
It is also worth testing the image clarity for each eye separately. Close one eye and move the headset around to look for the best image clarity. Since you are using only one eye, this takes IPD setting out of the equation and helps you find the best placement for the headset.
Once you have found the best headset adjustment for your face and eyes, the next step is securing the straps this way.
A tip here that many people seem to miss is that you can rotate the arms of the strap to help keep your Quest 2 headset in the desired position.
Some like to place the strap of the headset higher on the head, whilst others get a better result when the straps are lower. Find out what works best for you!
Also notice that people usually achieve the best result when the straps are secured very tightly (which bring the lenses closer to your eyes) so that you almost feel an uncomfortable pressure on your face from the headset.
4) REDUCING BLURRINESS OF THE QUEST 2 FOR PEOPLE WITH GLASSES
Not knowing what you have already tested or not, these are the things worth trying out:
- Test Quest 2 without glasses/lenses on. Sometimes people with vision correction do not actually need to use their glasses / lenses while using the Quest 2 headset
- Test Quest 2 with glasses spacer inserted and your glasses on.
- Test Quest 2 headset with glasses and without glasses spacer. Be really careful to avoid damaging the lenses with the frames of your glasses.
- Use contact lenses instead of glasses if you can.
Usually, people get the best image quality out of the Quest 2 headset when the glasses spacer is not used. This is because the glasses spacer moves the headset display further away from your eyes which usually reduces the sweet spot of the image quality.
If this is true for you, you might consider purchasing custom lens adapters with prescription lenses from companies such as WidmoVR and VR Optician.
5) IMPROVE SHARPNESS BY INCREASING TEXTURE SIZE (USING SIDEQUEST)
Many VR fans have been pleasantly surprised about the increased sharpness of the Quest 2 when raising texture sizes on the software side.
For this method, you need to connect your Quest 2 headset to your PC and modify headset settings using software called Sidequest.
See how to do it in the Youtube video below:
You may also want to play around with the texture size and other settings to find the best compromise in terms of image quality and performance. To help you out, I have written a detailed article about the different advanced settings you can play around with.
If you do not have a PC or can not use it, it is possible to adjust the texture sizes via your mobile as well.
6) OCULUS LINK – IMPROVE IMAGE QUALITY BY MODIFYING SETTINGS
If you are using your Quest 2 as a PCVR headset (via Oculus Link) and find the image quality lacking, there are settings you can tweak to improve the quality and performance.
- Open the Oculus Debug Tool (C:Program FilesOculusSupportoculus-diagnostics
- Test different Bitrate settings (in the 100-500 range)
- Try setting the Distortion Curvature value to “High“
Note! If you use the wireless Oculus Air Link method, make sure you set the Oculus Debug Tool settings back to defaults. These settings only provide optimal results for the wired Oculus Link method.
In the Oculus Software itself, try raising the resolution for a sharper image. You might need to lower the Refresh rate to compensate for the higher resource capacity needed. Fiddle around with the settings and try to find the best quality-performance ratio.
See also the video below which explains nicely how you can increase the quality of the compressed image that goes through your link cable.
7) BETTER PERFORMANCE AND IMAGE QUALITY WHEN USING VIRTUAL DESKTOP
If you like the combination of PCVR and wireless freedom using Virtual Desktop, there are settings you can tweak for optimal image quality and overall performance.
A nice fellow from Reddit has a compiled useful guide for getting the best out of the Quest 2 using with Virtual Desktop.
Test it out for yourself and hopefully, you will be able to find the current bottlenecks and significantly improve your gaming experience.
8) CHECK FOR DEFECTIVE LENSES
If you have tried everything and are still unable to get a clear image from your Quest 2 headset, it might just be the case that you have received a defective unit.
In some cases, people have noticed imperfections on the lenses just out of the box. See the video below to see an example of this.
If you are one of the unlucky ones who have received a defective unit, try contacting Oculus support or your reseller to see if it is possible to return the headset or exchange for a replacement unit.
HARDWARE USED FOR TESTING AND WRITING THE ARTICLES:
* Meta Quest 2 (My “daily driver” headset, which I absolutely love & recommend)
* Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, Nvidia Geforce RTX 3060, 16GB RAM)
* TP-Link Archer C6 (budget dedicated router for Air Link, see my full setup tutorial)
ESSENTIAL QUEST 2 COMFORT ACCESSORIES:
* VR Cover Foam Replacement (one of the easiest & cheapest ways to improve headset comfort)
* BoboVR M2 Head Strap (reduce pressure on your head and improve the overall fit of the headset)