RayNeo Air 2S Display Glasses Review: A Step Down From the Competition [CNET]

These glasses are great on paper but are missing a few too many key features I’ve come to expect.

Display glasses connect via USB-C to provide a much larger and more portable screen when you’re on the go. They’re great for playing games, watching movies or connecting to a laptop and getting work done when transporting a monitor isn’t ideal, like on a plane. I’ve reviewed many pairs of display glasses and The RayNeo Air 2Ss have one of the brightest and largest displays I’ve seen so far. That’s also the problem; the screen’s too big for me. 

The glasses retail for $400, $50 cheaper than the Xreal Air 2 Pros and $60 less than the Viture Pros. 

As someone who travels a lot and constantly looks for ways to play games or watch movies the best way possible, I love bringing a pair of display glasses with me. They let me play my Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch on a much larger screen. I can watch movies from my phone with more immersion. The image is also sharp enough for easily legible text so I can use them with my MacBook if I want to get some work done. I love being able to connect the glasses and put my device off to the side and lay back with my display floating above me.

The RayNeo Air 2S glasses feature two 1080p micro-OLED displays, one for each eye. All the computing happens in the large brim at the top. The image is shot downward toward an angled lens and then directed forward for you to see. This means the display doesn’t actually fill the entire view, just what’s inside this section of it. RayNeo states that the glasses have the equivalent size of 201 inches viewed from a distance of 19.7 feet (5.1m at 6m).

Design matters

This screen size is the largest I’ve experienced with a pair of display glasses, and it actually stretches too far for my eyes. The edges are blurry and out of focus, and the corners even bend in and get cut off. This makes a lot of games, which typically have UI along the edges or in the corners of your screen, very hard to read, or worse, totally cropped out. The hinges move so freely that I can push the glasses back and forth and watch different parts of the screen go in and out of focus and see the corners and edges curve and straighten. 

Unfortunately, no position allows for every part of the image to remain sharp and fully uncropped, so I find myself frequently wishing I could shrink the screen to keep everything perfectly visible. RayNeo does offer an accessory that helps with this issue, but I’ll get to that below.

The glasses go up to 5,000 nits of brightness, which is the brightest I’ve seen so far. And just like the Xreal Air 2 Pros and Viture Pro glasses I reviewed recently, they also support a 120Hz refresh rate. Along the right arm, you’ll find two buttons to adjust the brightness, while the left arm has two volume buttons and one for the menu. In the menus you can adjust how loud the speakers are, the refresh rate and the color temperature of the image. 

Those speakers are located on both arms. Unique to the Air 2S, there are two speakers on each side, one positioned on top and one below. Other glasses I’ve reviewed only include one pointing down. This gives the Air 2Ss the highest maximum volume on any pair of display glasses I’ve tested.

As for comfort, these fall in the middle of the models I’ve used. What’s nice about the RayNeo glasses is that, like Xreal, they have three degrees of freedom so you can tilt the lens for better viewing angles (compared to Viture’s which can only remain rigid). The back of the arms do have some give but they’re nowhere near as bendable as Xreal’s. For my head shape, the angle and where that curve begins are more in line with Xreal’s design — the RayNeo glasses kind of make my ears stick out.

The Air 2Ss come with two nose pad options, one or two fewer than what I’ve come to expect from the other glasses makers. That limits the options for placement on your nose. Unfortunately for me, although I can tilt the glasses a bit I still wish the screen was positioned lower. Viture’s glasses offer this empty-style nose pad option that I ended up using more often, but it also wasn’t very comfortable. Removing the nose pads from RayNeo’s glasses does line my eyes up better but almost hurts my nose. 

Unlike the Xreal Air 2 Pros or any of Viture’s glasses, there’s no way to adjust how opaque the display is. Both Xreal and Viture’s glasses have a button to adjust their electrochromic film, which seamlessly changes how opaque the glasses can get, and it’s a great feature that I find myself missing here.

The area outside of the screen is quite opaque and dark, meaning these glasses are closer to sunglasses than regular glasses. You can change how bright it is, but even when turning down that level, you can’t see through it much better. This means the glasses are great to use outside since they block out a lot of light, but they also don’t allow you to see your surroundings easily. So even if I’m wearing them, and looking down, away from the displays, it’s still a bit hard to see through because of how dark everything is. 

This isn’t a total deal breaker since I primarily use all these glasses at their highest opacity. I’m usually trying to block out everything around me so I can focus on my game or movie and can always just take off the glasses if I need to look at something else. Also, one annoying issue is that the RayNeo glasses reset to 50% brightness every time you unplug them, so I have to change the level each time I put them on.

Essential accessories

The $100 Pocket TV is the most useful accessory RayNeo offers, and the one that helps with the screen size issue. Powered by Google TV, it allows you to access many different entertainment apps, including Disney+, Prime Video and YouTube. This accessory gives you access to more settings for the glasses such as zooming in and out of the screen size. Unfortunately, you can only change the scale from 80% to 100% so it doesn’t scale down low enough to be perfect, but it improves the visual clarity in my peripheral vision. It’s disappointing that this feature isn’t built into the glasses themselves.

The Pocket TV supports MicroSD cards if you’d like to load your own media onto the device instead of streaming it. It has its own battery so you can plug in your phone or other device to charge, just like a battery pack, which I think is super useful if you’re traveling with a pair of these glasses. 

The Air 2S only connects to USB-C devices, but RayNeo sells two other accessories to expand your options. The JoyDock provides a display passthrough from the Nintendo Switch without having to use its optional dock. I love the Switch docks since they give power to the system, allowing for longer game sessions between charges, and even doubles as a USB battery for other devices, which is perfect if I’m traveling. 

You can only connect one pair of glasses to the JoyDock compared to two for Viture’s Dock. It’s disappointing that the JoyDock only works for the Switch: Viture and Xreal’s docks also support HDMI devices, such as an Xbox or PlayStation. 

For those, you have to spring for the $70 Goovis HCS 2.0 HDMI to Type-C adapter. Plug the included HDMI cable into the console, then into the adapter, followed by the glasses. From there you need to power the device with the included cable. This last step is a little disappointing since both Xreal and Viture have similar devices that don’t require the additional power cable. 

The RayNeo Air 2Ss look great and are totally serviceable, but that large display may not be a comfortable enough viewing experience for many people. I spent more time tweaking the focal point instead of enjoying my games and that’s a deal breaker for me. I would have preferred a smaller screen where I could always see everything clearly. It’s also disappointing how the JoyDock and Goovis accessories are also missing a feature or two each that I’ve come to expect from the competition. So although you’re saving some money with RayNeo, I can’t recommend it over what I’ve already tested.