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.