I know I sounded pretty excited when I talked about Valve's Steam Frame headset for VR gaming recently. But let's be honest, that and every other headset are about as subtle as a foghorn in a library. A South Korean hardware brand wants to make your pastime of escaping into immersive content a little less conspicuous, by sneaking a headset into a pair of mostly nondescript headphones.
The Perisphere from Geeks Loft combines over-ear headphones with a compact display designed to sit directly in front of your eyes for 2D and 3D viewing. The display module is housed just above the headband that stays out of sight when you're not using it, and can rotate down into your field of vision when needed.
To be clear, this isn't an AR or VR headset. Instead, it's a pair of 1080p displays with a decent 1,800 nits of claimed brightness and a large 53-degree field of view that should make watching video and app content feel like you're experiencing it on a much larger screen.
Here's a glitzy promo of the Perisphere from Geeks Loft's industrial design partner, Hatch Duo:
Beyond that, it features two sets of 5-megapixel stereo cameras – one pair in front of your eyes, and another pair at the bottom of the headset, so they face forward when the display is fold up into the headband – to capture 3D video (or regular old 2D video if that's all you need). That could be fun for content creators looking for a different way to shoot footage, but the over-ears might make it hard to remain aware of your surroundings while filming.
The company says the built-in 2,500-mAh battery with fast charging can run for up to three hours of video playback when full. The headphones, meanwhile, are designed for 9.1 channel upmixed spatial audio, which means you should feel like you're surrounded by 3D sound. You'll also get active noise cancellation to keep you in the zone.
At the right price, these could be a fun way to enjoy video at home or while traveling – and if you're solo, you could consider leaving your tablet at home. Geeks Loft hasn't said much about where you might find 3D content, though, and if it will support games, whether they're from streaming from your PC or mobile device.
Even so, the compact form factor has me intrigued, and I'd be into it without the 3D capabilities and even the cameras. In fact, I'd prefer them without either of those features: just give me a giant screen I can pack easily, and I'll have a lot less to complain about on long flights.
Naturally, there are a lot of moving parts involved in getting this right: the screens need to deliver bright and punchy visuals, the headset has to be comfortable and not so heavy as to fatigue your noggin, and the headphones have to make a strong case for themselves in today's awfully crowded market.
The Perisphere has been in the works for a while, and the brand has demoed prototypes over the past couple of years, including at SXSW Sydney in 2024. It's now gearing up to exhibit the device at CES next January, with a view to begin mass production and launch sometime in 2026. Get a closer look at the headset on Geeks Loft's site.
