- Sony’s new XR headset is all about creating content
- The new Xyn sub-brand covers 3D scanning and creation
- It looks like other headsets, with one big design difference
Even without revealing its next-generation Bravia TV series, Sony still has a pretty packed CES 2025. Case in point is Xyn, a new sub-brand within Sony that focuses on capturing, creating and playing in spatial worlds, and I’m going hands-on with the Xyn Headset Prototype as well as a new solution for recording in 3D.
The entire lineup is about spatial creation, so unlike PlayStation VR 2 or Meta Quest 3 or 3S, Xyns Headset is about people and brands – big and small – who want to create content.
The Xyn Headset is quite light and takes a familiar shape; I was just at home demonstrating the prototype, which rested easily on my head and like countless other headsets could be tightened or loosened via a dial on the back. The real stars here are the fact that it can be self-contained (meaning it doesn’t need to be connected to any other device) and the 4K displays.
@Pakinomist ♬ original audio – TechRadar
In my hands-on, which you can watch a video of below, I saw a digital environment on 4K micro-OLED screens – one for each eye. The space around me consisted of some dirt, various building elements and even skeletons. The main event was, so to speak, a bunch of crystal rock formations of varying shapes and designs; I was tasked with placing them in and around the environment.
And these elements weren’t just drawn up in a creative app, but rather scanned using another part of the Xyn portfolio. With the controller in hand, I could resize the crystals and place them anywhere with relative ease. It all felt pretty fluid even for an early prototype. While the graphics were good, the real difference here is that the screen can easily flip up and bring you back to the real world.
Given that these items were scanned using a station with a traditional Sony Alpha camera that had a phone running a prototype Xyn app attached, it makes the case that a flip screen to potentially view the items you make 3D images of can be quite handy.
And the process of scanning objects, be it crystals, shoes or even fancy china, was quite simple. I watched as a Sony representative took several photos of the object and saw the app on the phone display a heat map glowing blue in the area captured.
From there, it’s processed in the cloud, and I could see those 3D models back on a custom, glasses-free 3D display that has an eye-tracking camera to make the effect really pop. I could see this being practical for people who want to get into 3D production, build or create these elements for the virtual world and even for larger productions.
What’s really neat is the accessibility, because you don’t need a degree in 3D modeling or design, as the app makes the experience pretty seamless… at least at this early stage.
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It could potentially help open up spatial content creation to more people, so while the Xyn headset itself is still a prototype and may not be sold directly to consumers for content consumption, the worlds, objects and environments that are potentially created with Xyn Capture and tweaked to perfection on the headset could be seen on more mainstream VR platforms in the future.
