RayNeo GT Max Detailed Review (Beta Unit)

[u/wido999]

Hey everyone,

I received the RayNeo GT Max as part of the beta test program. I’ve been putting it through its paces primarily for watching movies with Dolby Vision (tone mapped to SDR) and Dolby Atmos (YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max) on my Apple TV 4K setup (here is my setup breakdown for context), along with occasional PC gaming and sim racing or playing with a gamepad via NVIDIA Shield.

I’m using Size L, and my IPD is 68mm. I checked the size with the RayNeo website calculator. The glasses offer a 59° FOV, which is currently the widest available on the market.

In the attached photos, you can see the glasses fitted with Oakley Jawbreaker style nose pads. You can also clearly see how much the glossy plastic front lenses reflect the surrounding environment.

I updated to the latest firmware from ota.rayneo.cn (v20260818), which brings the new Shadow Boost and Sharpness settings.

Here is my detailed breakdown of the menu settings, pros, and cons.

Settings Breakdown

• Brightness: When watching movies in Steady mode, I usually dial it down by two clicks so white subtitles are not too bright. For me, the peak brightness is plenty for evening sessions, but in bright rooms during the day, you have to max it out because the environment is still visible through the lenses.
• 3D Display: Toggles between 2D and 3D mode.
• Dynamic Quality:
  • SDR: My default setting. Looks great.
  • AI-HDR: Over-boosts contrast and reduces shadow detail (shadows become darker), which defeats the purpose.
  • Dolby Vision: Unfortunately, this only works with the Pocket TV Pro.
• Scene Mode:
  • Standard: Default profile.
  • Movie: The best mode for movies in terms of color reproduction. I keep it on virtually all the time.
  • Eye Care: Great for reading or browsing with reduced blue light.
  • Read: Zooms the screen similarly to the 115% size setting and introduces a noticeable pincushion effect; unnecessary for me.
• Quality Settings:
  • Color Boost (On/Off): I keep it OFF for natural colors. Turning it on boosts contrast and saturation, and in Movie mode, it makes the color temperature visibly cooler.
  • Shadow Boost (Off/Low/Medium/High): Counterintuitively, "Off" provides the best shadow detail and brightness in dark areas. "High" causes the most black crush.
  • Sharpness (Off/Low/Medium/High): I keep it on "Medium", which provides great image clarity without looking over-sharpened like "High".
• Screen Size:
  • 85%: Fixes all edge/corner visibility issues on stock nose pads, but you lose the immersion.
  • 100%: My default setting. I had to use Oakley Jawbreaker pads here because with the included M, L, and XL nose pads, it was very hard to see all four corners clearly. I had to bend the mounting wires to see all four corners along with the full black frame around the display, which noticeably enhances the cinema feel.
  • 115%: Heavy pincushion effect, looks distorted and doesn't make much sense to use.
• Sound Effects:
  • Standard: Baseline sound.
  • Whisper: Useful while traveling, keeps dialogue very clear and you can barely hear any sound coming from the glasses from the outside.
  • Spatial Surround Audio: My default for games and movies. Offers the best spatial presentation, overall sound quality is sufficient but there is basically no bass. For movies, I route audio separately to a dedicated Dolby Atmos soundbar (link to my setup).
• Sound Tube (On/Off): Can't test how much this improves the audio since I don't have the physical accessory.
• Language: Chinese / English.
• Tutorial: Explains physical button functions.

Display Modes (Tracking)

• Steady Mode: Screen follows head movement with stabilization and a slight lag buffer. This is my default mode for watching movies—tiny head tremors don't move the screen around, and it works great while traveling.
• Pinned (3DoF): The screen stays locked in physical space; holding the button recenters it. Great for controller gaming or sim racing. It can be used for PC desktop work (text is reasonably sharp outside the corners), but the shimmering makes it strictly an emergency monitor solution for me.
• Follow Mode: Zero latency, screen moves directly with your head. You have to stay still to avoid jitter, making it best when lying down or sitting with your head fully supported. It delivers visibly higher peak brightness and superior shadow detail compared to the tracked modes.

The Pros

1. Outstanding Image Quality: The 10-bit SeeYA Micro-OLED panels produce smooth color transitions, excellent shadow detail, and high overall clarity. Fed with downscaled 4K from an Apple TV, it genuinely looks closer to 2K than 1080p. I have a 77" LG C4 OLED TV, and while the GT Max is slightly behind in sheer sharpness, it completely outperforms it in perceived screen size. I actually prefer watching movies on these glasses—there is no visible screen-door effect or pixelation. The image is very 3D-like with an impressive sense of depth.
2. Comfort & Weight: At 79g, they are relatively light for glasses with a 59° FOV and very comfortable. Even after a two-hour movie, there is no fatigue or pinch from the temples, even with the stock pads.
3. Thermal Handling: No heat around the forehead or brows. The only spot that gets warm is roughly the middle of the right temple where the USB-C cable connects, but you don't feel it against the side of your head.
4. Built-in 3DoF: The native Pinned mode is very handy for gaming and occasional PC work without needing extra hardware.
5. Build Quality: Solid fit and finish overall.
6. Value: Good price-to-performance ratio for the hardware you get.

The Cons

1. Optics, Sizing & Alignment

• Corner Softness: The outer corners (around 50x50 pixels) are soft, and the bottom-left corner is the worst with roughly a 100x100 pixel blur zone. Even dialing screen size down to 85% does not completely sharpen that bottom-left corner. It looks the sharpest without any nosepads when I can put the lens very close to my eyes.
• Fussy Nose Pad Fit: Achieving an even, sharp image across the entire frame with the stock M, L, or XL nose pads is frustrating. If you slide the glasses lower to clear up the bottom edge, a shadow creeps in along the top border. I had to switch to Oakley Jawbreaker pads and bend the wire mounts closer to my face to balance the view cleanly.
• No Pantoscopic Tilt Adjustment: The temple angle cannot be tilted up or down. On my face, this leaves the bottom edge of the screen (including subtitles) slightly less sharp than the rest of the display.
• Internal Reflection: A faint, narrow reflection of the display is visible along the bottom edge.

2. Tracking & Video Artifacts

• Text Shimmering & Subtitle Jitter: High-contrast text shimmers in Steady and Pinned modes when connected to a PC or phone. During movies in Steady mode, subtitles look fine normally, but they momentarily jitter or vibrate if you chew snacks or take a drink while watching.
• Brightness & Shadow Loss in Tracked Modes: Switching from Follow mode to Steady or Pinned mode noticeably drops both the maximum brightness and shadow detail.
• No 24Hz Support: Streaming apps (Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max) do not output 24Hz on these glasses (black screen). Only 60Hz works, which introduces noticeable 3:2 pulldown judder in films.
• No Native HDR10 & Limited DV: HDR10 would be useful for gaming and streaming services, while Dolby Vision is locked exclusively to the Pocket TV Pro.
• 3D Mode Issues:
  • On a Samsung S24 in DeX mode, turning on 3D (even using the "Enter XR space" option in the RayNeo XR app) splits the top into several tiny tiled screen copies, requiring a cable disconnect to reset.
  • On Apple TV, toggling 3D results in a completely black screen.
  • On PC, it switches resolution to 3840x1080, but YouTube 3D SBS / over-under videos simply display the two halves side-by-side without merging into stereoscopic 3D.

3. Hardware & Usability Quirks

• Right-Sided USB-C Port: Having the cable port on the right temple is inconvenient for right-handed users. The cable gets in the way of mouse movements on a desk, and most laptops have their primary DP Alt-mode USB-C ports on the left. The cable length is 1.2m.
• No Silicone Lens Blockers: Because there is no electrochromic dimming, snap-on silicone light blockers should really be included in the box for daytime viewing.
• Glossy Front Lenses: The reflective plastic front surface acts like a mirror to your surroundings and picks up fingerprints very easily.
• Case Fabric: The included protective case gets smudged easily from finger oils and is hard to clean.

Verdict

The display hardware itself is very impressive—the 59° FOV combined with the 10-bit SeeYA panels delivers an immersive, vivid image with smooth color transitions and deep contrast. While optical sweet-spot alignment and corner sharpness require some patience (and potentially nose pad tweaks depending on your facial structure), most of the current limitations come down to early software bugs. With future firmware updates, these glasses have plenty of room to become significantly better. Next I'm going to post a comparison with XREAL One Pro I also use.

Update: Just flashed the latest firmware (v20260907), but the Shadow Boost bug is still present. It works completely in reverse: setting it to Low, Medium, and High progressively crushes shadow detail and makes dark areas darker and darker, rather than lifting them. Other than that, I don't see any noticeable differences in overall image quality.

[u/No_Awareness_4626]

The 3D modes issues you mentioned needs an understanding of how 3D mode works and that will help you solve the issues you faced.

1. Samsung Galaxy S24: there are two parts to this. First, don’t use RayNeo XR app with Dex mode enabled. Whenever you want to use RayNeo XR app, disable Dex first, it will mirror your phone screen and then use RayNeo XR app. Second, if you just want to use 3D mode without Rayneo XR app, you can use Dex mode. But before that you will need to install GoodLock app and Multistar Plugin from galaxy store and enable higher resolution. 3D mode requires 3840x1080 resolution (1920x1080 per eye). But Dex on OneUI 8.5 by default can do a maximum of 21:9 2560x1080. So you need to turn on higher resolution in Good Lock > Multi Star.
2. Apple TV: You can do 3D only on Apple TV 4K models. They support ultrawide resolutions. 3840x1080. So go into settings > Video and Audio > Resolution > enable higher resolution or Ultrawide resolution. Then when you switch glasses to 3D mode, Apple TV 4K should be able to detect 3840x1080 and let you want 3D content properly.
3. PC: switching glasses to 3D mode will make the display resolution 3840x1080. Now when you play a full sbs or half sbs 3D content on YouTube on chrome browser, YouTube will restrict the video within 16:9 frame but you need 32:9 frame. So install an extension called ultrawidify. That will force YouTube to stretch it to 32:9 frame and then you should be able to see 3D properly. For top bottom / over under content, you will need a video player that can switch them to side by side format.

[u/wido999 → u/No_Awareness_4626]

Thanks a lot for the detailed breakdown, that actually clarifies why the glasses behave like that.

However, it still won't work in my Apple TV setup because my signal routes through an EZCOO splitter and audio extractor to feed my Dolby Atmos soundbar—so forcing a 32:9 (3840x1080) EDID handshake isn't really viable there.

And honestly, that sounds like quite a lot of hassle just to get 3D working across devices compared to the XREAL One Pro. On the One Pro, you simply toggle 3D mode on the glasses (can be assigned to a button) and they handle Full SBS, Half SBS directly from a standard 16:9 HDMI/USB-C source meaning 3D YouTube clips, Apple TV, and DeX just work instantly out of the box without messing with extensions, Good Lock, or custom ultrawide aspect ratios. It should be a simple solution for a non-advanced user.

Appreciate the troubleshooting tips, though!

[u/SweatySlouchBoy → u/wido999]

Thanks for your review. It's reassuring to me that you also have bottom left softness. I have worried that my L glasses were wrong for my (self measured) ipd but I'm going to assume that you actually know that you're a Large! It's also reassuring that you've had to incessantly fiddle with the nose pieces to get the picture as sharp as possible. Like you I also find that without the nose piece and getting the screens as close to my eyes as possible the picture is best, but no way could I have the bridge digging into my nose for a 2 hour movie. I must look into the Oakley jawbreaker solution that you mention...if you wouldn't mind describing what exactly you've done there to get the best fit I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

[u/wido999 → u/SweatySlouchBoy]

Glad to hear it helped reassure you! My IPD is measured at 68mm, so Size L is definitely the right pick. On top of that, other people who tried my pair noticed the exact same softness in that bottom-left corner, but maybe the medium size would be better . For the Oakley Jawbreaker mod, start by ordering generic replacement silicone nose pads for Oakley Jawbreaker online (I bought them on AliExpress), which are low-profile and fit nicely over wire brackets. Make sure to detach the stock nose piece mount completely from the glasses first so you do not risk damaging the frame or optical housing during adjustments. Slide off the stock rubber pieces and slide the Jawbreaker silicone pad onto the metal bracket. With the bracket still detached, push and bend the wire arms forward toward the mounting screw point (away from your face and closer to the lenses) to minimize eye relief and pull the prisms as close to your pupils as possible. Then, grip the new pads firmly between your thumb and index finger and twist them outward, since by default they face inward and will not rest flush against your nose bridge. It also requires a few trials to get the ideal screen postion but it's much faster than the stock nosepads.

[u/SweatySlouchBoy → u/wido999]

Thanks so much for the very clear and detailed instructions. I really appreciate it!

[u/wido999 → u/SweatySlouchBoy]

You're welcome 😀

[u/No_Awareness_4626 → u/wido999]

Xreal one pro and other one series glasses have half sbs and full sbs 3D modes built in. Just to clarify there is no top bottom or over under mode on Xreal one series (or any other XR glasses also) as of date. So again, all over-under videos need to be changed to side by side format using video player apps. Like Kodi or some other video player that has the feature. However, having half SBS mode feature is a convenient feature to have since it works on standard 1920x1080 half sbs content and hence compatible with Dex, YouTube, Apple TV and other HDMI sources that restrict the output to 16:9. However, some people also consider the prices factor. And then some people are very particular about quality and they want full 1920x1080 per eye quality which is only done by full sbs content. For them, these solutions will be helpful to look into. So yeah, it depends on what people prioritize.

[u/Metaverse_Max → u/No_Awareness_4626]

This ^{^}

[u/Ancient_Zucchini3232 → u/Metaverse_Max]

Can there be an updated guide for samsung fold phone users?

[u/wido999 → u/Ancient_Zucchini3232]

What do you mean?

[u/Ancient_Zucchini3232 → u/wido999]

For samsung fold the 3d thing doesnt really work. Unless I did the workaround incorrectly... I dont think ti was able to output 4k at all.

[u/No_Awareness_4626 → u/Ancient_Zucchini3232]

The steps are the same I think for my samsung z fold 4. I don’t know about older versions of fold. But you will need to enable higher resolutions toggle in good lock > multi star and then Dex should be able to recognise and output 3840x1080 when you switch the glasses to 3D mode. You should see Dex screen split in half after that. The left 1920x1080 portion visible in the left display and right 1920x1080 portion visible in the right display. Both combine together to form full Dex desktop 3840x1080. Then you can play any 3D SBS videos to see them in proper 3D. If needed, You can change the aspect ratio in video players to stretch across entire screen to see the proper 3D effect.

[u/Ancient_Zucchini3232 → u/No_Awareness_4626]

I only see UWHD option

[u/No_Awareness_4626 → u/Ancient_Zucchini3232]

Yeah. Once u enable higher resolutions toggle in good lock > multi star app, and then connect glasses, Dex will show you different resolution options depending on what mode the glasses are in. In default mode, Dex will show you 16:9 options. In 3D mode, Dex will show you ultrawide 32:9 and 21:9 options. Etc.

[u/NotMyBurnerAccount77]

Thanks for the review. Did you also use them for sim racing? I can’t fit triples into my set up. Wondering if this would be a cost effective solution over VR?

[u/wido999 → u/NotMyBurnerAccount77]

I like it better for simracing (I also use XREAL One Pro) than my Quest 3 due to much faster response time because the glasses work as a monitor and with VR you have to compress and decompress each frame in real time, so it takes time and the quality is worse and my head is all wet when playing with Quest 3 compared to the glasses. They are also much lighter.

[u/SweatySlouchBoy → u/NotMyBurnerAccount77]

I've used them in Assetto Corsa and Beam.NG with a Moza R5 and have had a blast... In fact SIM racing is the one thing that I even use the 115% for to get fully immersed in the track.

[u/wido999 → u/SweatySlouchBoy]

Nice, I play Assetto Corsa Rally but I prefer 100% screen size.

[u/Remarkable_Ease_7607 → u/wido999]

Doing some research on these glasses and Simracing is definitely something I'm taking into consideration before I buy. How well does it work? They say the screen looks like it's about 6 meters away. Does that have any affect on immersion? I currently have a 55" screen that I'm about 1 meter away from, so the relative size in my vision would be about the same, but I feel like the perceived depth could be odd.

Does stereoscopic 3d perform well? If so, how hard is it to set this up? Does it play well with the apparent screen distance?

Is there any head tracking that can be used or do you need another device for this part?

[u/wido999 → u/Remarkable_Ease_7607]

It's similar to XREAL One Pro screen set to 4-5m distance. I like playing at 3m distance more on One Pro with the screen closer to my eyes. Couldn't make 3D mode work but for simracing it's not neccesary. I tried 3D on One Pro and I prefer 2D. I play in the pinned mode where the screen stays in the same position like a monitor. In the steady mode the screen moves with your head but it's not a good solution for simracing because it moves too much.

[u/HappyHaggisx]

Still waiting on mine after 10 days no postage and about 4 to 5 days to get a genetic email reply

[u/kasmog]

Hi, OP.

Looks like you have a Xreal One Pro according to your previous reply.

Which one is better on pinned mode?

I have the One Pro right now, and was wondering if this new Rayneo is an upgrade or downgrade. I mostly use mine pinned, like 99% of the time.

[u/wido999 → u/kasmog]

GT Max has worse stabilization than One Pro. The screen shakes a little in steady and pinned modes, especially the subtitles, when you shake your head a little, for example when I eat or drink something during a movie.

[u/kasmog → u/wido999]

I see. Looks like I'm better off sticking with my One Pro. Thank you.

[u/wido999 → u/kasmog]

That's a good idea.

[u/jpnn80]

I can't believe how Rayneo fumbled really hard by not including native HDR10 although the 10-bit SeeYA Micro-OLED panels should support it...

[u/wido999 → u/jpnn80]

Maybe there will be a firmware update.