Asus ROG Xreal R1 AR glasses pre-orders start today at $849 — 240 Hz virtual gaming at 171 inches on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation

Earlier this year at CES, Xreal and Asus announced a partnership to develop a rather ambitious pair of augmented reality glasses called the ROG Xreal R1. At the time, the two companies gave us a rundown on specs, but weren't able to quite nail down a price. However, Xreal announced that the ROG Xreal R1 will be priced at $849 with pre-orders opening later today from Best Buy. For people looking to buy directly from Xreal's online store, pre-orders will go live on May 17.

The ROG Xreal R1 first raised eyebrows at CES because of its 0.55-inch Sony Micro-OLED displays (maximum brightness of 700 nits), which feature a 240 Hz refresh rate and ultra-fast 0.01 ms response time. To put that in perspective, most of today's AR glasses max out with a 120 Hz refresh rate. However, to truly cater to the enthusiast end of the AR glasses, it's understandable why Asus and ROG would look to double that benchmark.

When wearing the glasses, you're presented with a virtual 171-inch viewable area, making for an incredibly immersive gaming experience. You'll also be treated to a relatively wide 57-degree field of view, which Xreal claims covers 95 percent of your "focused vision." In other words, you'll be able to see more of the viewable area in front of you without needing to scan your eyes around or move your head.

Xreal has incorporated the X1 spatial coprocessor, which is also found in its high-end One Series AR glasses. The chip powers the on-screen menu system, 3 DoF functionality (with support for 6 DoF), and helps to reduce latency and motion blur during your gaming sessions. The X1 was designed for use with Xreal's 120 Hz AR glasses, so it will be interesting to see if it is up to the task of handling 240 Hz gaming.

Unlike entry-level AR glasses that ship with plastic "shades" to block ambient light, the ROG Xreal R1 uses electrochromic dimming to shield your eyes from the outside world (three dimming levels are available). When it comes to audio, the glasses feature onboard Bose-tuned speakers.

In the months following the ROG Xreal R1's announcement at CES, additional optimizations have been implemented to improve overall performance and compatibility with Asus ROG accessories.

Speaking of accessories, the ROG Xreal R1 can connect to the ROG Control Dock. This device includes DisplayPort and HDMI ports for viewing content on the glasses from a PC, Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5, or Nintendo Switch console. There are also USB-A ports for connecting a mouse and keyboard.

Even without the dock, you can natively connect the ROG Xreal R1 to smartphones and tablets that support DisplayPort over USB-C. And as you might expect from an ROG-branded device, the glasses are fully supported by the ROG Ally handheld gaming PC.

The hardware behind the ROG Xreal R1 definitely sounds impressive, but the $849 asking price may be a tough sell, especially in this economic climate. We expressed skepticism about Asus' AirVision M1 glasses, which launched at $699, so the even higher price tag of the ROG Xreal R1 will need to deliver on performance and usability to justify its price.