The Steam Frame has two speakers on each side of your face for vibration cancellation

In its new Steam Frame VR headset, Valve has placed two audio drivers on either side in the included headband. This puts the sound close to your ears while you wear it, and during my brief test of the device at Valve headquarters recently, I thought the sound was very good. But choosing to have these two drivers also helps reduce audio vibration, making it easier to track the headset while you play games in VR, says Valve hardware engineer Jeremy Selan. The edge.

The Frame, like many other VR headsets, uses outward-facing cameras built into the main part of the headset for tracking. However, sound with good bass “induces vibrations in the headset,” which can affect this tracking, according to Selan. But on the headband included in the frame, the two speakers on each side are “mounted opposite each other,” which creates “vibration cancellation inherent in the design.” This allows for “better tracking, even with good sound,” says Selan.

Pretty cool! The headset is also modular, so theoretically you might be able to use other headbands with other audio solutions later. This is a really interesting headset – I recently got to try it out myself.