The Avegant Glyph hides VR goggles in headphones, is launching later this year

Avegant’s virtual reality glasses aren’t quite like anything else on the market. For one thing, they don’t use the same magnified screen technology as Oculus, Samsung, and most other companies. They use a virtual retinal display, projecting images directly on your eyes; it’s a technology that’s been around since the ‘80s, but it’s rarely found in consumer headsets. And instead of goggles, they look like headphones. In fact, they are headphones — they just tip forward onto your eyes if you want to use them as a headset.

We checked out Avegant’s design for the first time in 2013, but at CES, the company showed off a final consumer design for its headset, code-named the Glyph. According to Recode, the headset will have HDMI input and connect to phones, tablets, computers, and game consoles; it can handle gaming but is targeted at people who’d rather watch movies or simply use it as headphones. The whole design is meant to seem less awkward than designs like the bulky, hyperfuturistic Gear VR, though it might still be a little weird seeing a pair of eye-holes on the crown of your head.

The Glyph prototype is making its first appearance at CES, where the company will be showing it off later this week. It will also launch pre-orders, selling the Glyph for $499 through January 15th and $599 thereafter. That’s a bit on the pricey side for a headset — Oculus offers the Rift for $350 and the Gear VR costs $200, though it requires a separate Galaxy Note 4 to run. The Glyph was originally set for 2014, but it’s now supposed to be coming out in “autumn 2015.”