I've noticed on some of my past ATN Gen 1 scopes that were listed at 4x and 5x that the actual magnification appears to be 85-90% of the listed.  This weekend I got to spend a decent amount of time with my PVS14 helmet mounted.  It seemed to me that the PVS14's "1x" was pretty similar to a standard passenger side mirror- objects are closer than they appear.  When I turned it off and used a spotlight to look at the 100 yard target backboard, it sure seemed bigger than it did while looking at it in NV with IR.

Is this normal among 14s, or NV in general?  Just a matter of time spent behind the 14 to learn and get accustomed to?

They are listed as 1x but I don't think the lens is exact. All of mine seem to have very slight magnification. They never seem to be perfect 1:1 lenses but are usually very close. Hopefully someone here can tell you more. Optics science is not my strong point, I am just giving you my observations.

Also, with a spotlight you are using your "binocular" vision.  With a 14 it's "mono" so, no depth preception to precieve distance correctly.