Recommended Posts

Hey KoL...did they say why exactly they wanted you to remove it? Was it because you used the name Vista in it? If you made all the graphics yourself like I'm pretty sure you did then it's bull that they did this. I'm glad I finally got WindowBlinds 5 working and downloaded it yesterday before this happened.

Got a question about it though. How do I fix this in the picture below? It does this with every menu I open:

That Arrow theme is pure crap and it's bull if they don't tell the person who made it to remove it. IMO all they did was rip KoLs works and changed some colors and other little things.

Hey KoL...did they say why exactly they wanted you to remove it? Was it because you used the name Vista in it? If you made all the graphics yourself like I'm pretty sure you did then it's bull that they did this. I'm glad I finally got WindowBlinds 5 working and downloaded it yesterday before this happened.

Got a question about it though. How do I fix this in the picture below? It does this with every menu I open:

That Arrow theme is pure crap and it's bull if they don't tell the person who made it to remove it. IMO all they did was rip KoLs works and changed some colors and other little things.

Arrow is not pure crap. They guy that did it is an awesome skinner, and if you search this thread, you will find that KoL has nothing but respect for him. He did not rip KoL's images. The two are very different skins if you examine them closely.

Kol, i dont belive you took it down becuase you got an email from MS

all that work that you did

it woudlnt of been so bad that you just stopped updating it and just left it, its was fine then, people who hadnt found it yet would be able to find the amazing skin that a load of us use today, but u just totally got rid of it from the sites, i mean come on

i got windowblinds for this skin

i would carry it on under a differnt name, thye probably didnt like all the attention it got

i wouldnt give up on it completely

and if ur gonna make some differnt skins, i hope there as good as this one

Arrow is not pure crap. They guy that did it is an awesome skinner, and if you search this thread, you will find that KoL has nothing but respect for him. He did not rip KoL's images. The two are very different skins if you examine them closely.

While its not a rip, I must say that KoL's skin puts Arrow to shame, regardless of how good the skinner is.
Arrow is not pure crap. They guy that did it is an awesome skinner, and if you search this thread, you will find that KoL has nothing but respect for him. He did not rip KoL's images. The two are very different skins if you examine them closely.

I speak my opinion if you don't like it that's yours. I think it's crap and you don't. I'll say whatever I feel like saying. If you don't like it tough.

And what I really meant was IMO it was BASED off of KoLs work. Yes I saw the differences, but again, IMO there's not many.

Kol, i dont belive you took it down becuase you got an email from MS

all that work that you did

Say you were KoL and you were e-mailed by Microsoft and asked nicely to remove it. You didn't so they send another threatening legal action. What would you do? KoL took it down. If he had kept it up he would've been threatened the second time most likely.

I'd be taking it as a compliment that they think it's matches Vista soo much it actually makes them nervous. Pretty funny that the people they pay to design the look of Windows are nowhere near as good as people that do it for fun.

Edited by halloween_david

I think it goes without saying that much of your work has been inspirational and much loved by many people over the years and that includes both original and unoriginal pieces. My advice and the best thing you can do now Kol is to make something better than Vista or any default Windows skin.

You've got the skills to convince the end-users to switch to your work, and that's a fascinating quality to have. I've really enjoyed most of your visual styles and wallpapers from the very beginning and think you have a marvellous artistic style.

Keep up the great work and don't let your enthusiasm be dampened by what's happened.

Arrow is not pure crap. They guy that did it is an awesome skinner, and if you search this thread, you will find that KoL has nothing but respect for him. He did not rip KoL's images. The two are very different skins if you examine them closely.

yep Mike Bryant is one of the best skinners out there, he even help me with this skin. :yes:

EDIT: I got a letter in the mail today about VistaXP form the people that represent Miscrosoft in intellectual property matter.

yep Mike Bryant is one of the best skinners out there, he even help me with this skin. :yes:

EDIT: I got a letter in the mail today about VistaXP form the people that represent Miscrosoft in intellectual property matter.

does that mean they want to use it ??

does that mean they want to use it ??

no the letter is saying the same thing that they said on the e-mail.

go make a better skin kol :laugh:

go make one those idiots at microsoft would be jelouse of, show them how to make a proper skin, and how to make it work well too, make it as beutiful as this one

we belive in you!!!!!! :yes:

I'm going to create a new skin. It will be black and grey like vista, with blue start buttons, caption buttons and controls etc. and more glow effects ;)

oo black is nice, but will it have some type of glass effect like vista glass, or shoudl i say the you know what theme :laugh:

would you think of doing a cricle start menu button again

and glowy stuff, sounds really cool, its the little things that make skins cool, like at the bottom of the start menu when u press it, cant wait to see anything from you now kol

and i know im being a bit wanting, lol, but when do u think ul have some concept for this new skin?

oh, and thanks for all your hard work

Anyone know how I can change the transparency method of the taskbar? I know it's currently "real." That causes flickering and a slowering of system tray revealing, for me. I had neither problem in 3.0. I've located the config file & nosed around it in TextPad. Any direction as to what value to change would be immensely appreciated! :D

kol is it possible you could pm the microsoft email address so I can add it to every bestiality site on the net? I also forgot to add on my previous post thanks for all your work you put into this. It's a shame that Microsoft doesn't put in mind the countless hours put into it as they send there automated cease and decist emails...

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
    • Thanks
    • I actually got to use one of those so called "backup codes" once. It was for a customer, I choose the backup code option, and by the grace of god, they actually hade them printed out. Imagine my surprise, when after using the backup code, Google then told use we had to enter a code they just sent to the gmail address we currently did not have access to. I was not amused, Google backup codes should be the end all get out of jail free card, because you had to have access to the account to even get them.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Supreme Spray LV earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Genuinetonerink- Dubai earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Genuinetonerink- Dubai earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      hhgygy earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      AMV earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      513
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      164
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      88
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      74
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      73
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!