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I enjoyed the finale, I did unfortunately stumble upon spoilers about the person everyone thought WAS going to be in the finale but was not.

 

After this episode, Arya is not longer my favourite character.. too much of a bitch.

 

Also I thought the magic faraway tree ultra-fantasy garbage with Bran was too much of a shark-jump, Fireball fairies and animated skeltons?  I realise it would be in the books though.

 

The obviously soon-to-be Zombie Mountain may be an interesting addition to season 5.

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Finally watched the finale last night. I liked the fight between Brienne and The Hound, though I don't like that The Hound lost and is probably dead. Arya and The Hound relationship was my favorite thing to watch this season, so it sucks that it's over for good. The Hound's monologue after the fight was pretty great too. I think it showed a lot of depth to his character.

 

I really want to love the fact that Arya is on a boat to Bravos, because I'd like that to mean she's trying to find the faceless men and become one of them; which would mean some sweet training sequences and her first "kills" and all that. But knowing how this show tends to never do traditional things, I'm sure her story line will disappoint in some way next season.

 

The Bran scene was a more fantasy than I was expecting, but I thought the CGI skeletons were amazing. They actually gave me a really creepy, intense vibe which never happens when I'm watching high-fantasy stuff like that. I also have no idea what the hell the deal is with the tree, the fairies, the roots guy, and the whole "recover what you lost" nonsense. I hope it's good. That kind of stuff can be either really awesome, or really lame.

 

All of the Tyrion scenes were pretty good, as usual.

I enjoyed the finale, I did unfortunately stumble upon spoilers about the person everyone thought WAS going to be in the finale but was not.

 

After this episode, Arya is not longer my favourite character.. too much of a bitch.

 

Also I thought the magic faraway tree ultra-fantasy garbage with Bran was too much of a shark-jump, Fireball fairies and animated skeltons?  I realise it would be in the books though.

 

The obviously soon-to-be Zombie Mountain may be an interesting addition to season 5.

 

I'm sorry but this story line with Bran seems like a completely different book. 

The Hound was always one of my favorites, but the show version took it to another level. "At least I'd have one happy memory" -- so ######ing tragic :(

 

Yeah towards the end I liked him

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There's no way he's dead.

 

I'd like to think so, but the fact of the matter is, the only clue about him surviving comes from Brienne. So there's no way they'll meet again, which means he's either dead for good, or Brienne isn't going to be around the next time we see him.

I haven't read the books, but I thought the same thing; "I didn't see him die, we will meet again!".

 

I've read the books, and we don't know. 

 

The last scene he's in is much different (she leaves him near the trident shortly after the fight at the inn) but its left basically the same way.

I've read the books, and we don't know. 

 

The last scene he's in is much different (she leaves him near the trident shortly after the fight at the inn) but its left basically the same way.

 

Hmm, I'm not getting any closure. I like the Hound, lately, but I don't get attached to any character for obvious reasons.

Game of Thrones series four might have come to an end just days ago, but showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff are already talking season five.

The pair, who know what's to come in Westeros right up until George RR Martin's epic conclusion, have shared some very illuminating thoughts with Entertainment Weekly.

Here's what they've revealed about series five....

1. We are heading to the Red Viper's homeland. "There will be Dorne, and we?re excited about it," the showrunners said. "Who wouldn?t want to hang out in Dorne? They have admirable values and priorities. And have you seen Oberyn?s coat?"

2. Littlefinger is aiming for the Iron Throne. "He wants everything. He wants to sit on that throne. By necessity, his path there will be twisted and indirect. But everything he does in some way points to that goal."

3. Varys' motivations will be revealed. "He throws away the entire life he?s built for himself in King?s Landing to save Tyrion?s life. 'Now what?' will become eminently clear in season 5."

4. The fantasy elements are going up a gear. "The White Walkers aren?t going away. The dragons aren?t getting any smaller. Melisandre?s still sorceressing, the giants are more ###### than ever."

5. Westeros is getting smaller. "It?s been an expanding universe and will now start to contract. Which doesn?t mean we won?t meet any new characters in season 5, because we will. But it?s going to start to shrink for sure.

6. There will be more deaths. Obviously. "There are some characters who will die that I won?t think people will predict. And as George has said, we?re killing off more characters than in the books and will continue to do so."

1. We are heading to the Red Viper's homeland. "There will be Dorne, and we?re excited about it," the showrunners said. "Who wouldn?t want to hang out in Dorne? They have admirable values and priorities. And have you seen Oberyn?s coat?"

2. Littlefinger is aiming for the Iron Throne. "He wants everything. He wants to sit on that throne. By necessity, his path there will be twisted and indirect. But everything he does in some way points to that goal."

3. Varys' motivations will be revealed. "He throws away the entire life he?s built for himself in King?s Landing to save Tyrion?s life. 'Now what?' will become eminently clear in season 5."

4. The fantasy elements are going up a gear. "The White Walkers aren?t going away. The dragons aren?t getting any smaller. Melisandre?s still sorceressing, the giants are more ###### than ever."

5. Westeros is getting smaller. "It?s been an expanding universe and will now start to contract. Which doesn?t mean we won?t meet any new characters in season 5, because we will. But it?s going to start to shrink for sure.

6. There will be more deaths. Obviously. "There are some characters who will die that I won?t think people will predict. And as George has said, we?re killing off more characters than in the books and will continue to do so."

2. As if that wasn't obvious since the first season.

4. The dragons won't do much unless they intend to cover both books in the next season. As for the White Walkers, looks like they're going for the good ol' "pulling scenes out of our asses" approach.

5. Makes no sense.

6. You're not technically killing more characters, just different ones.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
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    • 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.
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    • 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.
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