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I feel that why be vocal about not being a subcriber? I think neowin has come a very long way since the launch date. Some people may find the extra options to members that will find them useful, they won't apply to many others. I have to agree with neobond about subs speaking volumes, He knows that it will help ease the stress of server payment. Also, the subscrbe is kinda like "donate" by simply subbing you are pretty much making a donation towards the cost so they're just not so over burdened with doing it alone. I personally won't subscribe because "I" don't feel the need too, I like the site as is and whatever changes they make is fine by me too. Because I am still able to come here and enjoy everything.

I reckon we need a Tier 3 subscription option, for those people with more money than common sense!

I'd say £200/year, you'd get a shimmering gold theme included and huge pimp profile badge to show it all off.

Would love to see how many would actually sign up for it!biggrin.gif

I had a look at your website. I knew you would see reason sooner or later. :)

Already repped you.

off topic - I also looked at his website, and realised he could do with a proof reader.

on topic - Good on you ozgeek, for not been closed stubborn and sticking with you original thoughts.

I have subscribed in the past, and may well do in the future - it depends how the money is flowing.

So indirectly making this thread, I made people subscribe lol. :D

After so many people say they subscribe to support, I'm inclind to include myself as well. On this thursday, I might subscribe to the first tier.

Neowin has been a great support forum for me. I have been visiting this forum everyday and I did mean everyday. Every time I get on my computer every morning I click on my Neowin forums bookmark link and read new stuff. I have posted for help and have received help. After some people here noticed that I am "one-sided minded", I decided to "grow up" and give back what I benefit so much since 2003 (when I signed up). *Me waits for Thursday.*

I think one of the reasons you made this thread was to get rep points :p Your OP has 7 rep points and you've got 17 rep points with this post alone :ninja:

Please do subscribe! It would be great if you did.

I been having a look at the subscriber benefit list and I am going to have to say all this is a bull ripoff.

* Your own hosted blog.

So many FREE blog sites on the internet.

* Unlimited edit time for your topic titles & posts.

Common standard on many forums I visit for free. Whirlpool.net.au for example.

* Boosts PM storage to 200 messages, allows PM attachments and up to 10 participants per conversation.

This one is okay but not what I really need

* Removes flood control.

Common standard on many forums I visit for free. Steam and whirlpool.net.au forums for example.

<snipped>

Don't like it? There's the door *points* Can't say I'll miss ya.

These are forums, and Neowin is making a profit off of their users, subscribers or not. Is that not supporting Neowin, just by visiting them... I know you fell the need to go above and beyond, well a lot don't becuse there are so many other options out there.

I'm just tired of being nickle and dimed by everyone. I get it in website (like neowin), I get it in the mail, I get it when I go out to dinner, I get it on the phone, I get it when I buy a cup of coffee, I get it, I get it, and I get it again...

You just have to say.... ENOUGH!

How do YOU know they are making a profit? Are you sir certain that a website as large as Neowin is able to make a profit off of annual subscriptions and the ads that they currently offer? Neobond has even gone on the record several times to state that Neowin is non-profit.

If you are tired of being nickel and dimed that's fine and perfectly valid argument. But to say with such certainty that Neowin is making a profit without knowing the costs of hosting a website that runs as smoothly (and as large) as Neowin is just silly.

So indirectly making this thread, I made people subscribe lol. :D

After so many people say they subscribe to support, I'm inclind to include myself as well. On this thursday, I might subscribe to the first tier.

Neowin has been a great support forum for me. I have been visiting this forum everyday and I did mean everyday. Every time I get on my computer every morning I click on my Neowin forums bookmark link and read new stuff. I have posted for help and have received help. After some people here noticed that I am "one-sided minded", I decided to "grow up" and give back what I benefit so much since 2003 (when I signed up). *Me waits for Thursday.*

For the people still targeting this guy, here is his post from page 13.

Stop hating.

AFAIK subscription is optional and I don't think anyone is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to subscribe. I love Neowin and I subscribed to help keep the site that I love up and running. If you don't want to subscribe that's ok with me, but don't come here acting like someone is forcing you to do anything cause they are not.

I think one of the reasons you made this thread was to get rep points :p Your OP has 7 rep points and you've got 17 rep points with this post alone :ninja:

Please do subscribe! It would be great if you did.

Reason why I have to wait until Thursday is the pay day. When I put money in my reloadable VISA card, I will sub. I don't even know what reputition points is for and what it does. Is it similar to the "like" feature of facebook?

ozgeek, it's admirable to see that you have taken the advice of people on board and it has made you think twice. I respect your conduct; have some rep :happy:

Those are not rumors ;)

<image snipped>

And this is just his home router, wait till you see the one at the office :yes:

Ooh, did you create that image yourself? :)

There are now 241 Tier 2 and 141 Tier 1 subscribers. Plus perhaps a couple of MVCs, veterans and staff with active subscriptions.

Highest number of subs ever?

Yes, the average before the Atlas 1/2 upgrade was around or just below 300 (total).

Thanks Ozgeek too (Y)

That's it? I thought there would be more subs than that

When you consider in a busy period of the day the average number of logged in members total just 500 of 3000 active readers, (on the forums) then the numbers are quite high!

When you consider in a busy period of the day the average number of logged in members total just 500 of 3000 active readers, (on the forums) then the numbers are quite high!

The Neowin forum is legionary, i think anyone that knows a bit about computers knows about Neowin.

When you consider in a busy period of the day the average number of logged in members total just 500 of 3000 active readers, (on the forums) then the numbers are quite high!

hmm, 3000 active readers, and 382 are now subscribers, I guess a 12.73% subscription rate is pretty good

hmm, 3000 active readers, and 382 are now subscribers, I guess a 12.73% subscription rate is pretty good

The lurker thing worries me tbh.. I'd rather that frequent "guests" register. But I don't know why they don't! We always have a much higher amount of guests than logged in members in the forums :/

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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.
    • 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.
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