Beelink GS-King X Review: Powerful TV Box with NAS

We’re already after testing the latest Beelink’s Android TV Box, so today, we would like to show you the Beelink GS-King X review.

This time, the Beelink brand surprised Android TV Boxes fans as well as their own fans by introducing the TV Box with NAS feature.

Will we find more new features in addition to the NAS in the new TV Box?, is it better than the Beelink GT-King Pro TV Box (review here), or is it worth buying the GS-King X TV Box?

We can already tell you that you can use your old 3.5″ SATA drives and build a home entertainment center. The device also works great as an Emby Media Server, but more on this in our review. Together we follow the standard stages of our review. We invite you to read it.

[tie_index]Availability and price[/tie_index]

Availability and price

I want to say thanks to the Beelink (Shenzhen AZW Technology Co., Ltd company) for sending us a Beelink GS-King X to review.

Now Beelink GS-King X Android TV Box is available on Geekbuying store for $239.99 (? deal) after coupon: GSKINGX

[tie_index]Product details[/tie_index]

Beelink GS-King X Review: Product details

Beelink GS-King X TV Box Specifications:

• CPU – Amlogic S922X-H Hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.8 GHz,
• GPU – Arm Mali-G52MP4 GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm process
• Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 RAM
• Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot, 2x 3.5″ SATA HDD drive bay for up to 32TB storage in total
  
• Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP 2.2
• Video – AVE-10 engine with 4K UHD H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoding up to 60 fps, Dolby Vision, Advanced HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and PRIME HDR high-dynamic range support
• Audio
  • 2x ESS9018 audio DACs, 4x Ricor RT6862 audio amplifiers
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Stereo audio via RCA jacks and 6.35mm balanced output jacks
  • Digital audio via HDMI
  • Stereo analog audio via 3.5mm AV jack
  • Optical S/PDIF
  • DTS Listen + Dolby Audio
• Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.1
• USB – 3x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2.0 OTG port (Type-A Blue)
• Misc – Power button; the Skull eyes are LEDs that change color from Green to Blue depending on status.
• Power Supply – 19V DC / 3A power barrel jack
• Dimensions – 16.5 x 11.8 x 10.6 cm
• Weight – 1.073 kg

The box included everything that you need to get started:

• Beelink GS-king X
• Power Adapter 
• HDMI Cable
• Remote Control with air mouse feature
• User Manual
• HDD Instruction Manual
• HDD Brackets
• 8GB micro SD card with CoreELEC OS

The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more Beelink GS-King X TV Box and bundled accessories.

[tie_index]First impressions, settings, an overview of features[/tie_index]

GS-King X Review: First impressions, settings, an overview of features

This time the GS-King X TV Box case is much larger because it must contain 2x 3.5″ SATA drives. The aluminum housing is well made and the design, as always from Beelink, is amazing. On the front panel, we will find a “skull” known from previous models with glowing eyes (glowing green and blue, depending on the condition, unfortunately, they cannot be turned off at the moment)

What interfaces GT-King Pro TV Box has

On the front, we also find the Power button, 2x USB 3.0, and TF card slot. On the back of the housing, there is a cover covering 2x 3.5 “HDD, Headphone jack (L/R, 3.5mm), DC in port, RCA output port (L/R), Balance output port (L/R, 6.35mm, AV port, HDMI 2.1 port, 2x USB 2.0 (1x OTG) port, SPDIF port, Gigabit RJ45 Ethernet port. There are many holes for heat dissipation on the sides of the housing. Of course, the device also has a fan. The upper cover has a Beelink logo and also holes with the letters GS (symbolizing the model). On the bottom, you will find 3 rubber straps to stabilize the device, and information about the serial number, MAC address and QR code for an external WeLine application (for remote management).

Beelink GS-King X TV Box also comes with 2.4G wireless remote control with an air mouse feature. Voice Remote Control works very well. Recognizes voice commands without any problem. Just press the button with the microphone symbol and say the command. All you have to do is put the USB receiver in the USB port at TV Box. Air mouse works great, makes using the TV Box easier.

Impressions from the use

For testing, we received a device with a 4TB 3.5″ HDD drive (clean), in addition, we also used Western Digital 640GB 3.5″ HDD drive (with photos, videos, and various files)

Unfortunately, also in the new GS-King X, we can see the same UI as in previous models, it’s a pity that nothing has changed for so long. We have the same “Home screen” or “Home Screen” with the function bar.  We can choose typically the resolution of FHD 1920×1080 (1080p 60Hz). Everything worked stable and very quickly without delays. We had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to the router and to the Internet. Ethernet: Download – 948Mbps Upload – 307Mbps, WiFi: Download – 183Mbps Upload – 286Mbps. 

An interesting fact is that among the applications, you will also find manuals for GS-King X and the WeLine app.

In addition to the voice remote control with an air mouse feature, we used a Logitech MK540 Advanced set and a gamepad from iPega called iPega PG-9076.

Some Features

TV Box supports DLNA and also Miracast. If you need to control the TV Box through a smartphone, you can use CetusPlay (Install CetusPlay On TV/Box app on TV box and open, Install CetusPlay on a smartphone).

For remote GS-King X TV Box management and data access, you can also use the WeLine application (suggested by Beelink). Through the application, you need to scan the QR code on the bottom of the device. WeLine is a product based on VPN networking, enabling secure connection and access to data on the device. Unfortunately, you have to buy scores (7 scores = 1 USD). We were unable to make the payment via Paypal. Below some screenshots.

While writing this review, there was an update for GS-King X – firmware 915P0 which supports the SAMBA function. So SAMBA works ! in the previous 914P0 firmware version this functionality was not available. SAMBA works without any problem and you can easily access your data on GS-King X. Copying a video file (15GB) at a speed of about 9MB/s (via WiFi). Below are some screenshots. Below are some screenshots.

However, you can also use multimedia files in LAN and WAN by installing Emby Media Server.

[tie_index]Emby Media Server on Beelink GS-King X TV Box[/tie_index]

Emby Media Server on Beelink GS-King X TV Box

Indeed, the installation of Emby Media Server (app here)  on Beelink GS-King X is a very good solution and the ability to use multimedia files located on 3.5 “drives. Very easy installation and access to files via LAN and WAN are probably the most important NAS functionality (except backup). You can also use Emby on smartphones using the dedicated Emby app. Below the screenshots. 

CoreELEC OS on Beelink GS-King X

As we wrote at unboxing, the device comes with a 8GB micro SD card with CoreELEC OS 9.2.3. Just insert the card into the slot and CoreELEC will be loaded or during the use of Android OS you can switch to the CoreELEC system. More about Dual OS in the Beelink King series here.

GS-King X, unfortunately, supports Netflix up to 540p (we have installed the Netflix version 6.26.1 build 15 31696) and 1080p Youtube (only full HD), but 4K (2160p) works via YouTube for Android TV. For testing, we installed the latest available Kodi 18.7 “Leia”. On GS-King X TV Box (same as GT-King Pro) you can also play in games from the Google Play store. We can confidently say that this is an Android TV Box perfect for games. Games run smoothly with maximum settings. Just connect a gamepad or keyboard. We used iPega PG-9076 and played Beach Buggy Racing, Asphalt 8, PUBG Mobile, and Fruit Ninja via Beelink Voice remote control with an air mouse.  Below the various screenshots. 

[tie_index]Operating system and components[/tie_index]

Operating system and components

The GS-King X TV Box runs on the Android 9.0, Kernel version 4.9.113. The TV Box. As we mentioned earlier, new 915P0_wol firmware with SAMBA functionality is available and fixes other bugs. We conducted tests on 914P0_wol firmware. On the new firmware 915P0 (also available OTA) we tested the SAMBA feature. TV Box is equipped with Amlogic S922X-H Hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with Quad-core Cortex-A73 @ 2.21 GHz+Dual-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.8 GHz; 12nm manufacturing process, and Arm Mali-G52MP6 GPU. CPU speed between 500MHz and 2.21GHz. 

Below screenshots from the CPU-Z app, DRM info app, and Root Checker app. 

Beelink GS-King X: Performance tests and benchmarks

For testing, we use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark v8.3.5.

[tie_index]Video Tests[/tie_index]

Video Tests

Viedo result 1071 and two unsupported codecs. Video playback by Kodi 18.7 Leia and CoreELEC 9.2.3 runs almost smoothly and stable. The TV Box without problem seems to play movies with a resolution of 480p,720p, and 1080p (24fps, 30fps, 60fps) and also 4K (60fps) with various codecs videos such as H.264, H.265, MPEG2, MPEG4, RMVB, and audio – DTS and AC3. Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough worked fine via HDMI but only PCM.

The S922X-H processor has DTS Listen and Dolby Audio licenses, and the box is compatible with 7.1 audio systems. Unfortunately, we do not have a device with support for these formats. However, we did not see any review that said about the lack of support. If you have an AV receiver that supports all audio formats, you should definitely be satisfied.

Also, we tested several video formats – AVI, MKV, MP4 (typical formats in which it holds the majority of movies), ISO, and also videos was played fine. The tested TV Box plays video files in 4K (also 60fps) almost without any major problems. The following table of video samples tested for Kodi 18.7. TV Box also copes well with playing the video on YouTube, videos play only in 1080p, but via YouTube Android TV in 2160p (4K). We tried to play VP9 4K video and also runs smoothly.

Video Playback via Kodi 18.7

The following table of video samples tested for Kodi 18.7 “Leia”.

[tie_index]Benchmarks[/tie_index]

Benchmarks

GS-King X TV Box a score of 117479 points. Below Benchmark screenshots we were able to do: AnTuTu Benchmark, GeekBench 5, 3D Mark: Sling Shot Extreme, Sling Shot, GPUBench. GT-King Pro TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 119.95MB/s – Write 107.94MB/s. RAM copy speed was 5190.18MB/s.

[tie_index]Conclusions[/tie_index]

Beelink GS-King X Review: Conclusions

The new Beelink GS-King X TV Box from Beelink is more than a typical TV Box, it also has NAS and HiFi features. GS-King X is a device that you can confidently use for home entertainment. If you have 3.5″ drives, you will be able to use them successfully with this device. In general, GS-King X is worth recommending. The big advantage is vendor support and OTA updates. The device is not cheap but offers many valuable features. However, if you have a limited budget you should consider buying Beelink GT-King Pro (similar features, in addition to the possibility of placing 2x 3.5″ drives). If you are looking for a multimedia device in which you can also store data, GS-King X should satisfy you.