Today we want to introduce you to NEXBOX A5 TV Box review. This is our one of the first TV Boxes equipped with Amlogic S905X. Therefore, all the more we were curious about how the A5 falls in tests. We should not, but betray you that is really good. In this review (typically) we want to bring you the the features and impressions of using NEXBOX A5 TV Box and answer the questions: how new A5 TV Box powered by S905X chip works in normal use, as copes with video playback at 4K and that we stumbled upon some problems. Together we follow the standard stages of our review. We invite you to read.
I want to say thanks to NEXBOX company for sending us a NEXBOX A5 TV Box to review. Now NEXBOX A5 Android TV Box is available on Geekbuying for $48.99, Gearbest for $48.23, and Banggood.
NEXBOX A5 TV Box specifications:
- CPU – Amlogic S905X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2GHz
- GPU – penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz
- Memory – 2GB DDR3 (Option: 1GB)
- Storage – 16GB flash (8GB option) + micro SD card slot
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz, and AV port (composite)
- Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF, AV port (stereo audio)
- Video Codecs – 4K VP9 @ 60 fps, 4K 10-bit H.264 @ 60 fps
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports
- Misc – Power button and LED.
- Power Supply – 5V/2A
- Dimensions – 117.50 x 117.50 x 19 mm
- Weight – 147g
What we find in the box? The box included everything that you need to get started:
- NEXBOX A5 Android TV Box
- HDMI cable
- Power adapter 5V/2A (EU)
- Remote control (without AAA batteries)
- User Manual
The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more NEXBOX A5 TV Box and bundled accessories.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km9v4nepYfQ[/embedyt]
First impressions, settings, overview of features
The NEXBOX A5 is a little bigger than the A95X, or in other words, has a typical size for TV Box. The NEXBOX A5 TV Box is well and solidly made of good quality plastic in black. Top housing is a matt while the sides of the device are shiny. The front panel has IR receiver and power LED. On one side is athree USB 2.0 ports and SD card slot. On the rear panel are: another USB 2.0 port, Optical S / PDIFport, AV port, HDMI 2.0 port, RJ45 Ethernet port and 5V/2A DC jack.
At the bottom of the device there are warm air outlet. Below also remote control.
Below we include the NEXBOX A5 photos in combination with a NEXBOX A95X TV Box, so it was easier to see the size of A5 Android TV Box.
Booting Android to the “home screen” takes about 00:39:07 seconds. “Home screen” launcher has finally a breath of freshness :-). Finally Nexbox refresh your launcher, which looks great. Indeed, it looks very simple as most recently reviewed TV boxes, but it is a new look, easy and friendly navigation . In addition to the remote control I used a standard keyboard and mouse, VENZ VZ-RK-1 airmouse with keyboard. Also, we used a new Gamepad GameSir G3s, and Xiaomi gamepad.
The device worked (typcally) in the resolution of FHD 1920×1080 (1080p 60Hz) but you can also adjust the preferred resolution or set the auto switch. The launcher includes 8 large icons (Kodi, Youtube HD, File Manager,Play Store,Browser, Netflix and Apps). Below and top also we have access to the most important features: Home, Recommend,Online,Local, Settings. TV Box comes with several pre-installed applications, such as PLEX, Cloud TV, Pandora etc.The NEXBOX A5 TV Box has also DLNA and Miracast I had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to my router and to Internet. Below screenshot from SPEEDTEST.
Everything worked stable and very quickly without delays, Netflix also works without problems. Below a some screenshots.
The NEXBOX A5 TV Box is another TV Box which has Kodi 16.1, typically for Nexbox with Addons TV.
On A5 TV Box games from Google Play are working properly. You can play without a problem just connect gamepad or airmouse and keyboard ( VENZ VZ-RK-1). I used GameSir G3s and Xiaomi gamepad. The combination of NEXBOX A5 with gamepads is great fun. Beach Buggy Racing, Asphalt 8: Airborne works without problem, even with high resolution works trouble free, also I was able to run Modern Combat 5: Blackout which also worked without problems.
Operating system and components
The A5 runs on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow, namely version 6.0.1 and the Linux Kernel version 3.14.29. NEXBOX A5 comes with firmware build number NEXBOX-A5-AP6330-6.0.1-201607151919, but between the time NEXBOX published the update (version 2GB RAM/16GB Flash (20160727)), which is why we have installed the latest available firmware, build number NEXBOX-A5-AP6330-6.0.1-201607270852.
TV Box is equipped in the recently very popular a SoC Amlogic S905X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2GHz processor and GPU penta core Mali-450, CPU speed between 100 MHz and 2.02 GHz. On the following screens you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app). The device is detected as NEXBOX-A5 (nexbox_a5) and board nexbox_a5. Below screenchots.
After using the DRM info (app) we know that A5 TV Box supports Google Widevine Moudlar DRM, but unfortunately does not support Microsoft Playready DRM, Marlin DRM and Verimatrix VCAS.
Performance tests and benchmarks
For testing I use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark 6.1.4. The result 949, SCISHION V88 (result 633), Nexbox A95X (result 906) HiMedia Q5Pro (result 952), Q-BOX (result 923), HiMedia Q10 Pro (result 930), NEXBOX N9 (result 544), Z68 TV Box (result 442), MemoBox MX MAX (result 913), MXV+ (result903), PROBOX2 Z (result 910), MX Plus (result 892). Other MRX (result 906), T95 (result 906), Minix Neo U1 (result 899), K1 Plus TV Box (result 886) and Beelink Mini MX (result 920). Also worthy of note is that A5 TV Box did not have not supported codecs.
Video playback by Kodi Jarvis 16.1 and MX Player runs smoothly and stable. MX Player runs smoothly and stable. The NEXBOX A5 without problem seems plays movies with the resolution of 480p,720p and 1080p (24fps, 30fps, 60fps) and also 4K (60fps) with various codecs video such as H.264,H.265, MPEG2, MPEG4, RMVB and audio – DTS and AC3. Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough worked fine via HDMI. Also I 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 A5 TV Box plays video files in 4K (also 60fps) almost without any major problems. The following table of video samples tested for Kodi. TV Box Also copes well with playing the video on YouTube – videos plays in 1080p. Also, we tried to play VP9 4K video runs smoothly but unfortunately without sound (test sample)
Typical 1080p | KODI |
MPEG2 / MP2 2.0 – 6.6Mbps | OK |
MPEG4 / MP3 2.0 – 7.6Mbps | OK |
H264 / AAC 2.0 – 7.2Mbps | OK |
VC1 / WMA3 2.0 – 25Mbps | OK |
VP8 / VORBIS 2.0 – 7.8Mbs | OK |
– | – |
4K Video | |
Sintel – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 24fps | OK |
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 60fps | Sometimes Not smooth |
Honey Bees – 96fps | OK |
Skyfall – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 10Mbps | OK |
Puppies Bath – h264/AAC 2.0 | OK |
Cinemartin H265/HEVC | OK |
Tears of steel – 60fps | OK |
HD Club Chimei – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 60Mbps | OK |
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 140Mbps | OK |
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 200/250/300/400Mbps | Not smooth |
LG Demo – Istanbul 3840×2160 MP4/H264 8bit – 116Mbps | OK |
Sony 4K – Camp HDR MP4/HEVC 10bit – 75.8Mbps | Not smooth |
Demo Samsung 2014 – USA Road Trip TS/HEVC 10bit – 51.4Mbps | OK |
Demo Samsung 2014 TS/HEVC 10bit – 51.4Mbps | OK |
H.265/VP9 Video | |
Tears of steel – H265-HVEC / AAC 2.0 – 15Mbps | OK |
Youtube – VP9 / 1080p | OK |
VP9 / 4k – Eye of the Storm 4K Ultra HD.webmv | without sound |
NEXBOX A5 Benchmarks
The NEXBOX A5 scored 33339 (SCISHION V88 – 20985, NEXBOX A95X – 36588, Q5 Pro – 41942, Q10 Pro – 38133, N9 – 21336, Z68 – 27053, MX MAX – 35024, MXV+ – 34208, PROBOX2 Z – 35996, MX Plus – 35808, MRX– 35466, Sunvell T95 – 28731, MINIX Neo U1 – 37564, Beelink Mini MX –34123, K1 Plus – 29252, PROBOX2 EX+ – 34332, ZIDOO X6 Pro – 30158) on AnTuTu Benchmark v6.1.4. The A5 on GeekBech 3 scored: Single Core score – 638 and Multi Core score – 1849. Below screenshots.
The NEXBOX A5 scored 4202 (SCISHION V88 – 1946, NEXBOX A95X – 4153, VENZ V10 – 4246, Sunvell Q-BOX – 4335, NEXBOX N9 – 2203, Z68 – 3319, MX Max – 4349, MXV+ – 4218, PROBOX 2 Z – 4333, MX Plus– 4300, MRX – 4357, Sunvell T95 – 4300, MINIX Neo U1 – 4326, Beelink Mini MX – 4282, K1 PLUS – 4299, PROBOX2 EX+ – 5834, ZIDOO X6 Pro – 4431) on Ice Storm Extreme. 6960 scored on Ice Storm Unlimited.
Below screen with the results in Vellamo and GPUbench. NEXBOX A5 TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 48.38MB/s – Write 20.42MB/s. RAM copy speed was 3176.94MB/s.
Conclusions
The NEXBOX A5 is a very well and aesthetically made TV Box. TV Box is equipped in the new SoC Amlogic S905X Quad core 64-bit Cortex A53 Up to 2.0GHz processor. Plays typical video content in 1080p and copes well with the video in 4K (also with 60fps). NEXBOX A5 also has TV Box has a fresh, nice and an easy to use UI which provides quick and intuitive access to key features. The A5 TV Box runs on Android 6.0.1, the system works without problems. 2GB RAM and Android 6.0 cooperate very well. The A5 copes well with games that can be downloaded from the Google Play, the combination of TV Box with a gamepad is a real pleasure. Web browsing and watching video (via Netflix) also works well. A big plus for NEXBOX for preparing an update for A5. Once again I want to say thanks to NEXBOX company for sending us a NEXBOX A5 sample. Is it worth buying? YES !. This is a good TV Box with a new Amlogic S905X which works properly, stable and fast, and also has excellent support for various multimedia. We recommend a NEXBOX A5 TV Box.
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