NEXBOX A95X Review: Android TV Box powered by Amlogic S905

Today we want to introduce you to NEXBOX A95X review.  A95X is one of the smallest TV Boxes available on the market, which has mounted popular SoC from Amlogic – Amlogic S905 . In this review we want to bring you the the features and impressions of using NEXBOX A95X TV Box and answer the questions: how A95X TV Box 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 A95X TV Box to review. Now NEXBOX A95X Android TV Box is available on Geekbuying for $29.99, Gearbest for $22.99, and also on TomTop ($24.99) and Banggood.

NEXBOX A95X technical specifications:

• CPU – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz
• GPU – penta-core Mali-450MP GPU
• Memory – 1GB DDR3
• Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD card slot
• Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0, AV
• Video Codec – [email protected] Hz video decoding 10-bit HEVC and AVS+ codec support; H.264 up to 4K 30 Hz
• Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (no Bluetooth)
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports
• Misc – IR receiver
• Power Supply – 5V/2A
• Dimensions – 93 x 93 x 11 mm

What we find in the box? The box included everything that you need to get started:

• NEXBOX A95X 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 A95X TV Box and bundled accessories.

First impressions, settings, overview of features

Indeed NEXBOX A95X is one of the smallest TV Boxes (is smaller than ZIDOO X6 Pro). You can easily take it with you, it is easy to hide it to your pocket. It is also solidly constructed. Given its specification, design and price, is not surprising that the A95X is a hit sales. The front panel has IR receiver and power LED. On one side there are two USB 2.0 ports and micro SD card slot. On the rear panel are: 5V DC jack, HDMI 2.0 port, AV port and RJ45 Ethernet port.

At the bottom of the device there are warm air outlet. Below also remote control. As you can see, remote control looks a little different than always, finally some breath freshness.

Below we include the NEXBOX A95X photos in combination with a matchbox, so it was easier to see the size ofA95X Android TV Box.

Booting Android to the “home screen” takes about 00:21:08 seconds. “Home screen” launcher A95X looks the same as the Beelink Mini, is a simple, easy to use and familiar. In addition to the remote control I used a standard keyboard and mouse, VENZ VZ-RK-1 airmouse with keyboard. Unfortunately I could not use my favorite Xiaomi gamepad because NEXBOX A95X does not have bluetooth. 

The  TV Box can additionally be controlled using the application on the smartphone. Download here – U1_remote.apk. The application works with TV boxes  based on SoC Amlogic: S905, S812 and S805. The device worked 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 6 large icons, with 4 of those (Online Video, Recommend, Music, and Local) being some folders for apps, and My Apps providing access to all installed app, and Settings. Below also we have access to the most important features and apps: media player, browser, kodi, Kodi Center (with kodi add-ons), google play. The A95X 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.

The remote control and VENZ VZ-RK-1 works without a problem. Remote control looks and works great and also well in the hand. Everything worked stable and quickly without delays. Everything works stable but A95X with 2GB of RAM probably worked by faster. Netflix works without problems. Below other screenshots.

The NEXBOX A95X TV Box is another TV Box which has Kodi Jarvis (more precisely Kodi 16.1 Jarvis), but this time with TV Addons TV.

On A95X you can install a typical games from Google Play. You can play without a problem and just connect gamepad or air mouse (we used the VENZ VZ-RK-1) and keyboard. Very nice to play in Fruit Ninja via VENZ VZ-RK-1.

Operating system and components

The NEXBOX A95X runs on the Android 5.1 Lollipop, namely version 5.1.1 and the Linux Kernel version 3.14.29. Received device has firmware build number NEXBOX-A95X-201606011847. TV Box is equipped in the recently very popular a SoC Amlogic S905 Quad core 64-bit  Cortex A53 Up to 2.0GHz processor and GPU 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 AIDA64 app because the CPU-Z application is not running ). The device is detected as NEXBOX-A95X and board nexbox_a95x. Below screenchots.

After using the DRM info (app) we know that A95X TV Box supports Google Widevine Moudlar DRM, but unfortunately does not support Microsoft Playready 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 following screenshots from the video test. The 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 A95X TV Box did not have not supported codecs.

Video playback by Kodi 16.1 Jarvis runs smoothly and stable (playback on the external player and in the original version of kodi.  MX Player runs smoothly and stable. The A95X 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 A95X 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 720p.

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

NEXBOX A95X Benchmarks

The NEXBOX A95X scored 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.  Below screenshots.

The NEXBOX A95X scored 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.  Unfortunately, we failed to complete the tests Ice Storm Unlimited.

Below screen with the results in Vellamo and GPUbench. NEXBOX A95X Android TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 53.07MB/s – Write 9.49MB/s. RAM copy speed was 2030.45MB/s.

Conclusions

The NEXBOX A95X is one of the smallest TV Boxes available on the market, which has a typical specification for cheaper models (1GB RAM / 8GB Flash, no Bluetooth). TV Box is aesthetically made of good quality plastic. TV Box is equipped in the recently very popular a SoC Amlogic S905 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. The A95X has nice and an easy to use UI which provides quick and intuitive access to key features. Of course A95X equipped with 2GB of RAM to work faster. The price at which you can buy A95X TV Box is adequate for their features. Is it worth buying A95X? Yes, if you are looking inexpensive TV Box, or you have a limited budget. A95X has all the necessary features that should have every TV Box. The big advantage NEXBOX A95X is a pocket size.