X96 Air Amlogic S905X3 TV Box Review
Amlogic continues to dominate the TV box market with the release of a new S905X3 CPU. The X96 Air TV Box is one of the first of boxes to feature this new CPU, and it has already generated quite a stir among the TV box community. Will it have better performance than the previous S905X2, and how how will boxes carrying this new CPU cost. Some are of the belief that the new CPU is nothing new and it is the same S905X2 clocked at a higher speed. In this short article I will give you the information pertaining to this assumption and a break down of what the X96 Air has to offer.
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Hardware
- CPU – Amlogic S905X3 1.9GHz
- GPU – Mali G31 MP6
- RAM – 4GB DDR4
- ROM – 32GB eMMc
- Wifi – 802.11ac 2.4GHz + 5GHz
- LAN – 100Mbps
- Bluetooth – 4.1
IO Ports
- 1 HDMI
- 3 USB
- 1 LAN 100Mbps
- 1 AV
- 1 SD Card
- 1 Optical Audio
Benchmarks
- Antutu – 74439
- Geekbench 4 – 804 Single-Core | 2234 Multi-Core
- Ice Storm Extreme – 5605
- Sling Shot – 521
- RAM Copy Speed – 3186 MB/s
- ROM Speed – 138 MB/s Read | 77 MB/s Write
- WiFi Speed – Max 5GHz | 2.4GHz slower | LAN Slow
Features
- Android 9 Pie OS
- Root access
- Dolby Vision/audio/DTS audio
- Alternative launcher compatible
- YouTube in 4K
- HDR Display
- Gamepad Key-mapping apps work
- Good 4K video playback
CONS:
- 2.4GHz and LAN slow speeds
- Screen rotation does not work
- Netflix and Amazon Prime in SD quality only
- No Navigation/status bar
Conclusion
The X96 Air picks up where the S905X2 left off. It has all the great features of the X2 CPU an it also has a higher CPU clock speed than most of the boxes running on the X2 chipset.
I wish they could have use a 64bit instruction set to run 64bit apps.
They should have included a navigation bar and status bar.
The Network card used in this box is not the best, resulting in slow LAN and 2.4GHz bandwidth speeds.
They did a poor job with the body’s ventilation resulting in overheating during gaming.
Dolby Vision support?
Yes it does see it here at this video time stamp https://youtu.be/atAPMC8cB3Y?t=220
Regards
TV Box Stop
Which one is better this one or A95x F3 air.
As A95x F3 have lower cpu frequency 1.7 ghz will it affect the performance
I like the A95X F3 over the X96 Air, even at lower CPU speed it functions better with more features then the Air.
hi, a week ago I bought the x96 air on aliexpress. The problems you mention about heating can be solved with a firmware update right?
No heating problems can only be solved by applying some form of cooling fan (active cooling), or lowering the CPU clock speed that just does not happen because only the manufacturer can do that.
Dear Sir, I have Sony Full HD LED. Can you please guide me an ideal TV box for Full HD display in mid range.
Second question that also support my 250 GB hard drive as in USB port.
Please guide
Hi Sir,
Is your Bluetooth working fine? I can’t seem to find the Bluetooth settings whenever I try to connect in remote devices for bluetooth it seems searching forever.
I saw a review on the xrs4000.. From what I seen in the review it seems like an awesome device….but your word and judgement means a lot to me because I purchased my tv box with your advice can you do a review for this product please……thanks…PS happy New year …god bless your the best
Great reviews and great tips, so after watching all several times and carefully reading, please advice, what to purchase?
– A95X F2 64-bit S905X3 4GB DDR3/32GB
– X96 Air 4/32 64-bit S905X3
Is update fixed issue with no navigation/status bar on x96?
As I can see, speed and usage is almost identical, Netflix and Amazon are not so important as Youtube 4k..
I would safely recommend the A95X F3 over the Air model. Don’t look at the CPU speed the Air model has poor ventilation and heating issues and throttling due to that issue.
The F3 has proper ventilation and operate smother and faster dispute having a lower CPU speed of 1.8GHz. It plays 4K videos better and game smoother then the Air model. I A95X Air had efficient heat management it would have been the better box.
Great info, so cooling is another issue with X96, great advice thank You.
A95X F3 purchased and installed, so far I am really impressed with this one, really fast device and capable. Now playing with Kody starts.
Glad you’re satisfied with it.
And what are the differences between A95X F3 and A95X F3 Air? Thanks
Regards,
Johan
The A95X F3 is the better box because it does not overheat and plays 4K videos anf games better than the F3 Air. The F3 Air overheats and throttles due to poor ventilation on the housing
Hi, a few days ago I bought the x96 and it seems to have a problem. After I turn it off from the remote control, at an irregular time it starts on its own. I tried to turn it off and remove the batteries from the remote control, thinking maybe this is faulty. No effect. Restart alone. Usually after a few minutes. Most was an hour and ten minutes off.
Can you help me with some advice? What to do?
Thank you in advance.
That’s a strange issue maybe the box is in sleep mode and not actually off. Press and hold the power button until the options appear on the screen to shutdown, restart, or sleep.
I assigned to the power button the sleep function from the settings. I put it in the sleep mode and instead of clock a few horizontal lines appeared. So it’s not in sleep mode when I turn it off. I will try the version proposed by you. I didn’t know about it. I’m thinking of keeping it in sleep mode when I’m not using it. Or is it better to unplug it?
My problem same with you. I have x96 plus 2gb ram version. Cant enter sleep mode, so led clock doesn’t display and it keep boot up when i press sleep now button.
Holding down the power button on the remote control, the device turns off. The 3 options you say, don’t appear on the screen.
install this app on it to shutdown – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.petrus.tools.reboot
Bought an x96 air. Problem with WiFi connection. Can’t connect to any apps installed previous day. Did factory reset. Nothing. Did hard reset. Nothing meaning can’t even connect to Google to register it. Is there an inferior WiFi card in it? And is anyone else having this problem. How can I resolve it.
That sounds like a manufacturers defect. Contact the seller and have them send you a replacement. They won’t even bother with returns
Hi, I’ve been using A95xF2 from the past 1yr, which worked flawlessly,
But today I bought this X96Air 4g-32gb variant, it’s working is very poor, every app keeps on crashing.
1)doesn’t support 4tb external hard disk
Does support my 2tb external hard disk, but file manager hangs.
2) unable to read & play 4k videos in kd or other players,
3) 4k videos only play when I copy it in the internal storage.
4)after signing in the Google Play, unable to download not even a single app from play store, it states that,
“This App is not Compatible with your Device”.
5) Updates not working, but it shows Android 9 Pie.
Updates shows Security Patch level 5th August 2018.
6)Hangs a lot.
7)why it shows X96Air PE model
7) Youtube worked Fine in 4k-60fps
I did factory reset but still the same issue persists.
Kindly suggest me what should I do !!
Those were some of the cons I highlighted in the video