REVIEW: Beelink GS-King X a powerful box with a double 3.5″ drive bay

PRODUCT DETAILS

Unboxing

The model Beelink GS-King X comes in a black box with magnetic closure, have DTS and Dolby logos in the top cover. Inside we found the TV-Box, RF remote, HDMI cable 4K@60fps compatible, HD Support, CoreELEC microSD OS boot, Manuals and a DC 19V 3A adapter.

Description

The TV-Box Beelink GS-King X has a spectacular metal box with perforations on all sides. On the front we have the drawing of a skull with LEDs in the eyes, they are always on green and in activity they are blue (a function will be added to turn it off soon as now you can only disconnect the cable to deactivate them). Included with this box is a Flymouse RF controller with microphone that allows you to use on-screen pointer and give commands to Google Assistant by voice.

Below the box in a hole we have the update button in case the firmware needs to be updated. On the motherboard we can see the Wifi ac 2×2 MIMO + BT 4.1 chip (AP6356SA) which has two internal wifi antennas. The cooling system has an active fan, the generated noise is not annoying but constant.

• Remote Control: Basic RF Remote Flymose / YES microphone / We can choose other alternatives.
• Alternate control: NOT have its own control app / We can try Cetusplay in our smartphone.

SYSTEM AND PERFORMANCE

Environment and Android system

We plug in the Beelink GS-King X and it starts up automatically, we arrive at a simple launcher based on squares. This is valid for use with the included remote control and has several icons on the side that we can customize with the apps we want. In the installed apps we can find Movieplayer, Miracast, Manual, Bee Music and Bee File Explorer. The performance of Android 9 is good in terms of desktop or heavy apps, works stable and without forced closures in the apps. Along with the TV-Box we have a microSD card to boot the CoreELEC system in a dual form.

• Launcher: As an alternative we have Pixel launcher to use mouse or Ugoos for IR control / Android UI rendering at 1080p
• Multitasking and access: Multitasking ONLY available in lower bar / YES lower and upper Android bars
• Languages and Google Play: All the international Android classics / Google Play installed.

• On/Off Controls: If we keep press the power button we have reset and power off option / Configurable in settings.
• System version and root: Android 9 Pie (32 bit) / YES root by default / YES root menu / Build 914P0_wol / Model GS-King X.
• Support: Beelink have a site with firmwares / Firmware available / Custom firmware not available yet.

Network, storage, RAM and ports

The TV-Box Beelink GS-King X ha installed 64 GB eMMC memory for internal storage + 4 GB DDR4 RAM, it has two USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 , microSD card reader and two internal 3,5 disk bays. In the network section it has a wireless adapter Wifi ac 2×2 MIMO + BT 4.1 (AP6356SA) and Ethernet Gigabit port. As we can see in the tests the results are good, the wifi reaches good speeds and the range is the right one for a model with two internal antennas.

• Disk Bay: Inside the TV-Box we have a double disk bay for 3.5″ disks up to 32 TB (2x 16 TB) as an external drive.
• Disk format: ExFat compatible / NOT NTFS compatible / Option to format them as internal space up to 2 TB max.

• Storage: Total 64GB  – Free 52GB / NTFS + exFAT compatible / Expandable with a USB or SD external memory.
• RAM: Total 4GB – Free 3GB / DDR4.
• Network: Good speed with two wifi internal antennas / Range 36 dBm, OK. / Bluetooth OK.
• We recommend reading our Tutorial SAMBA on Android networks if we are going to read or serve our files.

SAMBA server and NAS

Since firmware version 915P0 the Beelink GS-King X system have a SAMBA server option in the settings menu. You can turn ON an select what drives cna share the stored files. You have to take some points in consideration.

• To connect from our PC you have to use the IP \\192.168.0.XXX (no Netbios name detected yet)
• The service must be activated when the TV-Box is started

This TV-Box Beelink GS-King X has an associated NAS server service offered by WeLine, an app that allows us to access the contents of our TV-Box anywhere via wifi or data. The system is easy to use but the connection speed is slow and not very efficient and requires buying credits because it has a limited transfer rate. Beelink says that they will offer another free alternative as a NAS server in a future update.

1. If you want to try the current NAS server download the WeLine app
2. Register with the serial number on the sticker on the back of the TV-Box
3. Scan the QR code on the back of our device to link it

Power and performance

At level of performance the Beelink GS-King X defends itself quite well and can run any Android app or game, the Amlogic S922X Hexa Core SoC with ARM Cortex-A73 + A53 processors with its Mali-G52 MP4 GPU is in the mid / high range. This SoC is manufactured in 12nm and has a very low consumption. The temperatures are low thanks to the internal fan, the processor manages the speeds correctly and goes down to its minimum speed in inactivity.

• CPU performance: Min  0.5 GHz / Working  1.2 GHz / Max 1.7 GHz
• Check our Amlogic S922X SoC Comparison against all SoCs in the sector for more details.

• Thermals: Min. 42ºC / Working  48ºC / Max. 56ºC / Maintains performance up to 100% / No heat zone / Noise 20db
• Consumption: Off 1.1W / Min 16W / Working 19W / Max. 30W
• Games and emulators: IS possible to play titles such as PUBG with low settings / Emulators up to Wii / YES Vulkan support.
• Controls: Compatible with Gamepads by cable or bluetooth.

VIDEO AND AUDIO TEST

Video playback test

The playback aspect in the Beelink GS-King X performs quite well thanks to the Amlogic S922X SoC, this hardware has a pretty good performance thanks to the Amlogic S922X-H SoC that integrates an Advanced Video Engine Gen10 VPU. This video processor supports most modern video formats such as h.265 and VP9 with native 4K HDR resolution support.

Players like KODI or PLEX can be used without the slightest problem, the system comes without these apps but we can install them from Google Play. As for audio, we can playback DD and DTS sound but we only have PCM sound due a problem in the firmware (Beelink is working to fix it). Thanks to the dedicated processors ESS9108 + RT6862 is possible to play with Lossless quality. See our Amlogic S922X SoC Comparison Guide for more Audio / Video details on this SoC.

• Video Settings: Image quality settings / RGB and SDR / HDMI-CEC available, see manual / Automatic refresh rate with root + AFRd.
• Audio Settings: HDMI and SPDIF up to 7.1 audio / Stereo Jack / Audio Hi-Fi RCA + BAL / Lossless ESS9108 + RT6862
• Media sharing: GoogleCast NO / Miracast YES / DLNA with BlubblePnP / Airplay NO
• CoreELEC: By default we have a microSD card to boot CoreELEC.
• Tutorials: Install add-on in KODI / Judder effect, how to fix it / Multi-channel audio guide / Correct dark video playback in Android.
• We recommend reading the Setup Guide of our TV to get the best picture quality.

Video results

• The maximum bitrate depends on the port used to connect or the limitations of SAMBA Networks.
• SW = does not have hardware acceleration and may have have some frameskip in very heavy files.

Audio test results

• PCM – Stereo only doing downmix from DD or DTS
• Core – Only the core of the format is played back with what we passed to the Dolby / DTS base system
  * Our AV receiver does not support these native formats but we verify that it is played back to 7.1

Streaming services

Passing our usual tests with streaming services we check how the most popular services work. The Beelink GS-King X presents the classic configuration without certifications which limits us in quality in several streaming services, luckily if it is compatible with most services even if they are in its most basic quality of SD video

• DRM: Google Widevine L1
• Certification: DTS / Dolby
• Tutorials: Change the size of the captions and the mouse pointer on Android / Install Addons in KODI in a simple way

CONCLUSIONS AND BUY LINKS

Score

Opinion

As we have seen in our analysis, the Beelink GS-King X is a peculiar Android TV-Box that offers us an unconventional storage system. This device has the Amlogic S922X-H SoC that has more than enough power to move any app, powerful games like PUBG, emulators up to 16bit, IPTV apps or use KODI where we can play 4K HDR video without problems. It is also compatible with all the streaming apps we have tested like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video or HBO, although many stay in the basic video quality.

In the connectivity section the Beelink GS-King X has a Wifi aC adapter with good speeds, it also stands out for its Gigabit Ethernet network adapter. This Android TV-Box allows us to connect two 3.5″ disk drives, NAS software is included but for now it is not very useful because of the limited speed, since firmware 915P0 have a usefull SAMBA server. The audio section is very good with its dedicated processors, while as a system we have Android 9 that in general is stable, moves very smoothly and has root selector and Android navigation bars, we also have the option to use it with CoreELEC.

As a conclusion, we can say that the Beelink GS-King X is a TV-Box with interesting performance for whoever is looking to set up a small server, although it has its limitations in terms of software, its weakest point.

Where to buy

• Consult our recommended models to see other alternatives.

Add-ons

Beelink GS-King X

0.00

7.8

DESIGN AND CONNECTIVITY

9.0/10

HARDWARE

8.5/10

SYSTEM

7.5/10

SUPPORT

7.0/10

PRICE/QUALITY

7.0/10

Pros

• Two 3.5" disk, SAMBA server
• Android 9 and CoreELEC
• Good design
• Good wifi and Ethernet Gigabit
• Hi-fi audio and many connectors

Cons

• NAS needs to be improved
• Frontal lights cannot be turned off
• Only PCM sound for now