We have another Android TV Box for a review.
Tanix TX92 is a new release that tries to stand out in a plethora of Amlogic S912 SoC based products with its design and performance. Let’s see how it performs.
Packaging – Specifications
We found nothing fancy with Tanix’s carton box. Black in color and the only thing mentioned concerning the media box is its SoC, RAM and ROM size at the back.
When you open it you come face to face with the media box itself. Beneath it, you can locate the power adaptor, the remote, the HDMI cable and a quick start guide. Don’t expect to find any batteries for the remote though. (2x AAA)
Specifications list is quite good for its small size. It is equipped with 3GB (probably DDR3) RAM and 64GB eMMC 5.0 ROM that promise much better multitasking and effortless playback of media files compared to other models with less RAM. A 32GB ROM model exists as well.
The Amlogic S912 8-core CPU with Mali T820 GPU ensures fast processing, 4K / HDR compatibility and good 3D gaming performance.
I/Os feature 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x S/PDIF out (in a mini jack form), 1x HDMI 2.0 out (with 4K and HDR support) and 1x microSD slot (up to 32GB).
For wired network connections an RJ45 with Gigabit LAN is the best available option and the same applies for wireless connections with dual band Wi-Fi AC and BT 4.1.
Android 7.0 is the selected operating system.
Media Player – Remote
The TX92 is good looking and way better than the majority of its competitors. The front display, the small lined up holes (for heat dissipation) all over its body with the power button on top are of good taste and increase the unit’s aesthetics. The chassis is made of plastic, but the build is solid and you will have nothing to worry about during its operation.
Luckily, all connections and I/Os are located at the back so cable management will be easy. The microSD slot is an exception, since it located on the left side, but no one will notice its existence.
The front display is not disturbingly bright so viewing should be hassle free. The time, USB and the network status is all it shows.
The remote is a nice change from what we are used to. Quite similar in design with the ones found in NVidia Shield and Xiaomi Mi Box 4K but without the BT protocol so careful pointing will be required. Both grip and feel are very nice and the plastic build appears to be solid. Layout is good and you will spend little time trying to memorize the buttons.
Overall, build quality and design for both media box and remote are way above average and stand out from their competitors.
Menus – Settings
Good impressions continue with TX92’s user interface. After a quick boot, you will notice that the way the UI works is unique and probably not seen before. Although there is one main screen, at the left there is a “circle” switching between “Main”, ”Apps” and ”Settings” sub menus. The overall UI is similar to Google’s material design but in a grey eye pleasing theme. You are able to create your own shortcuts in all three sub menus at the bottom of the screen for your convenience.
Although the more user friendly stock Android 7 settings menu system exists, Tanix chose to use a custom one for basic settings like Display, Network and Bluetooth. It works well but since at some point you will need to access the extra Android settings, the extra navigation steps could be avoided.
An OTA update system is included but we did not receive one during our tests.
Testing
Tanix TX92 continued to impress with its performance as well.
As expected, playback of all popular stereo audio files (mp3/FLAC) was an easy task for the powerful 8-core processor.
The pre-installed fork of 17.4 version of KODI (re-named as TV Center) showed very capable video performance. UHD HEVC video files had very good playback, even the ones with high bitrate. HDR was enabled and HDR-SDR conversion also worked like a charm in cases were the display was not HDR compatible. The Tanix handled 24p motion very nice for as long as you would not forget to switch manually the display refresh rate to 24hz. An auto frame rate switching option is the only thing we really missed.
Full HD playback was also stellar with Blu Ray backup files and home videos.
Once more, Android 7’s audio enhancements helped the TX92 to bit-stream HD Audio perfectly. Including latest codecs like DTS X and Dolby ATMOS. Down-mixing to stereo was also handled perfectly so still good news if you intend to connect the media box directly to your TV set.
Wi-Fi performance was also good with Wi-Fi AC being able to stream 1080p files of average bit-rate. Just make sure that your access point is equally good or better. Wired performance was also great since streaming of BLU-RAY backups was issue free.
Gaming performance was also very good with the majority of 3d games having very good performance. With the addition of a gamepad, Tanix TX92 will provide many hours of good gameplay.
Furthermore, throughout every task, from UI browsing to task switching and application launching, TX92 gave us the impression that it could handle all tasks with “ease” which is the case for the majority of 3GB RAM media boxes. The very fast (compared to competition) internal ROM (~110mb/sec write performance) also assisted towards that matter.
Android
Android 7 (Nougat) is the new trend and that’s the case too with this one. The user interface is very responsive, and a navigation bar at the bottom will make things easier. Play Store is pre-installed so that you can install any application you want from Google’s never-ending catalog.
4K YouTube is not licensed but 1080p works perfectly. Fans of video streaming service like Netflix and Amazon Video will be a bit disappointed since the official apps can support playback only up to 480p.
Hardcore users will be happy to see that the device arrives pre-rooted with Super user not installed (you can install it manually in no time).
After the first boot you will find ~55GB of free space which should suffice for the installation of many programs and games.
Summary
Tanix TX92 rightfully earns a place in the top 5 S912 SoC based TV Box list with its great design, beautiful user interface and top performance.
Fortunately, the aforementioned greatness still comes at an affordable price. It may be slightly more expensive than many S912 SoC TV Boxes but we think that the extra price is justified. We reviewed the 64GB ROM version but also a 32GB one exists that is cheaper and may be of better value.
If you are out for an great all-around performer, the Tanix TX92 should on your shortlist.
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