Beelink GT-King Pro TV box based on the new Amlogic S922X-H

Some time ago, the ambitious Beelink GT-King Pro TV box was unveiled. Essentially, it’s an updated version of the Beelink GT1-K, and today I’ll take a look at this new model. As usual, I’ll inspect it, take it apart, run some tests, and share my conclusions.


I was interested in the Beelink GT1-K as soon as it came out, especially since it was a genuinely new model, unlike the familiar devices based on the 912 processor. Unfortunately, though, the package sent to me at the end of May got lost somewhere in the vast postal wilderness. Maybe someone is using my TV box right now. Good luck to them.

As usual, I’ll start with the specifications.
SoC – six-core Amlogic S922X-H big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2.21 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.8 GHz, and an Arm Mali-G52MP6 GPU; 12 nm process
RAM – 4 GB LPDDR4 RAM
Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash memory, SD card slot
Video output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 75 Hz
Video – AVE-10 with support for 4K UHD video decoding in H.265 / VP9 / AVS2 up to 60 fps, Dolby Vision, Advanced HDR10, HDR10 +, HLG, and PRIME HDR with high dynamic range
Audio – digital audio over HDMI, stereo analog audio via a 3.5 mm audio jack, DTS + Dolby licenses, ESS9108 audio DAC
Network – Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band 802.11 b / g / n / ac 2×2 MIMO WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.1
USB – 3x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2.0 OTG Type-A port
Other – power button, power LED, IR receiver, RS232 port
Power – 12 V DC / 1.5 A
Dimensions – 119 x 119 x 17.9 mm
Weight – 380 grams

As you may have noticed, this TV box’s processor has an H suffix. The Amlogic S922X SoC comes in several variants: the S922X is the “base” version, and there are also
S922X-B – supports H.265 encoding and has additional HDR features
S922XJ – with Dolby licenses
S922X-H – with Dolby and DTS licenses

This information may not be entirely accurate—it’s from around the internet—but it seems plausible. I also found a block diagram of the new processor there. There’s also some information that the new processors include an NPU block – Neural Processing Unit.


It comes in a neat little black box, with the device’s specifications printed on the bottom. Inside, there’s a foam insert to protect the TV box, but everything else is just tossed in together and rattles around quite freely.


The package is unusually sparse for a Beelink device. It includes:
1. Beelink GT-King Pro TV box
2. Remote control
3. Power supply
4. HDMI cable
5. Manual


The manual and cable are nothing special; this same cable comes with many of the company’s devices.
I did like the power supply, though. It’s rated for 12 V at up to 2 A, clearly more powerful than the usual 5 V, 2 A supplies. To get ahead of myself, it handles not only the TV box but also a 7200 rpm hard drive, an SSD, and an HDMI-to-VGA converter all at once, without any trouble. It also barely gets warm, even under load.


The remote has voice control and works over radio, but uses its own USB receiver. It’s exactly the same remote that comes with the Magicsee N5 NOVA. It feels comfortable in the hand and is pleasant to use, especially since it has an Air-mouse function.
One thing to note about installing the batteries: it’s hard to see in the photo, but instead of springs, it uses spring-loaded pins. That’s very convenient, but the batteries don’t go in alternating directions—they both face the same way. Keep that in mind.


The TV box has a design similar to the Beelink GT1-K, but there are actually quite a few differences.
The case is entirely metal.
The skull’s eyes don’t light up; they’re just part of the design.

Beelink used similar cases for computers based on Atom processors.


The case measures 119 x 119 x 18 mm. It’s quite hefty—you can feel it as soon as you pick it up.


At the front, there’s a little “window” with lettering, also found on most Beelink devices. It looks neat and understated. I don’t know about everyone else, but I like this design.
When powered on, a small white LED lights up. It’s dim, which is actually a good thing. So if anyone from Beelink’s development team is reading this: it’s great as it is, the brightness is just right. No need to add super-bright blue LEDs!!!


There are a lot of connectors here. Let’s go through them:
On the left: two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. Note that Beelink often uses a full-size SD slot rather than MicroSD. The reset button hole is also located here.
On the right is another USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port that supports OTG. In the manufacturer's photo, the second port is black; in reality, both are blue, like USB 3.0 ports.
On the back are the audio output, Ethernet, HDMI, RS-232, power input, and power button.

There is some ambiguity about the audio output jack. It was originally listed as an AV output, but here it is labeled only as audio.
Also, you may have noticed a few oddities, such as the lack of S/PDIF and the presence of an RS-232 port, which is highly unusual for a TV box. Honestly, I still have no idea why they put it here. What's more, if they had moved the power button to the front panel, they could easily have put an S/PDIF port in its place, either optical or a 3.5 mm jack.

There are no connectors on the bottom of the case, but there are a couple of threaded holes and a warning that the bottom of the case gets hot.


The unusual feet caught my eye, if you can even call them that. They're actually strips of rubber that grip the tabletop quite well.


There are four screws under the “feet.” You don't need to peel off the rubber strips completely; just lift the ends. The front screws are noticeably closer together than the rear ones.


At first, the cover is very difficult to remove because it's partly held in place by thermal paste. Don't pull it off abruptly.


The cooling system has a very interesting design. I don't think I need to explain the problems that come with using the bottom cover as a heatsink. But the profile itself is interesting. From the sides, you can see holes running through it, and these holes line up exactly with holes in the TV box case. So if you mount it vertically on its side, cooling should improve.
Overall, it's an interesting design in its own way, but Chinese engineers wouldn't be Chinese engineers if they got everything right on the first try. The section that contacts the processor has a recess, so the actual contact area is only about 50%.
Correction: on closer inspection, the milled area is square too, so thermal contact is made across the entire surface. The paste made it hard to see, but one of the users pointed this out. I checked, and it all adds up.


The layout is very compact, but nothing gets in the way, and there are very few wires.


Before proper reviews of this box appeared online, people wondered how the antennas were arranged given the metal case. In fact, it's very simple: both antennas are routed to that decorative “window” at the front of the case. It's not the best solution, of course, but it works well enough. The antennas are connected with plugs, so anyone looking to improve things can buy and install external antennas.
But enough about the antennas—especially since I always recommend connecting devices like this by cable. There's something else I need to mention: it has a battery! It may seem like a small thing—a battery that costs a few dozen cents—but it makes things so much more convenient. When you turn on the TV box, you don't have to wait for it to sync the time. In my case, that can take a while, and without the correct time the browser can easily throw an error. As far as I can remember, this is only the third TV box I've seen with a battery, and the previous two were also from Beelink (Sea and Lake).


Finally, TV box manufacturers have listened (or taken a closer look) to the modifications some users, myself included, have been making. Instead of a useless thermal pad, they've installed a copper plate. Good job, no question. The plate itself is large and glued to the processor; it transfers heat to the case through thermal paste.


I've praised it, so now I'll complain a little. Above, I said that all the heat is transferred effectively, but it's transferred to the bottom of the case. It would be more logical and effective to transfer it to the top, especially since that's metal too. Unfortunately, that hasn't been done. I hope the manufacturer takes note someday.


The TV box board with the antennas disconnected.


An IR receiver for the remote is mounted at the front of the board, but this box comes with a radio remote, so the receiver isn't used. I think you could also control it with a regular remote if you bought one separately.
To the right are clips for the antenna cables, but they're not used. Further to the right, you can see... a microphone. At least, this component doesn't look like anything else. I'll show it in more detail later. My attempt to use this microphone was a failure: the remote's microphone works, but the built-in one doesn't.
Next, the battery, with a tiny LED underneath it.


The section of the board with the connectors.


The HDMI output has protection components, which is good. Near the left pair of USB ports are some voltage converters, apparently powering those ports. Interestingly, the right pair has no such converters.


The underside is almost empty.


One notable feature I haven't come across before (sorry the photo is upside down).
The thing is, this board uses separate DACs, and judging by the board layout, as far as I can tell, there's one for each channel.
The ES9018 DAC is originally an eight-channel chip, but here it's in a different package and has a different marking: ES9018JPA. I couldn't find a datasheet for it.
Two RT6862D/TR amplifiers are connected to the DAC output. They're capable of driving low-impedance loads such as headphones.

I've seen this circuit design before, with the channels split before the DAC, but that was a DIY device aiming for High-End sound, since this approach can improve channel separation. But to see it in a mass-market device like this...
I really hope they did this to improve sound quality, and not because someone had a large stock of out-of-spec DAC dies that they put in a different package and used one chip per channel.


A quick rundown of the components used.
1. Micron RAM; as far as I can tell, there are two chips.
2. 64 GB Foresee flash memory. It's very strange to see it in a device that's far from budget-priced.
3. Realtek gigabit Ethernet chip
4. Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module
5. RTS5411, USB 3.0 hub
6. AT8563 real-time clock; its crystal resonator is below it.
7. Pair of ES9018JPA DACs
8. RT6862D amplifiers, one for each channel.
9. Unknown chip near the 3.5 mm jack. I'm guessing it's for protection, but I'm not sure.


1. MAX232, a UART-to-RS232 level converter, so we have a full-fledged port.
2. HDMI output protection components
3. Memory card slot protection
4. Some converters, located between the memory card slot and USB
5. More converters, located next to the USB ports
6. Another presumed converter, most likely powering the DACs.
7. Components under the battery; the power indicator LED is visible
8. Microphone, oddly labeled LED.
9. Unknown chip, presumably an R08A5 microcontroller


There are components on the underside of the board too: USB protection. As far as I can tell, it's fitted identically on both right-hand ports, even though one of them is specified as USB 2.0.
To the right is a linear voltage regulator.


There are also some components near the second pair of USB ports, and a suppressor closer to the HDMI and Ethernet ports.


You may have noticed that I keep pointing out the various protection components, especially since this TV box has them almost everywhere—even, it seems, on the audio output.
These circuits fail quite often, and in some cases the results are pretty grim. I've already seen two cases where an HDMI connection took out not only the graphics card but also the TV's main board.
One case happened quite recently: a computer was connected to a TV. After reconnecting the cable, the TV board and graphics card were both fried, with smoke. There were holes in two chips on one side of the card, and some components had completely evaporated on the other.
And this wasn't caused by lightning. The computer simply tried to ground itself through the TV, which was grounded via the antenna cable.


That's it for the inspection and teardown. Now we can move on to the software and tests. I decided to start by trying to connect a mouse to the TV box's COM port.
Unfortunately, it didn't detect the mouse. Of course, this combination looks a little bizarre: an ancient mouse and a brand-new SoC.



First boot: standard settings, nothing new. For some reason, it didn’t show up in the list of available Wi-Fi networks, but I did find it later. Even at this point, though, I can say that its sensitivity isn’t very high.


The boot process is quick and looks like this. The “goosebumps” in the image aren’t video-conversion artifacts—that’s really what it looks like. I also noticed that Beelink seems to have decided to tweak its logo a little.


The desktop should also be familiar to TV box users; at least, this isn’t the first time I’ve come across this layout.


The settings menu doesn’t stand out in any way. I’ll start with some information about the box. One thing to note: hold down the power button for a couple of seconds and an additional menu appears, including a button for taking a screenshot.
The power button is very soft, and it’s positioned in such a way that while plugging and unplugging flash drives, I accidentally pressed it several times and turned off the TV box.


As far as I’m concerned, the video settings are very basic. The maximum resolution is shown this way because the monitor is connected through an HDMI-to-VGA adapter, but that’s normal. What did surprise me was the lack of an AFR mode selection menu. It’s odd to see a box in this class without that feature, though I’ll check later whether it works anyway.


CEC controls and audio settings; you can also choose what the power button does.
Overall, the settings are unusually sparse. I’ve seen far more options on less expensive boxes.


I was glad to find that you can open a more familiar menu. Some people may find it more convenient, but it has options that aren’t in the previous menu, and vice versa: some items from that menu are missing here.


Information about the flash storage and RAM. In short, there’s plenty of both.


After the tests, I decided to check for updates and was pleasantly surprised to find two of them. Somehow, the vast majority of TV boxes I’d reviewed before would say they were already up to date when I checked, even though their software was far from current. This one does have updates, and they’re being delivered.


As in my other reviews, I’ll start the tests with information about the TV box from CPU-Z. The previous version suggested updating, so I downloaded a newer one.


The temperature sensors menu showed that it monitors not only the processor temperature, but also the RAM temperature.


Now for the tests. First, AnTuTu versions 5 and 6.


I then tried launching version 7 several times, but none of the attempts succeeded. By the way, at first some apps would randomly minimize, and I was starting to worry, but then everything somehow “settled down.” I have no idea what that was about.
Anyway, AnTuTu 7 refused to run, and even version 8 didn’t start right away. I had to download the 3D update several times because the test (not the TV box) froze at the same point—Terracotta—twice.


The storage speed test was run with an external 500 GB hard drive and a 120 GB SSD connected, which is why it reported that caching was being used. The test of the internal storage doesn’t use caching and returned a decent result of 115 and 110 MB/s. In any case, the fast flash storage was already obvious when installing apps—everything just flies.


Geekbench versions 3 and 4. I won’t make any comparisons here; you’ll see everything in the summary table later.


1. Ice Storm Extreme
2. Ice Storm Unlimited
3. Ice Storm Performance
4. PCMark

As you can see, two of the four tests ended with a “Maxed out” notification, meaning the result limit was exceeded. Unfortunately (or fortunately), this result was also reported for the Ice Storm Extreme test, whose results I’m adding to the summary table.


The Epic Citadel test also came very close to its limit, reaching almost 60k/s. I also use this test to check whether the boxes overheat, and here everything was excellent: the temperature was around 32–35 degrees.


The Bonsai benchmark warmed the processor up to 44 degrees, which I also consider an excellent result.


Recently, I decided to add a more specialized software-based overheating test to my reviews.
In this case, I set the test duration to an hour and a half. The maximum temperature was 71 degrees. The TV box was just lying on the table; standing it upright would bring the temperature down a little further.


AnTuTu Video also gave a good result. Only one file type wasn't supported; in my experience, only three TV boxes have passed this test completely.


As expected, Wi-Fi reception isn't very sensitive, at least on the 2.4 GHz band. Across a large room, the speed was around 10 Mbps; a couple of meters away, it rose to 40–45 Mbps. The 5 GHz band was noticeably better, though: a few meters from the router, I got roughly 125 to 250 Mbps. Yes, quite a spread.


With a wired connection, the speed was 600–900 Mbps. I suspect the test computer was under load, since the installed chip usually gets 800–900 Mbps.



Preinstalled software.
This section will be very short, since almost nothing is installed out of the box. We see the basic apps; after the update, the Miracast app was added too, though I don't think that changes much.
And yes, even Kodi and YouTube aren't preinstalled.


I really liked the file manager. It's fast and looks decent, though the translation is pretty rough. For example, the Paste operation was translated as “Pasta.” Funny, sure, but they could have translated it properly—the text isn't exactly War and Peace.
It connected to my home file server without any trouble, and I watched a couple of movies.


The voice control worked well: the request was recognized correctly three times out of four. But when I tried saying “Beelink,” it kept sending me to billing.
It's also worth noting that search only works in the browser. More precisely, when you start voice search, the app opens a Google search for the word you said.


I had to install the YouTube app myself, and I'd say it works great: video plays smoothly, with no stuttering, freezing, or anything like that. But... Full HD is the maximum.


Online TV also worked without any problems; at least LanetTV behaved itself.


And how could I forget one important difference with this TV box: a separate DAC for analog audio output. I can say two things about it:
1. It has sound, which is already good. Knowing Chinese engineers, I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd “forgotten” a driver or something else.
2. The sound is genuinely pretty good. I won't go on about “transparent highs” and “airy mids”; I'll just say it sounds fine.

During testing, I connected both headphones (isodynamic TDS-15s) and an amplifier with speakers to the output. The speakers are basic, but definitely better than the ones built into TVs. I was happy with both setups.
Still, I don't understand why on earth the manufacturer put a headphone amplifier on the output when this is a stationary device—and if anyone connects it to anything, there's a much better chance it'll be something other than headphones. Or, alternatively, the output could have been switched using a relay.


FLAC files play without any problems, but DSF files are silent...



Playback of various video files
1024x768_h265_AC3.mkv — OK
2560x1600_AAC .mp4 — minor frame drops
3840x2160_AAC .mp4 — minor frame drops
4096x2160_AAC .mp4 — minor frame drops
gopro-hero-3-be-avc-high@l5.1-4096x2160-12p-aac-2ch.mp4 — OK
GraysPeak8HDR_Dolby AC3.mp4 — OK
LG 4K Paris_AAC.mp4 — OK
LG 4K Story-of-Earth_AAC.mp4 — OK
LG_Chess_HDR.mp4 — OK
Philips_UHD_supershopdemo_1.mp4 — OK, but there was a brief freeze right at the end
samsung-note-3-3840x2160-high@l5.1-AAC-2ch-2.mp4 — OK
4K HD.Club Changhong-Furano-100mbps.mp4 — OK
Sony_4K_HDR_Camp.mp4 — OK
Molly — Holy Molly (2016) 4К UHD_60 fps.mkv — noticeable frame drops
Ducks.Take.Off.1080p.QHD.CRF25.x264-CtrlHD.mkv — OK
Ducks.Take.Off.2160p.QHD.CRF25.x264-CtrlHD.mkv (243 Mbps) — minor frame drops, even from internal storage
4K HD.Club TCL-super_car-Part-1-HEVC.mp4 — OK
4K HD.Club Changhong-Furano-100mbps HEVC.mp4 — OK
Colours Of Culture Bali (6K.3240p.x264).mkv — No video.

Overall, not bad. There was sound in every case, even when trying to watch MKV videos, but it was disappointing that the TV box occasionally stuttered with files that played fine even on $30–40 boxes.
There are also two preinstalled players: "Video Player" and "Movie Payer". The first stuttered more and distorted the colors with some files; the second behaved much better, and the results shown here are for that player.


4k hdr demo 60fps wildlife video for 4k oled tv 1920x1080
4k hdr demo 60fps wildlife video for 4k oled tv 2560x1440
4k hdr demo 60fps wildlife video for 4k oled tv 3840x2160
Peru HDR 60FPS 1920x1080
Peru HDR 60FPS 2560x1440
Peru HDR 60FPS 3840x2160
Peru HDR 60FPS 7680x4320

All the clips played here, but the 8K video started stuttering about 10 seconds after playback began. Trying to play it from internal storage didn't help.


There are no issues with Full HD output; I couldn't test 4K.


The 4K video output situation was completely baffling. The thing is, I don't test using a TV or monitor; instead, I use a "specially trained" TV box that can emulate a 4K input while outputting a different resolution.
When I tried to run the test, the box under review stubbornly output no more than Full HD.
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I won't make any definite claims, since I didn't actually test it with a TV. But, for example, the same setup works fine with other box models, and they output not only 4K resolution but also show the actual frame rate. Here's a test with another TV box.
Also, judging by other reviews, the box outputs 4K at 60 Hz to a TV without any issues, so this is most likely because it wasn't connected to a TV.


For comparison in the summary table, I chose a couple of models based on the RK3399, one of the most powerful SoCs for TV boxes. I can say that in gaming benchmarks, the new model absolutely crushed the old-timers; in math tests, the gap was much smaller, and in some tests they were almost neck and neck.


One of the hardest parts of writing a review is probably summing everything up, but I'll try to keep the main points reasonably brief.
As for the design and performance, there's really no question: Amlogic has managed to bring to market not only a powerful SoC, but, just as importantly, an energy-efficient one that doesn't need a powerful cooling system. But Beelink decided to get ahead of the curve and play it safe, designing the TV box so the processor doesn't overheat. There are a few complaints—or, more accurately, minor details that don't affect cooling performance, though in places I would have liked a more thoughtful design. In any case, the TV box doesn't overheat, runs stably, and delivers excellent performance.

Now, about the media features.
Things are a bit mixed here. Yes, the processor is licensed for Dolby and DTS, and there are two separate DACs inside. It all sounds great, except that video playback is occasionally strange—even with files that play without trouble on cheap boxes. Perhaps the manufacturer will still "polish" this up, especially since updates are coming.
But what really left me puzzled was the lack of AFR. For a device that costs over $100, its absence is strange.

Otherwise, I think it’s pretty good: 4/64 memory, 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi, two antennas with connectors, gigabit Ethernet, four USB ports, a remote with an air mouse and voice control, and excellent performance. I’d like to see the price a little lower, but I think that’s just a matter of time.

I can also say that I still don’t understand why it has a COM port, or why they didn’t put S/PDIF in place of the button, move the button to the front panel, or just remove it altogether.

That’s all from me. I hope this information was useful. If you have suggestions for tests, especially for playing specific video or audio formats, I can check them.