My thanks goes to Rikomagic and particularly to Michelle, for providing this MK06 review sample!
What’s in the box?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M_GHVtwMDI]
MK06 is Rikomagic’s latest introduction into the crowded android TV box market of devices based on the new and popular Amlogic S905 CPU.
The content of the box is quite standard, with the customary HDMI 2.0 cable, USB-USB OTG cable (for firmware flashing and connection to PC), power adapter, IR remote control, and a quick guide – on top of the MK06 box itself.
Looks and feel
The design is what we’ve come to expect – a black plastic box, not as thin as the Tronsmart S95 Vega Telos, but with plenty of USB ports, and quite light. It carries the SPDIF port, LAN port, an internal antenna, and no physical On/Off button.
Specifications
Benchmarks and Testing
All benchmarks have been repeated 3 times and results have been averaged to give a more accurate reading:
Antutu Benchmark
The Antutu benchmark tests single core performance over multi-core as it is a better indication of the performance of one device over others in most situations.
GPU Mark Benchmark
GPU Mark tests 3d gaming performance and also provides a normalized score according to the used screen resolution (for a more accurate result). The test is quite short and should be taken as a supporting result to that of the more serious 3D Mark benchmark.
A1 SD Benchmark
A1 SD Benchmark tests RAM and flash memory speeds. As can be seen in the provided graphs, RAM is much faster (by a factor of about 40) than flash memory – that is why it’s in smaller amount and is also volatile (does not keep its contents after a reboot).
PC Mark Benchmark
PC Mark test suite shows a mid-rating which may be due to a slow storage/controller. The tests did not go smoothly at first, and needed to be run more than 3 times.
3D Mark Benchmark
3D Mark is a labor intensive 3D animation and gaming Benchmark. It runs a series of 3d heavy game and video animations.
And here is a look at the inside of the MK06 – showing the RAM chips (Samsung), Storage (Hynix), and the cooling of S905 CPU:
Issues and Bugs
- Kodi does not work well in multi-tasking – meaning, there may be buffering and/or jerkiness in playback if updating is taking place in the background.
- Antutu crashes to the desktop (app list) after test completion, and when trying to do comparisons to some models in latest 6.1.1 version
- Kodi cannot write/rename files to USB/external SD card even though it sees them correctly. ES explorer allows it after getting permission.
- TS file playback is not consistent. Two 10bit samples were tested, one crashed Kodi almost always, while the other played fine.
- Sound bug was manifested in two out of the three games tested (Angry Birds 2 and Walking War Robots).
- 720p and 1080p over LAN video playback was inconsistent. Sometimes it would play smoothly straight through, but many times it would buffer several times through the file. Regardless if over WiFi or Wired connection.
- 4k / Ultra HD playback (over LAN) is very problematic. Lots of buffering, audio loss, stutter, and even Kodi crashes on a few occasions.
Network performance
Network performance has been tested using Speedtest.net Internet speed measuring app, in WiFi and in Wired mode. My Internet connection is 200 Mbit Synchronous Fibre connection. Surprisingly, WiFi performance in this box surpasses the Wired performance. (Both in download and upload speeds)
Video Playback testing (Using KODI)
| Resolution | Video Format | Local Playback | Network (Wi-Fi/LAN) Playback |
| 720p (1280*720) | AVC (High@L4.1) | Plays Okay | Some buffering * |
| 1080P (1920*1080) | AVC (High@L4) | Plays Okay | Some buffering * |
| 2160P (3840*2160) | HEVC (H.265) | Plays Okay | Plays Okay |
| 4K (4096*2304) | AVC (High@L5.1) | Plays Okay | Buffering, Audio loss, Stutter, Slow start |
| 4K TS HEVC files | HEVC (H.265) 10Bit | 50/50 (one played fine) | Audio loss, Slow start, Stutter |
It is worth mentioning, that at first the MK06 arrived pre-installed with Kodi 15.2 which was a little problematic with 4K content (no smooth playback under most conditions, and no TS 10 bit playback at all). After a few days I got a firmware flash update and with it came Kodi 16.1 RC (*). It definitely improved performance, but some issues persisted. As can be seen in both tables, Local playback was quite good (from a fast Micro-SD card). However, when streaming over the network I encountered too many instances of buffering and heavy 4K content did not play well in most cases.
With that in mind, HD ready (720p) and Full HD (1080p) played very well 98% of the time and the box got one of the highest scores in Antutu Video:
Gaming performance
Rooting is pre-installed in the MK06, and so Frame rate and resource usage can be measured:
Asphalt 8 Airborne – a 3d graphic intensive racing game.
GameBench crashed upon logging into the game. The game itself crashed several times while trying to log into Google Play Games (google’s game tracking app). It seems to do with the device’s difficulties with multi-tasking. However, once I started the game without GameBench, it was able to load and play correctly, and quite smoothly.
Angry Birds 2 – a popular 2d action game.
GameBench crashed upon logging into the game. And even though the game managed to start and even allow some game play, a sound bug started even on the initial game level choice screen and into the play screen. Upon completing first level, it also crashed out. Other than that, game play was quite smooth.
Walking War Robots – an online robot warfare game that requires a game-pad (I don’t have a game-pad).
Even though the game managed to start and allowed game play, a sound bug started from the log-in screen and persisted (same as in Angry Birds 2), which made the game annoying to play. other than that, it played quite smoothly, though as on all other TV boxes tested, the robot turret could not be turned, and exiting the game is only possible via the remote “Home” button.
MK06 Conclusions
Did I like it? At first. But as testing progressed, too many bugs and issues were found. This box needs a serious software optimization for it to become a real contender. Rikomagic does listen and make changes, but there are quite a few more to be made.
Would I recommend it? To those with lots of patience, or those who plays directly from add-ons (playback from those is quite good), or from locally connected USB/SD storage. Playback over LAN is still not smooth enough.
So, you like it? you can get it at from this link for a comfortably low price of 67.90 USD: Rikomagic RKM-MK06 TV Box
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