Sourcingbay DS805 Android TV Stick Review
Rating: 3/5
What I Like:
- Metal build is better than other TV sticks
- Easy to flash custom rom
- Good Miracast streaming
- Full Google Play Store access
- Smooth video playback with Kodi
- Full size USB port
What I Don’t Like:
- Default U.I. is bloated and the launcher is limited
- Default Android installation is laggy and slow
- No Bluetooth for keyboards, mice, etc
- Requires 2A of power with no adapter included
Summary: The Sourcingbay DS805 is essentially an MK-808B Plus in a nicer metal body. The default user interface is a bit slow and laggy, but there is a saving grace: since this device is fairly standard internals, it is easy to flash it with a custom rom which improves performance significantly. If you have some knowledge of Android, for example how to tweak performance in the developer options, you’ll like this stick a lot better than someone with no idea how to use it.
Where to Buy
Sourcingbay DS805 Android TV Stick:
Amazon U.S.A. | Amazon Canada
Price at time of review: $39.99
Build Quality & Appearance
The build quality of the DS805 is much better than other TV sticks I’ve handled, with a metal body and smooth lines. The matte finish and contrast of black and white look pretty cool. The metal makes it feel a lot higher quality than the other cheap media sticks, and there’s no creaking or flex. The ports are solid everything fits like it should.
Performance
Out of the box, performance is not very good. The transitions between apps stutter, web pages are slow to load and video streaming performance could be better. Wi-Fi range is limited to same or next room. One thing that does work great out of the box is Miracast – playback from my phone is smooth and lag free. Media playback with XBMC/Kodi or off a Micro SD is fine too. If you’re not confident installing a custom rom, at the very least add a new launcher such as Nova launcher (found on the play store). Once a new launcher is added performance does improve a little and Android’s layout is more like you would expect. Other tweaks that improve performance are turning off transition animations (found under developer options). Wi-Fi performance is decent when near a router. Since it uses the standard 2.4ghz protocol, further distances are prone to interference from neighbouring networks, cordless phones, microwaves, etc. and if you are in an area saturated with networks performance will be degraded. I’d recommend staying within the same room as your router, or one room over.
Custom Roms
*Note: any custom rom installation is done at your own risk. The author of this post does not assume liability if you brick your device or void your warranty*
Overall performance improves significantly once a custom rom is installed. The device runs snappier and everything is smoother. I would highly recommend doing this if you have the technical ability. Since the internals of this device appear to be the same as the MK808B-Plus, custom roms for the 808B-Plus seem to work. Installation is super easy too – copy the files to a Micro SD card and in the default Mbox launcher go to settings -> updates -> local update and choose the file on your Micro SD. That’s it. I’m currently using the Finless Rom and performance has improved remarkably. Everything seems to work with this ROM except the IR remote. You’re still not going to play graphics heavy games on it, but the launcher is better, the U.I. is smoother, web pages run faster and Kodi works great.
Other Notes
One big thing to note: most USB ports on TV’s do not supply enough power for this device to adequately function. A lot of other poor reviews on Amazon (US) are likely a result of the device not getting enough power – which causes it to throttle the processor or constantly crash. When tested with the USB port on my TV this Stick was almost unusable, but plugged into a proper USB outlet significantly improved performance. YMMV.
DO NOT let this device do its OTA update. It will cause problems and you’ll have to flash a new rom.
Conclusion
If you’re the kind of person who likes tweaking Android and playing around with roms you’ll have a decent time with the Sourcingbay DS805 – even if not, installing a custom rom is very straightforward on this device and highly recommended. Unfortunately out of the box performance is not optimized, but with the new launcher it runs significantly better. Once optimized, performance is acceptable and better than expected in such a cheap device. It’ll work if you want to turn a ‘dumb’ TV into a smart one without spending a lot of money, or if you’re the type of person who likes tweaking and playing around with android builds.