[wrxtasy]

You buy a media player based on audio and video (SDR / HDR) and App features you want working at this very moment. Not on what software it runs.

Right! Exactly my point. But you seem to be taking the shipped firmware into account, rather than presuming the user will simply upgrade it to the latest — right?

Look, I'm not trying to correct you — I'm replacing my 5-yr old HTPC that died, and have just arrived at the Android box scene. So far what I've understood is that the Amlogic boxes are fine, but only if they're running Android 7+ — is that right?

These guys say:

M8 family (M805): Obsolete
S8 Family (S805): Obsolete
S905: Good low-end processor
S912: Slightly better performance compared to the S905 and a good low-to-mid range CPU.
RK3328: Good low-to-mid range.
RK3399: High Performance
NVIDIA Tegra X1: High Performance

Do you agree? You seem to say S905/S912 are just as good if running Android 7+ with LibreELEC, no?

It is completely pointless comparing hardware because they all come with App and audio and video limitations regardless of their performance or the Operating System or Firmware used.
It is exactly why you need to list your Audio, Video and App requirements first, because we know what works on various platforms and what does not.

If you are NOT buying a number crunching PC, CPU performance really is the last thing to consider because most modern ARM chipset based media players can hardware decode everything using their co-processor GPU's / VPU's - IF using the right Operating system and bug busted media playback software.

I do not recommend Android Kodi Krypton for demanding mixed SDR and 4K HDR usage, and that doubly applies if you need OTA TV - Kodi PVR deinterlacing support.

The Android capable Zidoo X9S and HiMedia Q5/10 Pro comes close but they run external media player software for 4K HDR video playback.
Strictly speaking they are not pure (4K HDR) Kodi media players.