Did you just skip page one.. despite the thread's title..

Yes, rooted...

Yes you can.. Just tested using Ipad Air 2 (iOS V11.0) on Minix Neo U1 and the box does act as a receiver and plays tunes, videos & even screen mirroring. How? Each Minix device (last I checked) ships with a genuine license of the AirPin(Pro) app. Means it auto updates to the latest version for better compatibility, features, bug fixes, etc... Using the app, you can enable:
*AirPlay (iOS Video/Photo Streaming)
*AirTunes (iOS Audio Streaming)
*AirPlay Mirroring (@ FHD)... Rotating the device also affects the display too..
*DLNA DMR (DLNA/UPnP Media Streaming
Tested the above and works... easy to use.

The app can be made to auto-launch upon system startup too.

Ships from overseas and no warranty.

You just saw it.. The Minix Neo U9-H is better.. Also Minix has much better build quality and after sales support than HiMedia.. There's an official Minix forum and firmware updates are released fairly frequently for the device. Since it's launch, it's on FW006 now.    There's a bugtracker on firmware releases and feature requests are accepted. Those that can be done, are done and implemented in the next release. if the community doesn't like a new design/effect, it's rolled back or options provided, etc.. As for anything else better? There's also the Nvidia Shield TV box.
Yes, the Neo U9-H is fully licensed and supports all those audio formats and best of all via Kodi Krypton pass-through as well.. Not all TVs are smart or support these audio formats especially DTS:X. Even if the TV is equipped to support them and runs Android TV OS, an external Android OS box is more capable and compatible with the popular Android media apps out there. So there's still a point to getting an external media player. Unless all you do is play pre-downloaded files and satisfied with your TV's playback capabilities..

Himedia Q10 Pro is available on Android 7, so which is better?