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{
  "reviewBody": "🟡 ＰＲＥＡＭＢＬＥ\nHowdy everyone! Today I will be taking a look at the Globluum SU9, a cute little Android-based DAP that was designed for kids. And honestly, considering this is in fact a full-fledged Android device, your kids will be doing much more things on here other than music (if parental controls aren't in place). Thus, I will mainly be covering this DAP/MP3 Player from an adult's perspective, more specifically from someone who is an audiophile themselves. I own quite a few DAPs and have a collection of IEMs to try this with, so rest assured I will be doing a lot of listening and A/Bing.\n\n[𝙻𝚎𝚝'𝚜 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍]\n\n🟢  ＰＲＯＳ\n➜ ACTUALLY GOOD SOUND!! 🤯\n➜ Solid performance for an 'MP3 player'\n➜ Included 128GB microSD is no joke 😮\n➜ The bootloader can, in fact, be unlocked... 👀\n\n🔴  ＣＯＮＳ\n➜ Some preloaded apps are questionable for kids (ahem—X)\n➜ Navigation buttons can be a bit confusing\n\n\n🔵  ＭＹ ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ\n\n𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗 𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬\nThis device looked like it came straight out of 2016, and then got blasted with a shrink ray. It's basically a miniatured phone from yesteryears. Not that that's bad or anything. Removing the pre-applied clear case and screen protector reveals a matte plastic back, along with a front display made of 2.5D glass. The glass likely offers no scratch resistance or oleophobic coating, but I'm just glad it's glass and not a plastic screen. Overall I couldn't really ask for more, it's meant for kids anyway, and it's far from the cheapest built device.\n\n𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬\nThis device has a low-resolution unlaminated LCD display of 800ｘ480 pixels. So texts will be noticeably pixelated, however it's actually not too bad considering the tiny size of the display. Despite being unlaminated, the air gap between the glass and LCD is quite thin, so it's not the worst I've seen in that regard.\n\n𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡\nOverall design-wise, I like it! I like how tiny it is, and the light pink colorway is really cute. The white glass front reminds me of phones from 10-15 years ago, which is a nice nostalgic feeling.\n\n𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗘\nAs with most cheap Android devices, the Globluum SU9 runs on fairly a minimal build of AOSP. The ROM does include quite a fair bit of pre-installed apps, but they can all be uninstalled (P.S. interesting to note that X came installed). The homescreen icons all have a consistent playful cartoonish design to them, which I think is quite nice. But if you or your kid is ever tired of them, I'd recommend installing other launchers so you're not confined to a single immutable UI. And for the very few folks out there who care or know about custom firmware, guess what? The SU9's bootloader is unlockable..... so there's that.\n\n𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘\nApparently this MP3 player is equipped with the Mediatek Helio A22 chipset. This is a common chipset found in many low-end phones from 2018-2022. It's pretty subpar in today's standards, but it's still far from the worst that I've seen. The Helio A22 is comparable to something like the Snapdragon 430. I'm just lucky that it didn't use some garbage chip from the likes of Unisoc/spreadtrum. It is then further bolstered with 3 Gigs of RAM, which does noticeably make a difference when juggling between multiple apps. Bottom line is, for a budget kids MP3 player to have 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 sort of specs, is actually pretty dang sweet. \n\n𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬\nNow for the part that I and many of you are most excited for: 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥? Actually pretty darn good I'll tell you that! I had lowered my expectations knowing this was a kids device, but just like its hardware performance, the sound output was surprisingly better than I had anticipated. And just to give a bit of a background again, I own several Hi-Fi grade DAPs ranging from the 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗶𝘇𝘀 𝗔𝗣80 to the 𝗛𝗶𝗯𝘆 𝗥3 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗦𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗿 to the 𝗟𝗚 𝗩35, which is actually a phone but contains an ESS Sabre DAC inside. Compared to those, this tiny thing honestly wasn't that far off in its sound quality! In fact, there are some unique virtues that the SU9 possesses that the others do not. \n\n𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐞 #1 — I found that the SU9 overall has an incredibly forgiving sound, making it pair well with brighter sets I own. It sort of reminds me of the sound you get from an iPhone, which I deeply admire. If there's one thing Apple knows what to do right, it's the way they tune their sound output; it's very clear yet forgiving. The SU9 falls along that same trajectory, making it great for long listening sessions.  \n𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐞 #2 — The SU9 is notably competent in the lower mids. Layering and instrument separation, as well as details are all quite phenomenal around that region. When comparing the SU9 to my LG V35 and Hiby R3 Pro Saber, which both contain the same ESS Sabre DAC, those devices notably lack the low-mid richness that the SU9 gives. For example, in one of my testing songs with a string symphony, the SU9 renders the symphony with more 3D depth compared to my V35, which was more 2D.\n\nHowever when it comes to pure technical performance, such as overall perceived resolution and dynamic range, the SU9 obviously loses to the more expensive players. The SU9 struggles in particular with high-frequency reproduction; it cannot render delicate transients as effectively as my other DAPs. The SU9 also has a less wider stereo field, sounds feel more centered. \n\nOne more area that clearly stops the SU9 from being a class above is its output gain. It can't go really loud. You'll likely be cranking the volume to near max to fully enjoy its sound. Thankfully for me though, I just plug this thing into an amp.\n\n𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗘-𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗦\nContinuing with the theme of being surprised, I am once again impressed by quality of the earphones they included. While far from being considered \"Hi-Fi\", these earphones do a great job at the bare minimum of providing good bass, good treble, and good albeit somewhat recessed mids. Standard V-shape signature fare, but for most folks (and kids) that's enough for enjoyable sound. This is far better than typical garbage earphones included with such low-end devices that sound like you're underwater. Though I have to say, I think there's a bit of a phasing issue with mines.\n\n𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖 𝗔𝗣𝗣\nI didn't read the description before requesting this item to review, so I was very happy when I found out the default music app they included was HibyMusic! I am so glad they went with HibyMusic as it's by far one of the best DSP-based music players out there for Android devices. This is the same app I use on my phones, and the software platform that many of my DAPs are based on. This demonstrates that the seller/OEM really do know their stuff.\n\n𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗦𝗗 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗\nThe 160GB storage is split into two parts: 32GB internal storage and 128GB external storage via SD card. The microSD card that was included seemed quite dubious at first. It had no visible branding and letters were coming off. However I did some benchmarks and was yet again surprised to see that it had some really decent speeds, right up there with typical Sandisk cards.\n\n𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗡𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗦\nOne thing I didn't quite like were the nav buttons on the device. They are a bit confusing. The square button usually opens the recents apps panel, and it does, but you'll need to long press it. Otherwise it functions as a home button, which is just confusing. I wish it had an actual home button at the center. \n\n\n🟣  ＣＯＮＣＬＵＳＩＯＮ\nGlobluum really went above and beyond with this MP3 player that was intended for kids. Deliberate thought and effort was put into making this product. General performance turned out to be better than expected. The sound output actually turned out to be very decent, and the included earphones actually didn't suck! \n\nUsually when you hear about a ‘kids’ product, you expect it to be pretty bad for adults, let alone for kids. Well this isn't the case here. To my discerning eye and ears, this is a great MP3 player in and of itself, especially at this price point. Any child who receives such a player will certainly be in for a treat. Is it one of the best sounding DAPs out there? Heck no. But for a kids device, it's more than what anyone could ask for at this price.",
  "reviewTitle": "Globluum SU9 Review: 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙠𝙞𝙙𝙨, 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.",
  "asin": "B0FSD4S9XM",
  "productTitle": "160GB MP3 Player with Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi, Music Player with Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, Libby, Spotify Kids, 4\" Touchscreen Android MP4 Player with HiFi Sound, FM Radio (Pink)",
  "savedAt": "2025-11-28T08:22:58.153Z"
}