In recent years, although Colorful hasn’t updated its audio products very frequently—and its lineup has mainly revolved around dongle DACs and earphones—every time something new comes out, it instantly grabs a lot of attention. Ultimately, beyond its excellent sound performance, this comes down to Colorful’s outstanding industrial design capability, which never fails to impress. In particular, the portable CD player unveiled at a recent exhibition had already gained quite a few spontaneous fans from a static display alone. And the recently released 1DD+6BA in-ear earphone, the Lunar Roam, likewise has the potential to become a hit.
For earphones, looks matter a lot, but looks alone definitely won’t cut it—especially for something like the Lunar Roam, which is priced above 2,000 RMB. Audiophiles live by the principle of “trust your ears.” When I listened to it at a recent exhibition, my first impression was good: easy to drive, with a balanced, high-performance sonic foundation and well-controlled thickness. After getting the final production version and listening carefully for a while, I found that this little IEM is not only easy to drive—its 1DD+6BA driver setup supports a healthy and refined sound framework, with commendable technical performance. Most interestingly, Colorful has used the sonic architecture of a 2,599 RMB earphone to achieve a tuning style and sound presentation that feels very much like a flagship.
The Lunar Roam’s packaging isn’t “luxurious” and isn’t particularly large, but the internal design has some clever touches, with space-themed elements appearing throughout. The “little blocks” used to hold the two earpieces are also quite ingenious. The accessories are simple and practical: two types of eartips, a zippered carrying case, and a cable with interchangeable 3.5mm and 4.4mm plugs as standard. The Lunar Roam’s exterior design is quite interesting: a translucent dark shell is topped with a metal faceplate, and in the centre of the faceplate, a three-dimensional “moon” image is embedded in the form of a porthole. It has a texture almost like a glass sphere, with a curved surface. As the angle of light changes, the “moon” motif and the lettering above it also appear to have a three-dimensional quality.
The Lunar Roam itself is not difficult to drive—its floor is very high, and even with an entry-level dongle DAC it won’t produce unpleasant sound; its performance is highly tolerant of the source. But its sonic potential should not be underestimated. Give it a source in the ten-thousand-yuan class or above, and you’ll find that its performance can be elevated by another full tier. The more output power and control it receives, the closer the Lunar Roam’s tuning expression comes to that of a ten-thousand-yuan flagship IEM. That way of distributing energy and that aesthetic expression are genuinely fascinating.
The Lunar Roam’s driver architecture is 1 dynamic + 6 balanced armature drivers, 7 drivers per side, which is by no means stingy at the 2,000-yuan price point. Its excellent sound performance, I believe, comes more from how these drivers are combined and tuned. Even straight out of the box, you can hear an obvious natural, relaxed, and smooth character. The single dynamic driver somehow manages to overshadow the seven balanced armature drivers in terms of “flavour”—it truly has the vibe of “one king and seven queens.” The Lunar Roam has abundant sonic energy, evenly distributed across all frequency bands, so you never feel that any particular area is obviously skewed. And its outstanding thickness across the entire frequency range is one of its major traits, giving the overall presentation a balanced and powerful feel. Why did I say earlier that it has good taste? Besides distributing energy evenly and without bias, more importantly, its timbre is warm and pleasant. No matter what type of music you listen to, it carries a natural sense of comfort—though the trade-off is that music which inherently needs sharpness and bite also sounds less angular… When the Lunar Roam is given sufficient output power and control, its definition of note outlines and resolution improve significantly. It does not lack “technical quality”; what it lacks is simply a source capable of commanding that quality. In its “complete form,” the Lunar Roam is an in-ear earphone that combines sound quality and musicality, with a warm and beautiful timbre. If you like the flagship style of sound but are on a limited budget, then the Lunar Roam at just over two thousand yuan can serve as your “main IEM”—provided your source is capable enough.
Source：巡洋艦3rd
