Tempotec Variation V6, the best android dap under 300$

Pros:
Android OS, Great Sound Quality
Apps works smoothly
5 dedicated outputs
2* AK4493SE as dac chipset
Premium build quality
Huge power on outputs
Ldac, aptx-HD Hi-res low latency wireless codecs
Free pu leather case+screen protectors
Great pricing
Good Battery back up

Cons:
Display has flickering issue
Notification light does not work properly
Sometimes Colored tones on music
Old OS, atleast 9 is prefarable

Intro:
Tempotec seems to be very experienced while releasing their new products.
Previously their released items like sonata hd pro, sonata hd III / V, sonata e35, sonata MHD have already drawn attention among the music lovers. Their last released dap was the V1A(2019) which was obviously not android os supported but was full of good specs like AKM4377ECB dac that decodes 768khz/32bit, DSD direct stream digital, LDAC for Bluetooth,1200 mah battery at 0nly 100$

Now they have come with their latest Android dap Tempotec V6 Variations.I think .Tempotec team has done a lot of R&D works before launching the V6. Because it seems to be a great DAP with less price. The V6 is available now on kickstarter only at 279$ with a free 64gb memory card, one year warranty & Worldwide free shipping.

Many many thanks to Tempotec for giving me an opportunity to test the Tempotec V6 but of course that will not influence my review.

 

 

Specifications:
Android System: Android 8.1
Screen: 4.2", 720Pixel
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425
ROM: 16 GB
RAM: 2 GB
Wifi: 5.0 and 2.4 GHz
Bluetooth:Version 5.0 (LDAC,AAC,APTX-HD)

DAC: 2x AK4493SEQ
Op Amps: 2x OPA1612 and 4x OPA1688
Audio sources: Micro SD Audio, , USB DAC
Supported formats: DSD512,MQA 16X,DXD,PCM 32bit/768khz
SNR: 124dB
DNR: 124dB
THD+N: -111dB

Battery Capacity: 4500 mAh
Charging Time: 1.5h-2 h
Dimensions: 11.6cm x 6.8cm x 1.7cm

 

 

Features:
V6 Pyramid DAC Circuit
2AK4493SEQ+2OPA1612+4*OPA1688 fully symmetrical pyramid digital-to-analog conversion circuit, let V6 have extraordinarily powerful support of the end output devices.
Output level: 2VRMS/3.5mm, 4VRMS/4.4mm
Output Power: 330mW/32Ω/3.5mm 610mW/32Ω/4.4mm

Fully supports APPs of 3rd parties
As long as connected to WIFI, you can enjoy music by stream media app including but not limited to TIDAL, Spotify, Qobuz ,Deezer and Apple music.
Deeply optimized OS: SRC bypass architecture makes music transferring efficiently at low latency.

Physical Appearance:
I am assuming Tempotec has decided to follow the trend and put a glass panel on the back of the dap. The device is robust and brickish. Although the weight is only 200 gram similarly to a phone but it feels that I am holding something heavy . The weight distribution is not like a phone as the dap size is slightly smaller than mobiles .It does not leave any space in my hand when I hold it but It can be held in one hand and easily operable with single hand . The upper bezel is tiny but the bottom bezel is a bit too large. The volume rolling button worked very effectively . After just rolling the button there is the appearance of the volume atmospheric layer on the display which helps adjust volume directly from the display.The volume is securely placed inside the groove of the body. So accidental volume level displacement will not happen. I still remember once I was travelling, keeping the hidizs ap80 pro in my pocket.Then it’s volume wheel got turned to the highest sound accidentally and I got completely deaf for a few seconds and got headache later on that day.

Under the volume button there is a Indication light which was supposed to work as below.

PCM ≤ 48kHz: Blue.
PCM 64kHz - 192kHz: Green.
PCM > 192kHz: Orange.
DSD: White.
Charging/low battery (< 20 %): Red.

 

 

I am saying it was supposed to work because these functions do not work on my unit.
It only shows red light while charging but does not change color according to the music frequency . It even does not show any responses. Under the indication light there are three buttons for play and pause, next track, previous track. These buttons works perfectly without any issues. On the left side there is a micro sd card slot which supports upto 1TB.
I have liked the provided free pu leather case very much. It feels very premium.It covers up the V6 splendidly. Every buttons and volume wheel was easily accessible over the cover.

On the bottom side of the V6 there are 4 output points
4.4mm Balanced Line Out(LO)
3.5mm Single Ended Line Out(LO)
4.4mm Balanced Phone Output(PO)
3.5mm Single Ended Phone Output(PO)
LO = Line Out for running into an external amplifier with stereo RCA plugs

 

 

I have used both PO and LO using only IEM .
The sound was very low on LO then the PO at the same volume level.

So the DAP can be used as a source using external Amplifiers on Line out port for power hungry IEM and Headphones. I must say it is a very useful thing for many people who have high impedance Audio Gears. The golden ports are made of well quality equipments and soldered farmly.Type C input port for charging can also be used with other amplifiers if required. Thus the sound and vrms can also be increased

Display:
Tempotec V6 has 4.2", 720 Pixel display which is okay as a dap. I have run a app called Cpu-Z which is actually an app that reads and verifies the internal specs then shows the results . That app is showing it has 4.68" display . I guess the app added the bezel size along with the display’s actual size . There is a slightly yellowish hue on the screen like a burn display which I didn’t like much but i cannot complain for a dap because there are some other 1000$+ dap whose displays are like this and moreover music quality is the main issue here. The picture quality is very sharp and the brightness is very high. I set the brightness at 20% only. But I have a big complaint about the display quality because I have found out light is flickering from 2 points from the bottom bezel. E books can easily be read from the dap .

 

 

Battery:
Battery is about 4550mah, I got a good battery back up from the V6. When I turned off the wifi at night and later checked the battery the next morning, battery drainage was only about 3 %. But if I kept the wifi on then the drainage would be about 15-20%. On average Battery performance is 12 – 15 hrs . It would take 1.5-2 hours to fully charge the dap. When I tried to charge the dap with a 10Watt (5V-2A) adapter the dap didn’t take any charge . It takes charge with 5/6W adapter only.

OS:
The operating system is 8.1 which is pretty old but for a dap i think it is okay . The apps work perfectly . I have installed Youtube, Tidal, Spotify, and Qobuz . These apps work smoothly without any issue , without any bugs, I can easily transfer files from my phone to my dap through the Share it app. 3rd Party apps can be installed from sites without any hassle. Although Qobuz is not available in my country, I could install it from a 3rd party source and could run well on my V6. 2.4 ghz and 5ghz both wifi bandwidth works flawlessly. I heard some v6 reviewers were facing issues with their v6 but I didn’t have to face any. But I wish if the android version was at least 9 .that would have been better.

 

 

Sound:
Now here comes the main part of the dap. I would like to describe about the bluetooth connection first. The V6 supports bluetooth 5.0 with latest Codec like LDAC,AAC,APTX-HD which are the latest codecs that supports low latency sound transfer . LDAC enables the transmission of audio content, including High Resolution (Hi-Res) Audio, at the maximum bitrate of 990kbps even over Bluetooth. When I connected the dap with my Anker soundcore boost speaker and played a song I was very amazed . The sound was so clear . When I played songs with other devices connected to my boost the sound be sounded like bloomy , bassy and the vocal was recessed . But this V6 dap as a source performs really amazing . The vocals were forward , the whole song got a new dimension. I was even able to hear the the residue voices while finishing a line and about to start the next line on my speaker which I get to hear with another device as a source.

Now it’s time to talk about the ports output. My Iems were Little dot cu red, Rose technics QT9 M2ks/QT 7 pro 2 , Tralucent 1+X plus 10th year Edition, tri audio meteor, Kinera skuld, Anew x1, Shanling ME80.

I have Actually used the high gain mode all the time when using the v6 with iems.its seems high gain always gave better output with great resolution to me. When using in high gain mode I have to set the volume to 50%-60. But It seems that high gain increases volume within a few decibels , not significantly high like my m15 dongle (near price). The v6 has opa1612 operational apmifier. Previously I have used Haa Fee H9 Amplifier which was so good using the same OPA1612 Op-amp. So the V6 has a very good equipment for amping.

 

 

 

 

Tempotec V6 is a kind of neutral sounding Dap, Sound is natural and clear, The provided sound is not bright or sharp .Rather, it is a kind of warm sound which was very soothing for me. I have downloaded 2 files from the tempotech v6 site page to check out the timber of Chinese Zither. Timber ( which does mean tone quality) was very much accurate .The echoes of the melody was easily audible. I did like the Zeither sound although I did not like this kind of instrument music. But this kind of instrumental music really helps to better understand the source/iem/headphone quality.

The bass is alright on the V6. Previously I liked boomy bass. But as I am growing older I am moving towards mid-centric . This dap can easily provide bass to bass heavy v shaped IEM/Headphones. Bas is enough, not excessive, do not bleed. Drum kick was punchy and was so satisfying for me for this dap

The vacal is okay as well. For me it seems to stay at a fixed distance all the time for most of the song. Clean and do not get mixed with other instruments. It’s neither recessed nor forwarded. But the guitar string’s edge was rounded . I wished it would be a bit more sharp.

I always remain afraid of treble, I cannot bear high treble and sibilance. But it seems the V6 has handled the treble perfectly .

The V6 was also providing me with a holographic realization while listening to music. There was not any hissing or noise while using it and no harsh.The way it was delivering sound from low to high without any compression was really superb. I could easily separate where the instruments were playing.There were remarkable spaces between the instruments with good texture.

The dap can be used for a long time . No heating issue, does not get any issue. Qobuz , Tidal, and Spotify were working great.There is a dedicated mseb to customize the Equalizer. If anyone has any bright sounding iem they can easily make their eq to make them warm sounding . MSEB is very helpful.

 

 

Conclusion:
There is a line that says “Shut up and take my money” when anyone is desperate to see the specs, features, reviews. I would love to use that line for this Tempotec variation V6 Dap. For sound it is definitely worth buying and the sound quality is impressive but I think they must have to work with the display, the notification bar, OS . The OS has some bugs which need to be updated by publishing a Firmware asap. For 279$ the display is okay but when it will become 400$ then the display should be updated. Under 300$ there aren’t any good options available for android as far as i know. So anyone can go for it blindly.