Disclosure: The TempoTec Variations V1 was purchased by me, thanks to readers like you supporting this site. HiFi Oasis only uses affiliate links to generate revenue, no ads or sponsored content.

The TempoTec Variations V1 is a very small and portable digital audio player (DAP) that has the size and profile closer to that of a portable Bluetooth DAC/Amp than a DAP. It’s an entry-level player priced at $89 USD and offers a very compelling package. It uses HiBy OS, which has a ton of features, 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm balanced outputs, a USB-C connection that allows it to be used as an external DAC for both computers and smartphones, as well as Bluetooth DAC functionality.

This small device packs features and output power that are usually found in more expensive options. So is the Variations V1 a mid-range DAP disguised as a budget one, or is it too good to be true? Let’s get into the review and find out.

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• TempoTec Variations V1
• Screen protector (pre-applied), plus one extra
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• USB-C to USB-C cable
• Manual and volume lock instructions

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The TempoTec Variations V1 is made mostly of plastic, with the exception of an aluminum backplate on the back. It feels solid and doesn’t creak or bend despite being made of plastic, but otherwise it does look and feel like its price.

It has a very portable profile, thanks to the long rectangular brick form factor, and at 196 grams, it’s also very lightweight. The entire front of the device is glass, with a light indicator in the very bottom left, the V1 branding in the bottom right, and a 2-inch LCD screen at the top. A plastic screen protector is pre-applied, which is a nice touch.

On the right side are the power/screen off and on, previous track, play/pause, and next track buttons. The left side has the volume up and down buttons, as well as the microSD card slot. The bottom is where the USB-C connection is located, and at the top, we find the 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm balanced connections. Overall, the button and connection placements are well thought out and distributed conveniently. The buttons themselves feel slightly squishy yet still responsive.

The back of the V1 is rather interesting. It is covered mostly by an aluminum cover that has a smooth texture but a piano-like pattern. The TempoTec name and logo also appear here. There is a screw that you can remove, but the backplate appears to be glued on. I was hoping this would have meant the battery is replaceable, or at least accessible, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Here are a couple of pictures to compare against the HiBy R1, which is priced slightly less than the Variations V1.

If you’re familiar with HiBy OS devices, then there is not too much difference in the implementation of it here on the Variations V1. It has been lightly customized to fit the screen size, as well as for the specific features of the V1, but otherwise, you are getting the HiBy OS experience.

I won’t go through everything, so there will be loads of screenshots below, but there are some notable features that TempoTec is touting for this device.

First off, you can stream Tidal and Qobuz, as well as receive audio through AirPlay or DLNA.

Next up, the V1 can be used as a dongle DAC for a smartphone by selecting “Phone DAC”. This means that the Variations V1 is relying on its internal battery to power itself, and not the device it is connected to. If you select “PC DAC”, then it will be powered and charged by the PC (unsure if it bypasses the internal battery, it seems it does not). Finally, you can use it as a portable Bluetooth DAC, where you can pair it with a DAP, smartphone, or computer, and then use wired headphones or IEMs with the V1.

The TempoTec Variations V1 has Bluetooth 5.1 with support for the SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC, and UAT codecs. All of the codecs work well, with the exception of the LDAC (audio quality) option, which forces the 990kbps mode. This mode was unusable for me and resulted in stuttering and dropouts. LDAC Standard, which is the 660kbps mode, was stable and very usable. I had the exact same experience with the HiBy R3Pro II, as well as the HiBy R1 that I am currently testing, so this result is expected, in my opinion.

WiFi performance is acceptable. It only supports the 2.4GHz band, but you don’t need much bandwidth for streaming Tidal and Qobuz, or downloading OTA updates, so I don’t see any problem here. As long as it works (which it does), then it’s fine.

TempoTec has not stated any battery life estimates, but in my testing with Low gain and the volume set at step 25, I was able to get 12.5 hours with the 3.5mm SE output and 10 hours with the 4.4mm Balanced output. Given the small size of the device and the relatively small battery size of 1400mAh, the battery life is good but not exceptional. The HiBy R1, for example, is able to survive a bit longer despite a smaller battery. I think some optimization could be done here to further extend battery performance, but overall, it is quite decent.

Since the Variations V1 uses HiBy OS, the file structure and playlist files operate the same as on other devices using this OS. Like I mentioned in my HiBy R3Pro II review, I use MusicBee to manage my music library, and typically use it to sync music and playlists to microSD cards.

Regardless of what method you use to sync music to the TempoTec Variations V1, you need to create a Music folder on the root of the microSD card and place your music files there. Then you can put the microSD card back into the player, go to the Music section, select “Music Settings”, and then select “Update database”.

For playlists, create a folder on the root of the microSD card called “playlist_data”. The Variations V1 can recognize M3U playlist files, but the file paths of the music files need to be relative, not absolute. So it would look like this:

..\Music\Led Zeppelin\IV (HD Remastered Deluxe Edition)\04. Stairway to Heaven.flac

HiBy OS devices also support this format:

a:\Music\Led Zeppelin\IV (HD Remastered Deluxe Edition)\04. Stairway to Heaven.flac

If you’ve already updated the music database with the M3U files present, the playlists should show up already. Access the playlists by going to the Music section and selecting “List”, then Playlists. If they do not appear, select “Load playlist” from the same screen, and it will search for them.

If you receive the TempoTec Variations V1 and the firmware has not been updated to V1.1 (to check the current version, go to Settings, System, About), then I urge you to update it as the very first thing you do. The reason for this is that the device was utterly unusable for the week or so that I had it before an update was released.

The V1 would reboot randomly and would also freeze and reboot when a track was selected to play. If I did manage to play anything, it would freeze and reboot once the next track tried to play. This is an abominable experience, and if you bought the V1 as your first and only DAP, it would make for a terrible experience. There was also significant battery drain, so in my opinion, TempoTec should have paused the release until the software issues were worked out.

I think the biggest issue I had, though, was that I reached out to their support regarding the issue and never heard back at all. Thankfully, user “Joe0Bloggs” on Reddit (he’s also active on the head-fi forums) confirmed an update was coming, but really, that was it. I have heard numerous stories regarding very poor and unresponsive support from TempoTec, and this just confirms things for me.

Anyways, once the V1 was updated to firmware V1.1, the experience was much more pleasant and the device became very usable. The buttons are nice and responsive, as is the touch screen. It feels reasonably fast and fluid to use the UI, too. My biggest issue, though, has become the touch screen, which is simply too small to be enjoyable to use, at least for my average-sized fingers. Numerous times, I was accidentally pressing the wrong button, which would result in the wrong artist or track being selected. The back button is probably the worst offender here, being too small an area to press. There is a back gesture that does work, but not in all screen views.

The screen itself does get very bright, and due to the small size and decent resolution, album art looks good, and the buttons are clearly visible. If you have bad eyesight, though, this may not be the device for you, as the text can be quite hard to read sometimes. All of the gestures that the HoiBy OS DAPs have remain here too. I mentioned before the back gesture that is done by sliding your finger to the right from the left side. You can also get to the Now Playing screen by sliding your finger left from the right side, and sliding from the top pulls down the quick panel menu.

UI issues and experience aside, music playback works well and does exactly what you would want. You still have the same limitations of HiBy OS, where it will use the Artist tag from your file’s metadata, with no support for the Album Artist tag. You also need to downsize your album art to a resolution of 350 x 350 or less to retain UI fluidity.  In some cases, album art would not appear at all, and in other cases, it would remain from the previous track and not change.

You can enable and use HiBy Link to bypass using the UII altogether, but then you need WiFi or Bluetooth enabled for it, and that’s also not how I want to listen to my music.

The TempoTec Variations V1 has a lot of output power for a DAP of this price and size. The 3.5mm SE output can do up to 123mW, and the 4.4mm Balanced output can do up to 215mW. For headphones, I had no issues with using my Meze 105 AER and Sennheiser HD620S. I didn’t even need to use high gain for those. The Sennheiser 660S2 and Audeze LCD-2 did not fare as well. They lacked a fullness in their sound that I was used to hearing, even with high gain, and sounded on the leaner side. Using the 4.4mm balanced connection with the 660S2 did not help very much.

For IEMs, I had no issues here. There is no hiss or background noise that I could detect, and it drove pretty much everything just fine. I did notice that with the 64 Audio Solo, it was sounding a bit on the thin side, but all the other IEMs I tried sounded just fine.

The TempoTec Variations V1 uses dual Cirrus Logic CS43131 DACs, so if you are used to what they sound like, there is really no difference here. The overall sound signature is neutral-leaning, has a clean output, and a generally smoother sound in the upper registers. It didn’t color any of my IEMs or headphones at all, and for the most part, what I heard is what I am used to hearing. The only times I didn’t like what I heard were what I mentioned above with the 660S2, LCD-2, and 64 Audio Solo. That being said, I also wouldn’t necessarily expect to be using that gear with an $89 DAP.

Overall, for a DAP under $100, I think it sounds very good, with no obvious issues that I could hear, and if you are reasonable with the IEM and headphones you are using with it, you will be very happy with the sound quality.

The TempoTec Variations V1 is a very interesting DAP. For the price, it gives you a ton of features and output power that is usually seen on more expensive DAPs. It also uses a well-known OS with HiBy OS, so there are decent features and audio file type support. It’s also very small and portable, with a clip case available for it, so it could be ideal for those who are active or on the go.

Sound quality is also great, and while it won’t drive mid to high-end headphones and IEMs, it will drive the vast majority of them just fine and give you great audio quality.

So why don’t I sound very impressed? Maybe it’s the extremely poor initial experience before the firmware update (I still get random reboots, though), maybe it’s the non-responsive support, or maybe the V1 is really making me see how uncompetitive this price segment is. In the $50-$100 price range, you don’t really have many solid DAP options. It’s really good that the V1 exists and offers what it does, despite all my concerns I listed, but at the same time, its main competition is the HiBy R1, which uses essentially the same OS and is also a touch-screen device.

Overall, I think the Variations V1 is a good DAP for the price, and if its features and specs match what you’re looking for in a DAP, you should definitely consider it.

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I’m not always able to cover all the details of a product, both hardware and software, in our reviews. If you have any specific questions about this product, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.

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