Mad respect to being vulnerable by sharing your struggles with mental health!

That paint job 😂 my eyes are bleeding

The idea that a company can have a patent on using a potentiometer on electrical device is mind blowing. Pots were invented 180 years ago, the only place to use them is on electrical devices. There is no way breville is the first company to put them on a pump

I absolutely love your content, Lance, and I love that you were so open with your audience about the mental health struggles that you deal with. Ideally, we should all be able to speak so openly, and I believe that we’ll get there. I have also found so much solace in coffee over the last decade, so to hear you be, so forthright just makes your channel that much more special to me. ❤

After shopping for say, ten years or so for an espresso machine, this Rancilio ticks the most of my boxes and one will soon be on its way. Thank you for a thorough and digestible review. While the X is a relatively "new" model for Rancilio, they seem to measure their product cycles by decades, and that works for me. Don't knock the soft infusion too much. Rancilio says the goal is to reduce channeling and your boy Tate seems to agree. Still, this is a machine that will put a quality espresso in your hands quickly and with little fuss. Spend much more money on another machine and you will find yourself deep into E-61 Land, geeking out to try to obtain conditions over a longer time period what the Silvia X already does for you inside of 15 minutes. I'll stick to pour-over for lighter roasts. Can I get one in a nuclear fallout motif?

Another thoughtful review, thank you. Surprised at their build quality being slightly off, I have not seen that before in a Rancillio review (other than the drip tray -consistent complaint). I am still very happy with my Profitec GO, but always interested to see what is new. Bravo on the new sponsor.

Thank you for the insightful review Lance. I appreciate your dedication and time you take on these videos.

Thanks for the video Lance! Just found your channel about a month ago and really enjoy the content. This video really helped me decided on my next purchase. Keep up the good work.

Well done Lance great to have these deep dive videos available as reference. In my experience the main advantage of the soft infusion is a slower ramp up to full pressure. Also in my experience it works best if you do a flush immediately prior to placing the loaded portafilter into the group and pulling a shot. Otherwise it results in uneven wetting and potentially more channeling as a result.

Peggy Bundy would be in love with this machine!

Thanks a lot for this review, you made me to decide in buying this, and today finally arrived and im loving it

Happy to see this pop up! I have a Silvia Pro X and am very happy with it. Bought it from Pantechnicon Design - same standard retail price, but includes their replacement drip tray (SO much better!), a naked portafilter, and custom wood accents.

Everyone is thinking it Lance…but not enough comment it. Thanks for your passion, instruction, consistency and dedication to this channel. I have learned so much in the past year and I love this new hobby. I’ve made thousands of dollars worth of purchasing decisions with your guidance.

I upgraded from a gaggia classic to this. Enjoying it so far. Your review is the 1st one that I’ve seen that actually explains the difference between their “soft infusion” and pre infusion. Thanks for that! I actually enjoy my shots with a shorter soft infusion. Or even having it off completely

This video made me even more happy with my Silvia pro (non x) purchase!

I've had a Rancilio Silvia V2 for 15 years. I've never had to replace anything. 2 cappuccinos a day minimum, Brita water, very average maintenance, but I always kept the group clean. It continues its life with my sister, who is very happy with it. The Silvia starting to have slight leaks in the steam arm, nothing too serious to repair. You can't kill this thing.

Awesome video @LanceHedrick! Always super helpful and informative. Would love to see a video comparing different types of brew groups and impact on the cup. You mentioned this Rancilio is semi-saturated. Curious how it compares to E61s vs fully saturated.

Lance!!! Love you videos! You are the best!!!! Please continue! If possible, please review also an ordinary Silvia with single boiler. Many thanks to you!!!!

Thanks for so much info on the topic! As for me, still leaning toward Elizabeth more than Silvia pro in my long-term upgrade list. Interesting, why haven't you included it into the dual-boilers' list in this price range. However, looks like I'm stuck with my modded delonghi for the next few years as it's a beast for the price and doesn't look like giving up any time soon ;) Cheers!

Thank you for sharing your stuff (health). Good on you.

So awesome to see your take on this machine! Please do a review on the Lelit Elizabeth! It isn't talked about enough.

I've had a Silvia E for the last 5 years and learned a lot from it. This year I've upgraded to Bianca, but Silvia stayed in the family. Rancilios are really good work horses. If you maintain them well they will last you a lifetime.

THE VIDEO I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! Wow on the paint job tho 😂☕️

You’re the best as usual!! Thank you for everything!!!(:

Thanks for the review! I've had one of these for almost 4 weeks now - I went for white though (I just can't imagine having that leopard print on my bench, but each to their own). I was initially worried about the drip tray too having read reviews, but in practice it's never been an issue - I make anything from 4-8 milk coffees a day, I might empty the tray every 2 days on average and don't think I've come close to overfilling and making a mess. I don't purge the steam wand into the drip tray because the wand slightly slightly too long in my opinion, or the tray cover is too high at the lower setting - if you bring the wand down to purge into the tray it'll make contact with the cover. Not sold on preinfusion myself, I actually turned it off a few days ago as an experiment to see what changed - I haven't noticed any difference except maybe my pucks are a bit drier some of the time. I like that it has auto power off/standby (because I'm lazy) and the auto power on might be handy for people who get up early (but it's annoying that it needs to be set up every time) - I thought I might use it but haven't yet, as it's really quick to warm up - not as good as a thermoblock obviously but it's not so long as to be annoying. The steam wand is better than my old Lelit (and far better than my old Breville Barista Pro) - steams in half the time. I too wish it came with a naked portafilter (I need to buy one) and a better tamper than the plastic one. But overall it seems to be built like a tank, it fits nicely on the bench, and almost matches the white Niche Zero I bought to go with it. And perhaps most importantly, it makes good coffee.

Loved the review and I love my Silvia PRO X too. I am now going to try shots with soft infusion off and see how they do. I know that small drip tray gets on lots of lists of 'Do not like' but as you said 'It's not really a big deal.' Personally I have never had any issues with it at all.

Great review and thank you for really touching on the "soft Infusion". I've been struggling to pull great shots and found they were always just slightly off but I couldn't figure out where I was going wrong. Going to try with it OFF for a month! Thanks

Dear beautiful, Lance. I love your videos. Your comments on the soft infusion make sense if we are talking about a six second infusion that doesn’t wet the bottom of the puck. However, my local coffee guru, Kevin, who has a Roastery called General Strike here in Vancouver, Saved my light roast espresso‘s on my flair by showing me to let the entire puck soak ( you can see the bottom get wet and drip, before stopping the process and letting it bloom for anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds or whatever, and then pulling the shot, and then resuming. I do this on my flare, and on my ECM. Produces beautiful results.

Kudos to you and your sponsor on this one. 👏

I have an older (2003) Silvia that I am trying some modding on. Most major parts in it have been rebuilt. It operates similar to the original. But with a better than original modern OPV and boiler. I am currently adding a PID unit on it. The next mod I would like to work on is a second OPV (run series to the main OPV) set at a lower pressure than the 9-bar OPV. Maybe 2-4 bars. This will be connected to and run through an exterior accessible and operable water stop. If I can figure this out, I would be able to pivot between a 2-4 bar pre-infusion, and a 9-bar extraction. A current cheapster hack is to keep a cup under the steam wand. I turn the brew switch on until a small amount of expresso comes out of the basket. Usually this takes about 5-6 seconds. Then I open the steam knob to allow some hot water to come out of the steam wand into the cup. This gives me another 6-8 seconds of lower pressure pre-infusion TIME. Then I close the steam wand off and continue with the extraction. If you wait too long with the steam wand open, you may cool down the water in the boiler. So this is kind of tricky.

Lance ROCKS!!

Big fan Lance. Keep up the good work 👍

lelit elizabeth is also dual boiler and costs a bit less for the same functionality

🎉 lance, big up promoting therapy!!!

No one expects the unexpected Monty Python reference! Its chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear! Its 2 weapons are fear and surprise...and a ruthless dedication to Brit comedy... our three......

Thanks for the video! Will you do the ascaso steel duo review soon?

Good explanation about the soft infusion, I guess it's similar to the Lelit Elizabeth "bloom" with the steam boiler off? Guess I'll turn on both boilers for light roasted coffees from now on :P

Hora do café da tarde com video do Lance let's gooo

Hey Lance, Does your Rancilio Tamper fit well? Mine is a tiny bit to small… greetings from Germany and keep going on with your good work 👍🏻

Every review seems to bring up the drip tray? In the year I have had mine, I have never had any problems with the drip tray or the machine for that matter. I make my coffee, flush the group, empty the tray and life goes on. Even making multiple drinks the tray is not been a problem. If you let the tray fill for many days, you may reach the situation brought out in the review. I feel the reviewers are looking for design flaws that in everyday life are a nonissue. I like products that work consistently and are reliable…….this Machine fits that criteria. A very satisfied owner.

Interestingly, there are plenty of reviewers on KZfaq that have praised the soft infusion feature. It's hard to know who to believe haha.

Very interesting video. It kills me that Rancilio couldn't do anything better than what I can achieve with a meCoffee PID and controller in my SBDU Silva. It's a jank DIY solution (and it's by now unsupported) but it's got a dimmer mod, customizable actual preinfusion, variable boiler power during the extraction to adjust temp mid-shot... and it's all invisible (sits inside the machine and controlled via Bluetooth). It's hard to believe a thousand euros doesn't give you that. Also some buttons being plain switches and some others toggles, but you can't tell which, is plain bad design.

:DDD that intro got me :DDD He's got it all :D

I’m curious to know what you think about this machine vs the Profitec 300

I have the Profitec Pro 600 and it's a dream! Had it since March paired with a Niche Zero and it's ruined buying coffee from coffee shops, as we have only one specialist coffee shop in the city we live that can match what I can now make at home.

I was considering a profitec go, but realized that I LOVE cappuccinos. This machine is twice the price but I strongly believe in buy once cry once. I'm buying this as my endgame machine as I don't think that I'll be needing anything else. I considered the Lelit Elizabeth, but I won't lie, sticking with Rancilio based on the stength of the brand.

For a dual boiler in this range would you go with Profitec Pro 300 or Lelit Elizabeth instead?

Hi Lance, thanks a lot for your review. Very informative, indeed! Could you maybe test/demonstrate in a future video whether variable soft infusion using basically mere gravity causes uneven water saturation of the coffee pack according to your claims? Thanks again!

Here is where your old mod kicks in where you connect a light dimmer to the pump and now you have pre infusion :) They should listen to you then they would have had a better machine :) I am happy I never bought the Rancilio. I love my Dual boiler Breville :)

Hey Lance Hendrick, thank you for all the energy you put on your videos all the time! I want a buy a new expresso machine but I'm a bit confused and can't decide with all the machines existing on the market. Would you have a recommendation for a machine below 3000€ ? I currently have a simonelli nuova which served well, but I feel like it reached its limits. Thanks!

I never thought I would not buy a coffee machine because of it's driptray - but here we are.

I decided that I needed a new Dual Boiler Machine....My first response was "I wonder what Lance recommends"....That says it all.

Lance what is you view on Thermoblocks? is a machine with 3 thermoblocks "usable"? or even better than a boiler? if the question is stupid pls ignore. I couldn't find an ultimate answer on the net.

Shout-out being honest about your mental health 🔥💯

Can these things be modded with a rheostat like the BBE to bring it up to feature parity? The fact that Breville patented something as basic as a potentiometer in series with a pump makes me not want to buy a BDB out of spite.

ECM Synchronika E61 machine and likely some other E61s can do the same thing with a soft-pre infusion or whatever (with the brew lever half way up, while not plumbed in). I heard it wasn't good either so never really experimented with it, but have you tested and compared using that feature? It's likely that it could saturate the whole puck (maybe needs longer than 6 seconds though!) and even if not, it might still help... is a briefly half saturated puck that bad? It likely would help achieve an more even extraction (less channeling and even flow) once the pump pressure builds up. *ah Ok I see you did test that a bit later in the video, you found it usually wouldn't improve the extractions it seems. I always kept my Steam boiler off on the Synch until I was ready to steam milk with it, probably saves a lot of energy and lessens wear.

Hey Lance, off topic, but I noticed the Vectis in the background. I have one and I’d be very curious what its peak pressure is. Purportedly it has a 8-bar spring, but I suspect (based on how easy it is to pull the lever vs my 9-bar Londinium Compressa) that it’s less than that. Anyway, if that’s something you can test, it would be interesting to know. Thanks for the videos, really enjoy them.

Hey Lance, what do you think about Lelit Elizabeth? (vs Breville and Rancilio)

Seriously considering this machine. Didn't realize soft infusion is not the same as pre-infusion. It's a bit concerning it takes so long to reach brew set temperature. Thanks for the review!

The machine was set to 94 and it stabilized at 94... It wasn't going over, Lance.

How would you compare this to a Lelit Mara X if you could get both at the same price

Ngl that add segue was something else.

Hi, there's the Lelit Elizabeth which is kind of the same as feature set, but has a real pre-infusion implemented.

Thanks Lance. A thought - have you considered trying to stop drinking coffee for a while only sticking strictly to the morning to see if that helps the sleep and maybe helps the other stuff too

This machine was on my short list last time I upgraded, but ended up not making it. Really cool to see your in depth take on it. Always enjoy your insight!

i have an older single boiler silvia (which i hate btw) and that drip tray, i agree with lance, should be banned by rule of the geneva convention. the x does look a little bit better functionally, but as a single boiler, just really truly tedious to use.

i just got mine in couple days go, was missing one of the drip height adjusting nuts havent had chance to try it yet. tho i do wish they had the leopard version seattle gear didnt have that option on the bundle.

Lance , is that a subtle Hint at the end about Gaggia and a dual boiler incoming ? Would be great.

ProX owner for a year plus now. Rancilio recommends and I find it true that you need to flush the grouphead before pulling a shot with soft-infusion. Side-by-side with no soft with flush confirms that 1. time to puck penetration is reduced by about 2-3 seconds, 2. extraction moves from donut outside-in pattern to flat all-at-once pattern, and 3.watching the pressure gauge, pre-infusion changes the pressure profile to a slower ramp-up to 9bar, which I find useful. If you try to soft-infuse with a hot but dry grouphead, sure are gonna get a dry bottom of the puck once the pump kicks on. It looks like that's what happened in this side-by-side. Results of soft-infusion vary also if you're plumbed-in vs using the tank.

thanks for sharing about your challenges. i wonder if the bellona isnt better than the silvia pro x

How would you compare it to the ascaso steel duo PID ?

the NA version has a different steam tip than the EU version I think, a 4 hole which makes for much faster steaming

Thanks for the review. Not sure it answers the question “Best home double boiler machine?”

The Leopard espresso maker for those warm fuzzy cappuccinos?

Hi Lance, The audio this time is a bit off. Nonetheless, this is still a good content!

I've got the povo spec V6 Silvia and love it but the drip tray does suck and not knowing the water tank level is a pain but aside from that its a great machine

i dont use the steam/milk wand at all coz i only drink iced coffe, should i get this? or the breville dual boiler

"Thermal Block Thermojet technology" lance mentions at time 22:58 are they as thermal stable as a Boiler and Boiler with PID Lance

Interesting to see the sanremo you in the background. Review coming anytime soon?

Hey Lance. Don't suppose you can share your thoughts on the Rancilio Stile Espresso Coffee Grinder? Keen to hear your thought!

I played with soft infusion on my Flair and found what happened is exactly what is described in this video. This was reflected in the taste of the extraction and is undesirable IMHO. Also, with pre-infusion I find there are so many variables coming into play that I like using a bottomless portafilter with it lit and observable with a mirror and timing each shot's pre-infusion by inspection - the time varies quite a bit. So my preference would be holding the start extraction button down starts a pre-infusion, releasing it stops the pre-infusion and moves on to extraction, and then a further touch of the button stops the extraction, or it is terminated by a timer. Having any sort of infusion running on a timer is useless to me. And the comment about the Flair is misleading for the Flair 58 where the water only contacts the coffee when the lever is raised.

Researching for upgrade options from my Breville Barista Express led me here. Am I on the right track?

Love that machine. Pantechnicon Design has some nice upgrades, including a replacement drip tray that is way easier to handle. It is also possible to install a dimmer mod instead of the double switch, which gives you more control over the pump. @Lance - do you have any recommendations on how to brew better light roasts with the Pro X? Would you recommend to do turbo shots without the soft-infusion instead? Thanks!

I believe brew boilers of some of the earlier Rancilio Silvia models were made of alloy including lead that sparkled health concerns around the community. Do these new models include boilers made of steel?

Lance, is this worth to upgrade from Breville express ?

La Spaziale has machines in this price range

La Spaziale has the Lucca A53/Vivaldi II (not the mini)....been around for a bit...why no love? Features now include rotary pump(plumbed), Bluetooth connectivity, volumetric programmability, pre-infusion(plumbed)... I want to pull the trigger on it... Lance!! help a brother out...please!?

At this point I am torn between this machine and Profitec Go as choices for my setup :) Differently priced yes but the money is not a problem just trying to see if the extra for the Silvia is justified. Kudos to the hard work Lance as alaways!

Is it much better than previous rancilio silvia pro?

I'm kind of curious on your thoughts on the Ascaso Steel Duo; a lot of the features you mention are in that. The duo has a programmable volumetric shot function as well, which seems to be finnicky but dependent on your puck prep/consistency of puck prep but it'd be interesting to see what you have to say about it.

Whole Latte Love made a video where they measured the temp stability of the Pro X using a scace device, and their test results were different from yours. The desired temp was reached within the first 10-11 seconds of the extraction and subsequently stayed within a couple tenths of a degree for the remainder of the 25-30 second shot.

How does this compare to a Profitec pro 300?

The cheetah girls wrap was funny for the video but wish you would have reviewed a stock one to highlight the quality of the powder coated finish. Essentially scratch resistant, matte finish and will last for many years. Big advantage over the scratch magnet stainless steel and plastic housing combo on the BDB. (Owned both)

I bought this machine 2 years ago no complaints except that sometimes when I have friends and guests over I can't pull 4-6 back to back shots. However if I were to upgrade what do you recommend upgrading to a Linea Micra or a Linea Mini ? I want something that heats up fast and pulls 4-6 great shots consistently. E61 sounds good but I have kids who run around the kitchen so it doesn't work for me. Love your content!

"cafeteria tray for a prison system or something" :DDDDDDDD

I don’t know if you can compare the Silvia Pro X vs Breville Dual Boiler. It’s totally different quality. I use both of them but I think the Silvia is more consistent and provides a better taste espresso, and have a much more powerful steam pressure.

Whoooh..arh na don’t think it would go in my kitchen unless maybe I lived in the savanna.

thx for the rep love the video!

Only thing that sucks on this machine is the water reservoir. I hate that a dinky piece of plastic just sits on top of an essentially exposed tank, and some tubes suck the water out.

Shout out Papa Lance!