I was lucky enough to have a very high end built in espresso machine at a place I once lived in. This machine was in the $5K range. Does this one measure up? Almost! Of course you need to keep the Dinamica in context. $5K espresso machines (at least good ones) are expensive for a reason. So if you are a real coffee connoisseur who can differentiate between bean types, want to tamp and fine tune and want a coffee shop level frother, the Dinamica may fall short.But if you appreciate a very good coffee drink and want to be able to have some control over your coffee, the Dinamica will be one of the best machines you can own.I did a great deal of research on the type of espresso machine I wanted to buy which was in the $1K range. Eventually, it came down to the Philips PicoBarista and the Dinamica. I opted for the De’Longhi because the Philips was almost too automated and I wanted the iced coffee function.Some reviews note the iced coffee does not produce legit cold brew. I don’t think the manufacturer was aiming for true cold brew but rather the ability to produce a better iced coffee drink. As noted, the espresso still waters down the ice so I actually put sweetener in the cup, brew it without ice, stir and then pour the espresso over a glass full of ice and milk for a yummy iced latte. You still get the benefits of this function without watering it down as much.Other reviewers were overwhelmed by the set up and figuring it out.Set up was simple. Compared to programming VCRs in the 80’s or putting IKEA furniture together, this was a breeze.Learning its ins and outs was also not too hard. While I did have some experience with the aforementioned expensive machine, I don’t think the Dinamica was complicated if you focus on learning one function at a time. So figure out how to make an espresso. And then the next day figure something else out.Frothing is lots of fun. The quality of the froth can carry the weight of caramel sauce on top so not bad for the little guy!Once you figure out the functions you will wonder why you thought you’d be overwhelmed.In short, this little machine punches way above its weight. Not only does the Dinamica make close to coffee house level drinks, it allows the creative inner barista to come out. Before you know it, you will be making all sorts of drinks and ordering a variety of syrups to spice things up. Thank goodness I leaned toward using this machine during the recent shelter in place drama instead of baking cookies — probably saved me a few pounds!After our 3rd Jura automatic espresso machine broke in less than 10 years and the customer service was terrible, we decided to try De'Longhi. So far, we are really impressed with the ease of use, quality of espresso and the ability to clean/maintain it without "sending it back to the factory" like Jura.My wife always got iced lattes from Starbucks and the home espresso machines were intended to do the same thing at home. This machine works great and needs very little "fine tuning" to duplicate commercial quality espresso. I drink americano's and this machine has produced better drinks for the both of us compared to the more expensive Jura machines.I would recommend this to family and friends.I absolutely love our De'Longhi Dinamica TrueBrew machine! I've been eyeing this for more than a year and finally made the decision to purchase it. Knowing this is pricier than the average machine, I wanted to make sure this was the right one for us. The things that finally influenced my decision to purchase included:- Hearing about De'longhi's outstanding customer service. I did a ton of research and time and time again, I heard customers and friends share their positive experiences. This is always important to me, but especially when purchasing a more expensive item.- I liked the idea of being able to make a full range of different coffee drinks at home. With this machine, you can make single and double espressos; coffee, iced coffee, cappuccinos, americanos...the list goes on and on.- I read so many reviews of just how good the coffee is. I'll admit that I'm a bit of a coffee snob and there are very few things I look forward to more than my first sip of coffee each day. This machine doesn't disappoint!Now, I do need to say that there is a bit of a learning curve with this machine. It’s a bit of a process to get it setup and ready to use the first time around. There are instructions and as long as you follow the directions you should be fine. Beyond the setup, however, the instruction booklet isn’t very helpful. Your best bet is to google or search for videos on YouTube to learn how to program the coffee machine (if you want to tweak the pre-sets) and to learn how to properly clean the machine. Another tip would be to keep a glass under the spout when the machine is not in use as it goes through a self-cleaning process each time it turns on and shuts off (which is awesome!). While there is a drip tray to collect the water, the glass makes for easier clean up.Now that we’ve gotten our machine configured the way we want, it’s the easiest thing in the world to use and we LOVE it! My only regret is that I waited a year to purchase it!I really liked the espresso this made, but the frother stopped working after less than 3 weeks. Cleaned it, followed all instructions, had descaled it a few days ago even though I use distilled water (descaling is a pain in the butt w this thing). Amazon doesn’t offer replacement parts so a return it is. This expensive of a product shouldn’t break so quickly when all instructions have been followed meticulously.Everything is perfectThis is my 2nd De’Longhi machine. The first one (Magnifica) lasted 12 years. This machine is better in every way. Makes great coffee and is much quieter than the older machine I had. I read the instructions for about 10 minutes and then I was good to go.La première cafetière achetée était défectueuse, ce fut assez laborieux avec le service à la clientèle de De'Longui au départ, finalement j'ai pu rendre la cafetière, et ai racheté la même car elle avait d'excellentes évaluations. La seconde cafetière reçue est tout simplement parfaite. Je suis propriétaire de ce type de cafetières depuis plus de 20 ans et je ne regrette pas du tout mon achat. Rapport qualité prix vraiment satisfaisant, le café est meilleur que celui de la cafetière que je possédais depuis une vingtaine d'année, payée à l'époque le double du prix de celle-ci.Il est très important de bien lire toutes instructions (pas juste le « Quick Start Guide » qui manque d’info) avant d’utiliser la machine. Mais dès que vous l’aurez utilisée quelques fois, elle devient facile à utiliser!La qualité de son café se compare très facilement au café des compagnies spécialisées en café. Le créma est belle, le lait moussé est parfait! Un peu cher à l’achat mais je ne regrette aucunement mon achat pour les jours où je n’ai pas envie de sortir aller chercher mon latté préféré! Dommage cependant qu’à ce prix, elle ne vienne pas avec le pichet pour le lait. J’ai acheté ici le Star Café de 600 ml qui convient parfaitement à la machine!Delonghi Dinamica TrueBrew is a *fully* automatic espresso machine.I say *fully* because it does everything from grinding beans, transferring to an internal (unseen) "portafilter" and then it is automatically tamped. Then with a high pressure "15 bar" pump, it extracts the espresso out of the dual spout and into your cup to drink. On top of all this automation, the used grinds are then automatically dumped into a bucket for your disposal. In addition, when you turn on/off the machine, there is an automatic cleaning cycle for your next session. On the side, there is a milk heater/frother to satisfy those of you who use milk.Since you can go read specs elsewhere, I will report highlights and not so great aspects in my usage. My review comes from approx 20 drinks prepared with this system and this does not include initial ~10 trials to just learn the system and calibrate to my liking. I am a mild snob when it comes to coffee but i dont have any experience with any machine over 3500$. I have experience pulling coffee from cheap camping aeropress, to stove top coffee, to drip machines, to keurig/tassimo/nespresso phenomenon, to fully and semi-automatic espresso machines.This Dinamica machine is meant for people who *LOVE* a great cup of coffee (hence you are willing to spend a grand on the machine!!) but are not interested in anything technical. It is meant to put all of the "art" of espresso pulling aside, and just let the machine do everything behind the scenes to bring about a really decent cappuccino or espresso based drink. I will tell you, if you are a mild coffee snob, you will appreciate this machine and say "yeah not bad!!" and then go back to your semi-auto or fully manual setup. I will say this right up front, while this machine is really excellent for the target customer, when you taste a really good espresso/coffee from someone who is a true barista with the right gear, (that isnt me), theres no question in my mind that Dinamica coffee will not beat that. I will also say, with my own semi-automatic espresso machine, with the same beans, my espresso tastes better :) :)With all the long winded pre-text behind, here is my list of pros/cons.List of stuff I do not like1. Build of materials: for the price tag, just too much plastic. Everything is plastic about the housing. Feels just cheap to me. The areas where it matters, I appreciate that it is stainless steel (frother nozzle, bottom plate...) . I wish DeLonghi would just give us a bit more with materials. I really dislike that the factory sealing/packaging used clingy plastics that permanently made marks on the plastic sides (darker plastics). When i unwrapped it and removed the cling plasticware, the dark plastic bottoms are permanently scarred and nothing i can do will remove it --- i did not want to use abrasive chems though.2. The bottom tray is comprised of three main parts: metal surface, plastic base, and plastic bucket to capture the grinds. I wish the bucket part, were removable WITHOUT needing to remove the entire tray unit. More often than not, I 'd rather empty out JUST the bucket and keep the whole tray in tact. With the design, you have to remove the entire bottom tray to get to the bucket ( in order to remove the coffee grinds)3. This whole unit prides itself on "Truebrew" capability . The act of slowly extracting with lower pressure, to create a smoother pleasant iced coffee beverage. Quite frankly, I cant tell the difference between this "truebrew" mode vs just making espresso and adding ice and water. Actually, I've made coldbrew manually and it tastes much better. To me it feels like a gimmick.4. I'm not impressed with the frother. I dont know what it is but I cant seem to make really good fluffy froth compared to my stand alone frother. If you like warm your milk, then sure it will work OK. I'm not saying its totally useless, it is just not as good as i would like a $1000 unit to work on such a basic function. Another issue with frother: as you can see in the pictures, the spout is kind of on the short side. If you have a standard size milk frothing vessel, it's a bit short --- so you need to put more milk in the vessel than you really want.5. This is a single pump unit. That means you can't froth milk at the same time as pulling espresso. Kind of makes it really slow process to make a cappuccino.6. This machine has a cleaning cycle that spits out water from the dual spouts and into the tray. This cycle happens both when you turn it on and also when you turn it off. ?? too often ?? Its a bit messy. I have to just put a cup underneath so water spills into the cup and not the tray. I wish there were a mode where i can just turn this off and let me manage the cleaning but i totally understand why Delonghi made it this way --- it makes sense for the target customer.7. There is a single-serve partition where you put in pre-ground coffee, is kind of useless. I just tried this once and I have nothing to say other than just don't do it. You bought this machine for $1000+ to make great coffee so don't waste it on such a strange feature. Almost seems like Delonghi added this feature to satisfy that small percentage of customers that just need to have that checkbox checked.List of stuff I really like:1. I really like that its height clears most kitchen standard upper cabinet heights. The only thing you'll need to deal with is when you need to refill the beans, you will need to pull the machine out and open the hatch to easily pour the beans in. I wish Delonghi put rear caster wheels to make the pulling of the machine on countertop easier (some machines do have this).2. I like the really simply side-bar water reservoir setup. It is really simple to refill the water. Just pull the side container out and fill it. Slide it back in. Done. Some machines the reservoir is ON THE BACK!?!?! VERY annoying. There is a water filter in the reservoir itself -- the filter lasts approx 2mo and a refill costs about 15$ on amazon. You need to remember to replace it! This isn't unreasonable as it is comparable to other machines. When you make coffee, use good water...3. One of my most favorite part about this machine is the adjustable spout heights! I can lower or raise the spout heights to accommodate my cup height. This is very useful and I think you will appreciate this much more when you have a machine that has no such adjustment: splash out happens a lot and the closer the spout is into your drinkware, the better. Furthermore I like the adjustment because it gives you ability to pull two espresso's into a shot glass easier. See picture.4. As you can see in the pictures, the machine grinds beans well and tamps fairly solid well too. The adjustable grinder gives enough range to satisfy any bean you throw at it. You really need to play with this adjustment dial for every type of bean you use to find the optimal setting. If you are lazy and don't do this, you really are doing a dis-service to yourself because this machine is capable to make some really decent coffee. I also recommend playing with the "strength" setting too because this obviously changes the taste of the coffee.5. The interface is REALLY dead simple and thats a good thing. Espresso size, americano size and coffee size. Obviously espresso is just the pull, americano/coffee size is just adding more water. You can configure each type/size to a specific "brew strength" setting if you just want something stronger/lighter. After pulling espresso, you are able to mode switch to frother and setup your milk.6. Finally, As i said in my intro, this makes really decent coffee/espresso. Theres not much to complain about for a fully automatic system. To my mind, this replaces any "tassimo/keurig/nespresso" machine because it creates a beverage that is by FAR, superior to any singleserve pod machine and is almost as convenient. If you can get over the cost vs nespresso machines, you will be very happy with this machine.A few neutral remarks.-- Make sure you follow cleaning regiment as it is pretty important factor in extracting good coffee. It even comes with a brush custom to this machine.-- This machine is not ultra loud but not quiet either. Louder than a Nespresso machine , but quieter than a few really loud semi-auto machines.-- The bottom tray and coffee grind bucket is supposedly dishwashable. That's great but i think you should not do it. Handwashing is super easy. I just think things will discolor (plastics) if you keep putting it in dishwasher.-- Frother wand needs to be cleaned after every session of use. It is otherwise harder to clean if you do not.In summary, I'm going to rate this 4 stars. I like its simplicity of use, adjustable spout, easy fill water reservoir, and most importantly, I like that it can make really good coffee with really minimal effort once you set it up properly. I listed several things I do not like and I'm critical about them because this is not an inexpensive unit. The only thing i can forgive is the fact that this is only a single pump unit. If you can afford it, ditch your pod coffee, and buy this. You will not regret it.A month after use, the machine has indicated that it needs to descale. Seemed sudden, but figured I would do it since it was the first time and it came with everything to get it done. I have followed the manual to the word and it never finishes. The issue is the it never switches over from descaling to rinsing. For descaling you are to put in solution to level A, then fill with water to level B. Did that, but it ran out of water so I added more. I kept doing this until I get frustrated and took a break. I came back to it, this time tracking the time and sitting there watching the machine. Filled everything as written in the manual, same thing. Right at 35 min, it ran out of water rather than switching to rinse. I canceled the process and started again, this time I filled the tank until it couldn't take any more water and re-ran the process. Same thing after 45 min of descaling, it ran out of water. It never switches over to rinsing and therefore it can't finish the descaling process.I wanted a coffee maker that could serve espresso, but also just a good cup of joe. I like my Nespresso machine for coffee but I don't like how it costs $1.35 minimum for each coffee.The coffee this machine brews is better than my Nespresso. I can actually differentiate the taste of one medium roast from another, which is something I haven't found too often from machines in the past. The only downside is that it serves about 1/2 mug. I believe that I can program it to serve more though so perhaps that's something I just have to read and understand from the manual.The espresso is as I thought it would be - top notch. Want to know what's even better? The iced coffee! Really, the iced coffee feature wasn't something I was too excited about - but its really what knocks this machine out of the park.... its amazing.Overall, I'll give the machine a 8/10. If I can solve the amount of joe per mug problem, then probably a 9/10. It would get a 10/10 if the grinder was a little quieter.