It seems to be very dependent on the burr set, even beyond burr size

Potentially a rubber foot such as used (or at least used to be used) with electronics gear. One manufacturer and some of their line is {link}

I find the Micra (and several other machines) to be superior in the cup over the DE1 for traditional espresso. I had the Micra side-by-side with my DE1. I did not find the lack of a "preinfusion" step an issue with the Micra on traditional shots with coffees such as George Howell's Alchemy or B&W's ...

A dosing ring or funnel is probably the better option. Mounded grinds tamped as-is likely lead to uneven extraction. Leveling with a WDT needle tool or even some taps is a good practice. A good WDT tool can be bought for US$10 or so, such as the JKim/AppaMakes tool. Checking the headspace with a coi...

Watch the containers on the shelf. Near San Francisco I've found both the "good" and "not so good" sources intermingled on the same shelf. I used CG for a while, then shifted to distilled from Whole Foods at $0.49 / gallon using one-gallon glass jugs with polyseal caps. With 1000 ppm concentrates fo...

Welcome to H-B! Francesco has some descriptions and photographs of units he has seen or restored that may be of some help. {link} Before spending a lot of money on the machine, I would consider some of the experiences and opinions of the machine. If it has a lot of sentimental value to you, then it ...

As really rough guidelines for medium and medium-dark roasts (lighter than visibly oily) of coffees intended for espresso, a bag will often start to change noticeably in a week to ten days after being opened, maybe two weeks at the outside. This class of coffees generally does well between about a w...

Micra would be top of my personal list. I had one on loan from La Marzocco for review and used it with a Timemore Black Mirror scale and my usual Not Neutral Lino espresso cups without issue. The Mini R may have some advantages in its new prebrew system which are worth looking into. If truly advanta...

Then I have no idea what you're complaining about, as you stated, in your words, that there were problems with "losing the settings each time you adjust it"

Maybe that's a problem on an Urbanic. On all four of my grinders in active use, the build quality is good enough and the retention low enough that I can switch between espresso and filter and back again without "losing" the grind setting