My opinion from a similar discussion on coffeed.com for 2006 in To Spout or not to Spout:

cannonfodder wrote:I shuffle back and forth between bottomless and spouted. I tend to prefer the crema that a single spout produces. With my bottomless, I get more crema volume but at the expense of texture. With the spout, I get slightly less volume but a finer, silkier texture in the crema that I prefer. With a new blend I go bottomless just to see what is going on, then back to the spout most of the time. It is difficult to explain especially since it is so subjective. Personal taste is just that, personal. The best option is the one you like the best.

Barry also brought up a good point. When comparing a spouted and bottomless shot, make sure you pull the shot by mass, not volume. The fluffed crema from the bottomless will exaggerate the volume. So unless you weigh your shots, you will not be making an equal comparison.

IMO nekkid PF's help assure a totally clean path of the shot to the cup. Pull all our Kafe shots nekkid. Obviously immediate feedback if someone does a bad build! So virtually zero chance of serving a channelled shot. Almost surprising cleaning the Linea end of day how little evidence of channel sprays.

Texture wise difference in the cup maybe. Definitely sometimes miss the cool look of a mouse tail!

RegulatorJohnson wrote:wow nobody wants to join in?

Sorry, been busy with other projects.

Finally gave this a try today. My initial impression is positive. You still get the visual feedback of the bottomless pour, but the texture is more like a spouted pour. Nice work!

Beautiful nekkid shot, BTW.

RegulatorJohnson wrote:It seems to be mixed up after it leaves the spoon. its not as stripey.

I haven't tried your solution. I used to have issues with larger bubbles in the crema that dissipated quickly when I first switched to a bottomless portafilter, particularly with Malabar Gold. Then I realized that I was used to holding the cup up to the spout and had been doing the same with the bottomless PF. Simply setting the cup down on the drip tray and letting the stream fall a few inches gave enough mixing in the cup to avoid the problem. I may try the spoon, but not on a morning when I have to leave at 6:20 to catch a bus, which is most of them during the week.

Best,
David