Ditting 804 Lab Sweet vs La Marzocco Swan
Same class, different tax brackets.
About CA$1,800 apart — the split below is what the gap buys.
Ditting
CA$3,800–4,300 · US$2,895–3,200
This is a workhorse cast-steel burr grinder that trades ultimate clarity for body and sweetness, and owners who came from EK43-style grinders consistently say it is the better all-rounder fo…
Full record & live prices →
La Marzocco
CA$5,500–6,200 · US$4,200–4,400
This is a café workhorse aimed at high-volume bars, not a home single-doser, and it prices and sizes accordingly. Accept the commercial footprint and price tag and you get one of the cleanes…
Full record & live prices →The split
Where they actually differ
804 Lab Sweet
Swan
Brew range
804 Lab Sweet leads, decisively
Value per dollar
804 Lab Sweet leads, decisively
The price
804 Lab Sweet costs less, decisively
CA$3,800–4,300· CA$5,500–6,200
Espresso duty
Swan leads, clearly
Reliability record
804 Lab Sweet leads, clearly
weakerstronger
Their burrs share a character — this choice will not change the shape of your cup.
The counter’s vote
Looks barely figure in either machine’s record — the counter can sit this one out.
804 Lab Sweet: Utilitarian workhorse aesthetic; no "kitchen approval" cachet compared to EK43's iconic vertical silhouette—revealing preference for Ditting among practitioners, not aesthetes.
Swan: Minimalist, boxy cafe aesthetic — professional kitchen approval, not home-counter magnetism; design silence (neither praised nor critiqued) in enthusiast forums.
Only the 804 Lab Sweet: a single-dose workflow.
Only the 804 Lab Sweet: a documented burr-swap scene.
Where they tie: built to last · quiet operation — don’t let a spec sheet invent a difference.
On the counter
The size difference, to scale
So — which one?
Take the 804 Lab Sweet if —
- You brew more ways than one
- Every dollar has to earn its place
- The difference stays in your pocket — or goes into beans
- It has to just work, every day
Take the Swan if —
- Espresso is the job, full stop
Both columns reading true? Take the 804 Lab Sweet and put the difference into fresh, roast-dated beans — they move the cup more than this choice will.
Known weak points
Swan
Proprietary burr design and sealed electronics limit documented failure mode visibility in home community; no wide-reported defects on record but also no long-term owner base to learn from.
For the row-by-row readers
The whole sheet, side by side
Matching rows fade back — the ink is where they differ.
804 Lab Sweet
Swan
Class
Single dose
Premium
Burrs
80mm flat
83mm conical
Drive
Electric
Electric
Adjustment
Stepless
Stepless
Clarity lean
Syrup & body
Syrup & body
Espresso suitability
4/5
5/5
Brew versatility
4.5/5
1/5
Single dosing
Yes
No
Hopper
500 g
1700 g
Burr-swap scene
Documented
—
Maintenance
2.5/5
2/5
Noise
3/5
2.5/5
Build longevity
4.5/5
5/5
Dimensions
20 × 26 × 48 cm
23 × 47.8 × 54.1 cm
Retention
—
~0.2 g
Wrong match-up? Change one side → — any two on file compare.
Still torn?
This page weighs them against each other. The finder weighs them against your mornings.
Two minutes of questions — milk, noise, budget, space — scored across everything on file. It’s honest when the answer is neither of these.
Take the two-minute finder →