Updated · Super-automatic
Grinding and brewing handled for you, milk by hand, 9.4 in wide.
Computed from published specifications — not a taste test. We do not brew or physically test machines.
Prices are the manufacturer's published list price plus any snapshots we have tracked; confirm on the retailer's page before buying. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — this never affects rankings, which are computed from specifications.
The short version: the De'Longhi Magnifica S Smart suits you if you want a finished drink at one button and are happy for the machine to make every decision, and if counter width is tight — it needs 9.4 inches.
It is the wrong machine if you want to change the dose, the grind or how the shot extracts, or if you want latte art — an assisted frother makes foam, not microfoam. None of that is a defect — it is what De'Longhi chose to build, and choosing against it is how you avoid an expensive mismatch.
Underneath the specifications sits a simpler question: how many minutes do you want to spend? A minute or so, most of which is the machine working while you do something else. Answer that for the mornings you actually have rather than the ones you imagine, because that is the gap most unused machines fall into.
The headline on every bean-to-cup machine is one-touch convenience, and it is true as far as it goes: the De'Longhi Magnifica S Smart grinds, doses, tamps, brews and ejects the puck without you seeing any of it.
What "one touch" does not mean is that the machine is doing what a barista does. Dose, grind fineness and extraction are decided internally and are not independently adjustable, so the ceiling is set by De'Longhi rather than by your technique. That is the whole trade: you cannot make it worse, and you cannot make it better.
The specification that will matter most in three years is not on the box at all: the brew group lifts out for rinsing under the tap. Sealed brew groups turn routine cleaning into a service appointment, and this one does not.
De'Longhi does not publish the heating system for this model, which is the specification that most determines temperature stability.
De'Longhi does not state whether temperature is PID-controlled.
Grind is adjusted across 13 settings. Dialling in means making small corrections inside a narrow band, so the number of usable steps matters more than the headline count — with 13 you have room to move without landing between two settings, one too fast and one too slow.
This is an assisted frother: a sleeve over the wand draws air in continuously, so it produces stiff foam from almost any technique. That suits a traditional cappuccino and rules out flat whites and latte art, because the sleeve controls the part of the process you would otherwise be learning.
The ceiling matters more than the floor. Milk held past about 160°F loses its sweetness and its structure permanently, so the skill is knowing when to stop rather than how long to go.
It measures 9.4 in wide, 17 in deep, 13.4 in tall, which is narrow enough for most apartment counters.
We do not rate noise, because nobody publishes a figure to rate. What is knowable is the shape of it: a vibratory pump, which buzzes for the 25 to 30 seconds of a shot, preceded by a few seconds of grinding.
Electrically it is 120V — a standard US outlet, though it is worth not sharing a circuit with a kettle or toaster you use at the same moment.
The weekly job is the brew group: it lifts out and rinses under warm water, no detergent, and goes back once dry. That is the single most important routine on a bean-to-cup machine and the reason removable groups outlast sealed ones.
The steam wand wants five seconds of attention the moment you finish: a purge to clear what was drawn back up, and a wipe. Left until later, milk sets hard in holes too small to clear easily.
Descaling is on its own schedule — every one to three months depending on your water hardness, using De'Longhi's approved solution rather than vinegar.
The failure modes are worth naming because they present as different problems. Coffee oils left in the brew path go rancid and produce a stale bitterness that survives changing beans — people blame the coffee. Scale narrows the water path and shows up as shots running slower at an unchanged grind — people blame the grinder. Both are cleaning, on two schedules, with two products: detergent for oils, acid for scale, and neither substitutes for the other.
The automatic range uses a removable brew group that the owner rinses under the tap — the single biggest serviceability advantage over sealed super-autos. Descaler and AquaClean-style filters are stocked first-party.
The manufacturer does not state a US price for this model. Rather than substitute a street price we have not verified, we leave the total open.
The running costs are the same as any machine of this type: beans dominate, then descaler, filters and electricity.
The De'Longhi Magnifica S Smart is a coherent machine with one main compromise: that the assisted frother makes foam rather than microfoam. Whether that matters is a question about you rather than about the machine.
If it is a problem, the Breville Bambino Plus ($500) is the alternative worth reading next.
Read the score as what it is: a percentile against machines of the same kind, computed from published specifications. It measures specification potential rather than cup quality, and a machine can score modestly against its cohort while being exactly right for one buyer.
Everything above is derived from De'Longhi's published specification and our scoring methodology. We have not brewed with this machine and make no claim about how it tastes.
Chosen from this machine's own specification — not a generic bundle. The De'Longhi Magnifica S Smart needs these because of what it does and does not include.
Scale, not use, is what ends most espresso machines. Use the manufacturer-approved solution, never vinegar.
350 ml for one drink, 600 ml for two — too large a jug prevents the vortex that makes microfoam.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. These are category searches rather than specific product endorsements — we have not tested accessories any more than we have tested machines.
Transcribed from De'Longhi's official spec sheet. An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure — we never estimate one in.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Machine type | Super-automatic |
| Automation level | Super-automatic |
| Status | Current model |
| Release year | — |
| Suggested daily volume | 2-5 drinks/day |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Heating system | — |
| Heating circuits | — |
| Boiler material | — |
| PID temperature control | — |
| Heat-up time | — |
| Pump pressure (marketing) | — |
| Brew pressure at the puck | ~9 bar — the figure that matters |
| Pump type | — |
| Pressure profiling | — |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Built-in grinder | Yes |
| Burr type | conical burr |
| Grind settings | 13 |
| Bean hopper | — |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Portafilter size | — |
| Portafilter type | — |
| Group type | — |
| Milk system | Assisted frother (panarello) |
| Automatic milk texturing | No |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Water tank | — |
| Dimensions | 9.4 × 17 × 13.4 in (W×D×H) |
| Width | 9.4 in |
| Weight | 27 lb (12.4 kg) |
| Voltage | 120V |
| Wattage | — |
| Plumbable | No |
| Made in | — |
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Descaling required | Yes |
| Automatic rinse / self-clean | Yes |
| Removable brew group | Yes |
| Backflushable (3-way valve) | No |
Consumables are estimates for roughly two drinks a day; electricity is computed from the manufacturer's published wattage. Full two-year calculator · how we calculate this
Percentile-ranked against other super-automatic machines — machines bought for the same reasons, not every machine of the same type. A component with no published inputs is dropped, not scored zero.
Same machine type, similar price, ordered by score.
Ceramic flat burrs and an integrated 0.5 litre milk carafe that froths automatically, in Gaggia's smallest super-auto body.
Under nine inches wide and 17 lb, with the same automatic 0.5 litre milk carafe as the rest of the Prestige line.
Ten grind settings — twice the Magenta's — a 300 g hopper and an automatic milk carafe, made in Italy.
Position on each list this machine qualifies for. Each list ranks its own members, so these placings say more than any single score does.
We publish De'Longhi's error codes and display messages transcribed from De'Longhi's own manuals, with what each one means and the user-serviceable fix.
Every specification on this page was transcribed from De'Longhi's official product page for the De'Longhi Magnifica S Smart. Figures the manufacturer does not publish are stored as null and rendered as an em dash. Scores are computed by our published methodology and are not a taste test.