Fanboys get obsessed with the story telling; except hollow body electric guitars, the wood makes no difference to sound; it’s all the electronics. People have setup body less electrics and get the same recorded wave form. But humans reduce the truth to manageable snippets to circumlocute
I have a $100 burr grinder (OXO) and the grinds are not very consistent. The Barratza Encore produces a slightly more consistent grind, and is $50-$80 more. The Encore ESP can also do espresso but the regular one cannot. Most cheap grinders cannot do espresso. Turkish coffee grind is even harder.
We have an expensive grinder at work (I think it’s a Mahlkonig?) and the build quality is night and day. The higher you go up in price point the better materials you get.
My point was the Baratza I bought over a decade ago for $600 is $250 for similar build quality now. And the $600 one now comes with a bunch of electronics and lights I don’t need.
2010s $250 grinder is $99-ish. Unless someone is putting in the effort to build the palette and notice the difference, anything over that is wasted.
Pin stripes, LED case fans add horse power!
Maybe the exterior build quality? I highly doubt that the $600 grinder and the $250 grinder has similar internal construction. I'm not complaining if it's true, but I find it hard to believe they didn't save on cost somewhere. Maybe they're cheaper because of how ubiquitous it is now?
But yeah... those electronics and lights are an absolute waste.
1. 1zpresso hand grinder
2. 1974 Honda CL125S
3. Black totem cam x 2
Everything else can go to the dump as far as I'm concerned.