@Teaboy If it’s the DF83 Gen 2 (often referred to as “DF83 V2”) you are referring to as opposed to the DF83V, then in my opinion the Duo beats it hand down in every department other than the espresso burr that comes stock. And the latter is clearly a matter or taste preferences, but mine are not inclined towards the espresso from the Mazzer 151B burrs that come with the Duo. It produces very smooth, traditional espresso but these days I’m looking for a bit more in terms of either flavor punching through milk based espresso or flavor note seperation for straight espresso.
Lance Hedrick did a comparison of the DF83 V2 and the Niche Duo and awared the DF83 V2 the winners gong. Full respect for Lance and all but from every aspect other than the stock burr set, I have come to a very different conclusion.
The DF83V is a very different beast to the DF83 V2 but IMHO it’s still not a patch on the Duo for engineering, design, workflow or aesthetics. The former has other attributes incluing variable RPM, a prebreaker augur, and the DF DLC Filter burr and the DF DLC Espresso burrs, that for me are very good burr sets. Not (in my opinion) stellar, but still well above the average burr set that I’ve tried.
(I’ve had 3x DF83 V2s (all sold), 3x Duos (1 sold) and 1x DF83V on my bench.)
If it were my money and I had to choose between them, it would be the Duo and I would not have to think twice.
But … I would swap the stock burr out and replace it with a DF DLC Espresso or SSP Espresso/HU (a bit pricey) or Gorilla Gear (even pricier) but if you go down that route please note that you run the risk of losing warranty cover.