Philips 5400 vs Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Quick answer: I’d recommend the Delonghi Dinamica Plus if you will primarily drink milk-based drinks and the Philips 5400 if you will primarily drink black espresso drinks.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus and Philips 5400 are two super-automatic espresso machines with very similar functionalities.

However, the Delonghi Dinamica Plus costs around $300 more than the Philips 5400.

In this comparison of the Philips 5400 vs Delonghi Dinamica Plus, I’m going to look at whether the Delonghi Dinamica Plus justifies this additional cost, and if it does then how.

Let’s get started.

Which is Better: the Philips 5400 or Delonghi Dinamica Plus?

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus is a better espresso machine than the Philips 5400.

The main benefit that the Delonghi Dinamica Plus has over the Philips 5400 is it can steam milk to a wider variety of textures than the Philips 5400.

I’d therefore recommend the Delonghi Dinamica Plus over the Philips 5400 if you want to make a lot of milk-based espresso drinks with your machine.

A lack of available milk textures means that all of the Philips 5400’s milk-based drinks taste pretty much the same.

Delonghi Dinamica Plus Pros

It makes a very good espresso by super-automatic espresso machine standards.

It can steam milk to multiple textures (this is rare for a super-automatic espresso machine).

Although it is more expensive than the Philips, it is still cheaper than many inferior espresso machines.

Its app can give you very fine-grained coffee customizations.

Delonghi Dinamica Plus Cons

Its two finest grinder settings can choke up the machine.

Its non-espresso-based drinks aren’t good.

If you aren’t going to be making many milk-based drinks, then you’re better off saving $300 and going for the Philips 5400.

Philips 5400 Pros

It has a really well-labeled control panel (excellent UI).

Cheaper than the Delonghi Dinamica Plus.

You can make two coffees at the touch of a button.

Philips 5400 Cons

Its milk frother can only steam milk to one texture. You, therefore, have little variation between the different milk drinks.

Its milk jug is much more flimsy and easy to break than the Delonghi’s

Please see my Philips 5400 review for more information on this machine.

Overview of Philips 5400 and Delonghi Dinamica Plus

The Philips 5400 and Delonghi Dinamica Plus are both super-automatic espresso machines with automatic milk frothers.

This means that all you need to do to make a coffee with each machine is fill it up with whole coffee beans, water, and milk and then press a few buttons.

The machine will dose out your coffee and water, brew your espresso and steam your milk for you.

Both machines have removable milk carafes. These carafes come apart into two pieces for easier cleaning.

Below is a table of specifications for each machine:

What are the Differences Between the Delonghi Dinamica Plus and Philips 5400?

I’m now going to run through the five key differences between the Delonghi Dinamica Plus and Philips 5400 in order of their significance to the two machines’ importance and usability.

Milk Steaming System

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus’s LatteCrema milk-steaming system allows you to make three different milk textures, whereas the Philips 5400’s LatteGo milk-steaming system can only make one milk texture.

This means that there is much more variation between the different milk drink options from the Delonghi than the Philips.

The Delonghi’s lattes will be much silkier, and their cappuccinos will be much thicker in comparison to each other.

With the Philips, all milk-based drinks will have very large bubbles. While this is fine (but still not ideal) for a cappuccino and macchiato, you might find its latte and flat white a bit disappointing texture-wise.

Winner: Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Drink Options

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus can make larger pots of coffee and “True Brew over ice” which the Philips 5400 does not offer.

These are Philips 5400’s twelve drink options:

• Espresso
• Filter coffee
• Americano
• Cappuccino
• Latte Macchiato
• Flat White
• Cafe au Lait
• Latte
• Caffe Crema (double espresso)
• Ristretto
• Lungo
• Travel mug

These are the Delonghi Dinamica Plus’s fourteen drink options:

• Espresso
• Double espresso
• Lungo
• Doppio+
• Filter coffee
• Pot of coffee
• Cappuccino
• Cappuccino extra shot
• Cappuccino mix
• Latte
• Flat White
• Latte macchiato
• Macchiato
• Truebrew Over ice

The two coffee types that the Delonghi Dinamica has over the Philips 5400 are a pot of filter coffee and TrueBrew over ice.

Any other differences in the above lists are basically the same coffee with different names.

Personally, I’d never use the Delonghi to make a pot of coffee, nor would I ever use it’s over ice function.

Super-automatic espresso machines cannot hold enough ground coffee in their brewing unit to make a large serving of coffee. The Delonghi’s pot of coffee will therefore be very watery.

You’d get much better results using a $15 French Press.

Its Truebrew over ice brews your coffee at a lower temperature than normal. The idea here is that if your coffee is dispensed at a lower temperature then it will not melt your ice.

The problem with this is that brewing at a low temperature leads to a lack of extraction which, in turn, creates a sour-tasting coffee. 

I’d therefore rather have an iced coffee that is slightly watery (due to melted ice) over one that has been brewed at a low temperature.

Winner: Draw

User Interface

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus uses a touch screen and has buttons if you prefer. The Philips 5400 is operated by a button-controlled display screen.

Although touch screens are generally seen as a step up from a button-controlled screen, I actually prefer Philips’ user interface to the Delonghi’s.

All the Philips’ buttons are really well labeled and its screen walks you through all its coffee-making and maintenance processes.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus’s touch screen is decent, but its touch buttons are very close together meaning that it’s easy to press the wrong button when selecting your coffee.

Although it has physical buttons in addition to its touch screen, you cannot access its full range of functionalities with its physical buttons alone.

Winner: Philips 5400

App Compatibility

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus connects to an app on your phone which allows you to make fully custom drinks from scratch. The Philips 5400 has no such feature.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus’s app allows you to make fully custom drinks from scratch. You can customize your drinks:

• Strength (on a scale of one to five)
• Coffee volume (to the nearest 10 milliliters)
• Brewing temperature (on a scale of 1-4)
• Milk volume (to the nearest 0.1 second dispensing time)

You can see a video of someone making a cappuccino using the Delonghi Dinamica Plus app below (watch from 9:30 – 11:35) :

Although the app has some really cool functionalities, I’d like it if the machine offered you this level of drink customization without the app.

The Philips 5400 has no such app, so you cannot make fully custom drinks from scratch.

Winner: Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Grinder

The Philips 5400 uses a ceramic burr grinder, while the Delonghi Dinamica Plus uses a stainless steel burr grinder.

While one grinder material is not necessarily better than the other, they do produce slightly different-tasting coffee.

A super-automatic espresso machine technician explains these differences in this Reddit thread:

”Taste wise both brands are very different due to their different technology. Mainly because Philips uses ceramic flat burrs and Delonghi steel conical burrs.
Simplified: Philips bold and more bitter, Delonghi a more regular mild taste.”

u/PeterVero

Winner: Draw (depends on your personal preference)

Now that I’ve gone through the key differences between these two espresso machines, I’m going to assess them against the following criteria:

• Espresso quality
• Milk steaming performance
• Functionalities
• Ease of use and cleaning
• Design and build quality
• Value for money

Espresso Quality

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus can make better-tasting espresso than the Philips 5400 due to having a superior basket in its brew group.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus makes really good espresso by super-automatic espresso machine standards.

Barista and coffee YouTuber James Hoffmann was particularly impressed with the Delonghi Dinamica Plus’s espresso quality in his roundup of the best bean-to-cup machines. 

He said that out of all machines tested (and he tested the most premium six manufacturers’ most premium models), it made the second-best espresso after the Jura Z10 (which costs around $2000 more than the Delonghi).  

You can see his thoughts on the Delonghi Dinamica Plus’s espresso below (watch from 5:29 – 7:30):

The Philips 5400’s espresso is a little bit watery in comparison to the Delonghi’s

This is because the basket in its brew unit (where the ground coffee sits) has too large holes in its bottom.

Water, therefore, runs through your coffee puck too quicker than with the Delonghi (smaller holes create more resistance against your brewing water), meaning that less extraction occurs.

You can find two Reddit threads complaining about the Philips 5400 and Philips 3200 (which uses the same brewing unit as the 5400) producing watery espresso here (5400) and here (3200).

Still, the Philips 5400’s espresso is far from terrible (it’s about average for a super-automatic espresso machine), it’s just not quite as good as the Delonghi’s.

Espresso Quality Winner: Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Milk Steaming Performance

Neither machine steams milk brilliantly, however, the Delonghi can steam milk to a wider variety of textures than the Philips.

Both machines’ biggest weakness is their milk foam quality.

In his roundup of the best bean-to-cup machines, James Hoffmann said that the Dinamica Plus’s milk foam was: “A bit disappointing with its big bubbles, a 4/10”.

The Delonghi can at least make three different milk textures. Just bear in mind that its finest texture is still pretty foamy. You cannot make super silky lattes with this machine.

The Philips 5400’s milk foam also makes very large bubbled milk. Its milk texture is also inconsistent, with some parts having huge bubbles in them and other parts barely having any texture to them at all.

You are also only stuck with one possible milk texture with the Philips 5400, meaning that all its milk-based drinks are basically the same.

Milk Steaming Performance Winner: Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Functionalities

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus can make a wider variety of drinks and can allow you to make fully custom drinks from scratch, neither of which the Philips 5400 can do.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus has three functionalities that the Philips 5400 does not have. They are:

• The ability to steam milk to three textures: This greatly increases the variation between the Delonghi’s different milk-based drinks compared to the Phillips.

• The ability to create custom drinks from scratch with an app.

• The ability to make “iced coffee” and large pots of coffee: As I said earlier, the Delonghi does not execute either of these coffee types particularly well.

The Phillips 5400 has no additional functionalities over the Delonghi Dinamica Plus.

Functionalities Winner: Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Ease of Use and Cleaning

The Philips 5400’s superior user interface makes it slightly easier to use than the Delonghi Dinamica Plus.

As I said earlier, the Philips 5400’s button-operated control panel is easier to use than the Delonghi’s overcrowded touch screen.

Both machines have virtually the same setup and cleaning processes. Their milk jugs can be removed from the machine, taken apart into two pieces, and then washed in the sink or dishwasher.

Ultimately there is little between these two machines’ usability, they are both very easy to use.

Ease of Use and Cleaning Winner: Philips 5400 (but only just)

Design and Build Quality

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus has a higher external build quality than the Philips 5400. Both machines have a high internal build quality.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus has a much more weighty feel to it than the Philips 5400. The Philips 5400 does little to hide the amount of thin plastic used in its external build.

Based on their feelings alone, I’d predict that the Delonghi Dinamica Plus will, on average, have a longer lifespan than the Philips 5400.

The Philips 5400’s milk jug is particularly flimsy. It is made up of two halves that attach together with plastic tabs. You need to be really careful when fitting these tabs together. Apply just a bit too much pressure and they will snap.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus uses the same basic design for its milk frother, however, it is thicker and more sturdy. You don’t have to worry about possibly breaking when you take it apart or put it back together.

Both machines appear to have a high internal build quality and I could find very few reports of them breaking down online. 

I like how you can remove both machines’ brew groups as most super-automatic espresso machines’ technical faults can be troubleshot by cleaning and removing the brew group.

Machines with fixed brew groups (Jura machines for example) do not allow you to do this.

Design and Build Quality Winner: Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Value for Money

The Delonghi Dinamica offers better value for money than the Philips 5400.

Even though the Delonghi Dinamica is $300 more expensive than the Philips 5400, I still think it offers the better value for money out of the two machines.

The Delonghi Dinamica is superior to the Philips 5400 in the two most important facets of an espresso machine, namely espresso quality and milk steaming performance.

This, combined with a likely higher level of durability justifies its additional cost compared to the Philips.

Value for Money Winner: Delonghi Dinamica Plus

Philips 5400 vs Delonghi Dinamica Plus: Final Verdict

I’d recommend the Delonghi Dinamica Plus over the Philips 5400, especially if you are going to make a lot of milk-based drinks.

The Delonghi Dinamica Plus makes a better espresso than the Philips 5400 and offers far more variety of milk textures so you can make a wider range of milk drinks.

The Philips 5400 is still a decent super-automatic espresso machine for the money and offers better value if you are only going to make black coffee drinks.

If you’d like to find out more about these two manufacturers then please see my roundup of the best Delonghi espresso machines and my Philips 3200 review.