The Barista Pro, although commonly regarded to as an updated version of the Barista Express, has as many differences vs the Express than it has similarities, as discussed below.
Features and Benefits
• 2.0 L Water Tank
• 3 Second Ready Time
• Low Pressure Preinfusion
• PID Temperature Control
• 9 Bar Espresso Extraction
• Standard + Pressurized Baskets
• Dedicated hot water spout
• Dimensions 36 cm wide & 34 cm deep, 43 cm tall
As I’ve just alluded to, while the Pro is similar to the express, it has quite a few differences:
• Newer faster thermojet vs the original thermocoil
• 30 distinct grind settings vs 18
• LCD display with shot timer
• No pressure gauge
• 9 bar OPV
The newer thermojet simply means that the machine is ready to use within 3 seconds, and that the steam ready time and overall steaming time is slightly quicker.
Shot ready time from switching the machine on isn't really affected, because with the Barista Pro and the Barista Express, you still have to grind your coffee and get everything including the brew path, portafilter and your cup warm by flushing water through the group.
The Barista pro is faster to heat up to steam ready, slightly faster where steaming milk is concerned (vs the Barista Express) and faster (and less dramatic) when it comes to dropping back down to espresso temp after steaming milk.
Re the dramatics, the thermocoil on the Barista express is a bigger unit, it retains more heat, so water flushes it in order to cool it down which results in a sound similar to pouring cold water into a hot pan.
The difference where the grind settings are concerned are very small, the Barista pro has double the distinct settings, but the grinding range itself is the same, and you can set the grinder at half steps, so it's about the same only the pro gives you slightly more precise adjustments.
There's a shot timer on the pro, but no pressure gauge. This is really just a matter of preference, either a timer or a gauge both give you the same feedback, just in a different way.
Re the 9 bar OPV, one of the things that some of the more hardcore home barista crows have pointed out in the past is that the Barista Express over pressure valve kicks in at higher than 9 bars, it's around 14 bars from what I can tell.
The OPV is set to 9 bars on the pro, which tends to sit better with home baristas. Technically speaking this shouldn’t make a massive difference, because it’s just the point at which the excess pressure is released, so adjusting grind size should have the same impact. In reality though, having the OPV set at 9 bars does actually make a big difference, which is why so many people rave about the effectiveness of the 9 bar mod on the Gaggia Classic.
Why the Express comes with a higher OPV? I assume it’s because many people use the express with the dual walled (pressurised) baskets, and a slightly higher OPV setting makes sense if this is the case. Anyway, the Barista Pro OPV is set to 9 bars, and the same is true for all other Sage machines as far as I’m aware, including the Barista Express Impress.
Overall, the Barista pro is one of the most popular integrated grinder espresso machines from Sage, it's a machine which fits very nicely into most modern kitchens, and for the price it's fairly hard to beat.