Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo Review

What this machine is for

Somebody who has already decided two things: that they want more than one color in a single print, and that they want a box around the printer. That is a narrower buyer than most “best printer” lists assume, and it is the buyer this machine is built for.

If only one of those is true, there are better answers. Multi-color on an open frame is cheaper, and an enclosure without multi-color is simpler. Both routes are on the multi-color roundup and the enclosed roundup.

Everything below is read from Anycubic’s own specification table and footnotes on 2026-09-17. We have not printed on this machine.

The specification, and what each figure means for you

250 × 250 × 250 mm, fully enclosed CoreXY. Six millimeters short of the 256 mm cube on the Bambu P series in each axis. Nothing you are likely to print notices that difference.

120 °C plate, 320 °C nozzle. The plate figure is the highest published for any enclosed printer on this site, and it is the one that matters: plate temperature is what keeps a large ABS or ASA part stuck down for the hours it takes to print. The nozzle ships at 0.4 mm; Anycubic notes that 0.25, 0.6 and 0.8 mm sizes are sold separately.

300 mm/s recommended, 600 mm/s maximum. Anycubic publishes both figures, and the recommended one is the honest one. The acceleration row follows the same pattern: 10,000 mm/s² recommended, 20,000 maximum. Rated speeds are straight-line ceilings, which we explain on how long a 3D print takes.

PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA and TPU 95A. The list you would expect from an enclosed machine, with an important asterisk on the last entry that we cover below.

LeviQ 3.0 auto-leveling, Z-offset and flow calibration. The three setup steps that historically defeated beginners are all automated, alongside resonance compensation. Anycubic also lists power-loss resume, filament run-out detection with auto-resume, filament entanglement detection and AI spaghetti detection.

18 kg for the printer, 4.6 kg for the ACE Pro. The printer alone is 400 × 410 × 490 mm, and the feeder is another 366 × 283 × 235 mm on top of that. Together they need a sturdy, dedicated surface — measure before ordering, and read where to put your 3D printer.

44-46 dB. Anycubic publishes 46 dB or below in standard mode and 44 dB or below in quiet mode, and footnotes that the measurement was taken one meter from the front and that individual machines may deviate. It is one of very few published noise figures in this category, and it is worth treating as indicative rather than as a promise.

The ACE Pro: what is genuinely good about it

It is in the box. On most multi-color systems the color unit is a separate purchase, which means the price you first see is not the price of printing in color. Here the Combo price includes the feeder. When you compare this machine against anything else, compare Combo prices, not base prices.

It dries while it prints. A multi-color print is often long, and four spools sitting in room air for twelve hours is exactly how filament picks up the moisture that causes stringing and popping. Anycubic publishes active drying in the ACE Pro, which addresses the problem where it actually happens rather than before the print starts.

It handles the jobs that ruin multi-color prints. Anycubic lists anti-entanglement and automatic filament refill. A tangle that stalls one of four spools is the classic way a long multi-color print fails at hour nine.

The three footnotes to read before you order

This is the part most reviews skip, and it is all on Anycubic’s own product page.

1. The dryer stops at 55 °C. That covers the published drying routines for PLA — Overture publishes 50 °C, Polymaker 55 °C for its PLA Pro. It falls short of the 60 °C both publish for PETG, and well short of the 70 °C Polymaker publishes for ABS and ASA. In practice the ACE Pro keeps dry filament dry; it is not a substitute for a proper dry of a spool that is already wet. For that, see the best filament dryers.

2. TPU cannot go through the ACE Pro. Anycubic states that TPU 95A is only suitable for single-color printing and cannot be used with the ACE Pro. That matches what we see elsewhere — Overture says its High Speed TPU is not compatible with Bambu’s AMS either — and the reason is mechanical: soft filament buckles on a long feed path. Flexible parts on this printer feed from a separate holder, one color at a time. The TPU filament page covers why.

3. Eight colors is not simply “buy another one.” Anycubic’s footnote says eight-color printing needs two ACE Pro units connected with an eight-color feeding module. Budget for both parts if eight colors is the plan, and think hard about whether it is: every color change purges filament, and eight colors means a great many more changes.

Kobra S1 Combo against the Bambu Lab P1S

The comparison most buyers are actually making, since both are enclosed CoreXY machines in a similar class.

On published figures the Kobra S1 Combo is ahead on plate and nozzle temperature, and it includes in-feeder drying in its standard Combo rather than in a pricier bundle. The P1S is lighter, smaller, and its maker publishes a longer warranty on its own store. The P1S also sits inside a large, long-established multi-color ecosystem, which is a real advantage when something goes wrong and you want somebody else’s answer. Our full account of that machine is on the P1S review.

Anycubic also now sells a newer Kobra S1 bundle with its ACE 2 Pro feeder. We have not assessed that version, and everything on this page refers to the Combo with the original ACE Pro.

Who should buy something else

Anyone printing in one color. You would be paying for a feeder and a box you do not need. An open-frame machine and a lot of filament is the better first year — start with the beginner picks.

Anyone who wants multi-color TPU. Anycubic says plainly that it does not work through the ACE Pro.

Anyone short on space. Two boxes totalling over 22 kg need a dedicated surface.

Anyone who weights ecosystem over specification. If the thought of being on a smaller platform when something breaks bothers you, the P1S or its replacement the P2S is the safer purchase — see which Bambu to buy.

What to buy with it

PLA for the first month, in four colors you actually want — our PLA picks are three mainstream spools. Anycubic recommends plastic spools rather than cardboard for smoother multi-color feeding, which is worth checking before you order. And read the multi-color roundup for the purge-waste arithmetic before your first four-color print, so the filament bill does not surprise you.