What's actually changed since the original Ace?
When Mr Resin first unboxed the ACE 2 Pro a few weeks ago, the first thing he said was: "look, they've learned from their mistakes." And after spending time with it in the shop and watching customers set it up, I completely get what he meant.
The most obvious upgrade is the 4 independent brushless motors. The original ACE had well-documented issues with motors overheating — I read plenty of complaints about this across German forums — and with valves failing after heavy use. Now each motor controls its own filament spool, and according to the specs we have, loading and unloading speeds reach 50 mm/s. That means a full filament swap takes around 56 seconds.
The boss was telling me the other day that the noise levels have improved massively too.
With the door closed, the unit sits at 48 dB — roughly equivalent to a normal office conversation. When you run the drying function while printing it climbs to 55 dB, but that's still pretty respectable compared to other multicolour solutions we've carried in the shop. What really caught my attention the first time I saw it was the expanded material compatibility — you can now run materials that were simply off the table with the original ACE: flexible TPU 68D, carbon fibre PLA, PETG-CF, even PAHT-CF. Mr Resin puts this down to the two new solenoid valves for air intake and exhaust, which give much finer control over filament flow.
The 4-motor system that promises to transform filament swaps
Each of the 4 brushless motors operates independently, which should in theory eliminate the jams that typically happen when switching between very different materials. A customer who comes in on Saturdays told me he's been running his ACE 2 Pro hard for over a week — racking up around 85 hours of print time and getting through roughly 2 kg of filament — without a single failure. I was sceptical at first, honestly thought it was just marketing talk, but after seeing several cases like this...
The swap process works roughly like this: the current colour's motor retracts the filament at 50 mm/s, the solenoid valves cut airflow to the old channel, the new colour's motor feeds filament in while the valves open the new channel, and the whole process averages 56 seconds end to end.
In the spirit of honesty — and Mr Resin always reminds me to be upfront with customers about this — the system does generate a fair amount of waste during colour changes.
Users on the forums report that the automatic purge routines consume a significant amount of filament. That's the trade-off for consistent results, I suppose. On the plus side, if you chain 4 ACE 2 Pro units together you can handle up to 16 different colours in a single print. Mr Resin showed me a figure a customer had made with 12 colours the other day, and the results were genuinely clean — no muddying between colours at all.
Is it worth upgrading if you already have a Kobra S1 Max?
This is one of the most common questions I get in the shop. The Kobra S1 Max was designed specifically to work with the ACE system, so compatibility is guaranteed. That said, if your current ACE Pro is running smoothly with your Kobra, whether the jump to the ACE 2 Pro makes sense really comes down to what pain points you're actually experiencing.
Mr Resin always says that if your original ACE is giving you trouble with hot motors or jamming valves (as many users report), then the upgrade makes sense. The four independent motors in the new version solve those issues at the root.
But if your current setup runs without drama and you don't need to print with specialty materials like TPU or carbon fiber filaments, you might be able to hold off a little longer. It's also worth considering the other compatible printers: the Kobra 3 V2 has full compatibility and was designed for multicolor from the ground up, the Kobra X is also fully compatible and works plug & play according to users, while the Kobra S1 Max is the veteran with proven compatibility. In the end, as a longtime customer reminded me just last week, the upgrade is worth it if you specifically need the improvements: flexible materials, less noise, faster color changes, or better long-term reliability.
How well does the built-in drying at 65°C actually work?
This is one of the most debated topics among our customers. The ACE 2 Pro can dry filament while you print, reaching up to 65°C. It sounds great on paper, but... Mr Resin told me he initially thought it was the ultimate fix for damp PLA. After running several tests in the workshop, though, he realized that 65°C sits right on the edge for some filaments.
"Standard PLA is fine, but with some PLA+ or specialty PLA blends, you can end up with the filament starting to soften too much before it even reaches the hotend."
Where it genuinely shines is with PETG, which handles that temperature with no issues and benefits hugely from continuous drying. A customer who prints a lot of PETG-CF told us that since using the built-in drying, stringing and bubbling problems have almost completely disappeared. That said, noise does climb to 55 dB while it's drying, so if your printer lives in the living room... My recommendation — based on what I see in the shop — is to use the drying function only when you actually need it. Not every filament requires it, and running the system constantly will shorten the lifespan of the components. As Mr Resin puts it: "don't use a sledgehammer to crack a nut."
Where it shines — and where it falls short — in everyday use
After watching several customers set up and use their ACE 2 Pro, I have a pretty clear picture of where this thing stands out. Out-of-the-box setup works flawlessly according to user reports, color changes are consistent and predictable, support for technical materials like PLA-CF and PETG-CF is excellent, and the noise reduction compared to the previous version is noticeable.
But it does have its weak spots.
Filament waste during purging is still high, the price isn't for everyone, and it takes up quite a bit of space (you need room for 4 spools). One thing that personally bugs me is that to get the most out of it, you really need to buy compatible filament. It's not strictly required, but Mr Resin showed me the difference between using random filament and using Anycubic's PLA-CF designed for the system — and honestly, you can feel it in how consistent the color changes are.
Going all-in on the Anycubic ecosystem in 2026
Anycubic is making a strong push to build a closed ecosystem where all its machines talk to each other. The ACE 2 Pro is a key piece of that strategy — especially if you already own a Kobra 3 V2 or you're thinking about picking one up.
The upfront cost isn't small — that much is clear. But if you crunch the numbers the way Mr Resin does (he never makes a decision without a spreadsheet), it starts to make sense if you regularly print in multiple colors.
The time you save not swapping filaments by hand, the failed prints you avoid with the 4-motor system... it all adds up. You've also got to think about where things are heading. Anycubic has been pushing firmware updates every few months adding support for new materials. The latest update brought improved flexible TPU support — something the community had been asking for since day one. My personal take (and Mr Resin might not fully agree with me here) is that if you already own a compatible Anycubic printer and you're regularly running multicolor projects, the ACE 2 Pro is a natural next step.
But if you're just starting out or you only print in a single color every now and then, there are more affordable ways to get going. As a customer told me last week while setting up his new ACE 2 Pro with his Kobra X: "it's not cheap, but after years of wrestling with manual filament changes, this is like going from a stick shift to an automatic." After watching him print for hours without a single issue, I'm starting to understand why more and more people in the shop are making the switch to automatic multicolor.
If you're genuinely going to use multicolor printing on the regular, the investment pays for itself. If it's just for printing a two-color Pikachu once in a blue moon, you're better off putting that money toward quality resin — that's where you'll actually see a difference in any project.
Stay patient and keep a steady hand 💪
🏗️ Elegoo ASA Filament for 3D Printer — 1 Kg
If your Anycubic ACE 2 Pro is going to be printing parts that live outdoors, Elegoo's ASA filament is your best bet. With superior resistance to UV rays, water, and the elements, your prints will hold up to whatever you throw at them — no degrading like you'd see with other materials.