Anycubic Kobra S1 vs Bambu Lab P1S: Enclosed CoreXY Showdown

The Anycubic Kobra S1 and Bambu Lab P1S are both enclosed CoreXY FDM printers with a direct drive extruder, auto calibration and optional multicolor. The Kobra S1 (2025) gives you a 250×250×250 mm build area, a 320°C hotend and a 120°C bed; the P1S (2023) has 256×256×256 mm, a 300°C hotend and a 100°C bed. The gap in price and approach makes the choice less obvious than it looks.

The Short Answer

If you want your first enclosed machine, print engineering materials (ABS, ASA, polycarbonate) a lot and don't want to overpay, the Kobra S1 is the better value: higher temperatures, quieter operation and active filament drying built into the ACE Pro. If a fully proven, set-it-and-forget-it ecosystem, a massive community and the most polished software matter more, the P1S is still the benchmark — you just pay a premium for it.

Spec Comparison

Build Quality and Construction

Both printers are enclosed CoreXY machines, and that matters: a sealed chamber holds temperature steady and stops warping from ruining ABS and ASA prints. The P1S is built around a steel frame with a glass door and removable panels — a design refined by two years of mass production and thousands of community mods. On the Kobra S1 all the electronics live in the base: the look is clean, but reaching the boards is harder and DIY repairs are less convenient.

Both use a direct drive extruder — filament feeds straight into the hotend, which helps with flexible TPU and precise retraction. The Kobra S1 uses a quick-swap hardened nozzle, but it's proprietary: you can't fit a third-party brass tip or a Bambu nozzle. The P1S nozzle is standard and swaps easily, with a hardened version taking about five minutes. Kobra S1 owners specifically complain about the thin (~3 mm) spring-steel plate that warps on heat-up in some units, which can make a perfect first layer harder to dial in.

Temperatures and Materials: The Key Difference

This is where the Kobra S1 pulls ahead. A 320°C hotend and a 120°C bed let it print not just PLA, PETG, ABS and ASA, but polycarbonate and high-temp nylon too — straight out of the box, no hotend swap. The P1S caps out at 300°C on the nozzle and 100°C on the bed: plenty for everyday ABS and ASA, but polycarbonate will need upgrades. For engineering prints, the Kobra S1's temperature headroom is a real advantage, not a spec-sheet one.

Print Quality

Final print quality is very close. The P1S has set the bar for years: sharp layers, accurate dimensions and clean surfaces with almost no cleanup — input shaping kills ghosting even at high speeds. The Kobra S1, thanks to LeviQ 3.0 auto leveling (49 points and a strain-gauge nozzle), reliably nails the first layer, and in independent tests it printed ABS at 200 mm/s — unusual for that material.

The difference shows up in the details and in predictability. The P1S has finely tuned material profiles, so out-of-the-box results are almost always even. The Kobra S1 depends a bit more on your settings and the individual unit — the ecosystem is younger, so profiles for niche materials need hand-tuning. If you want the most consistent 'just works' result, the P1S has a slight edge.

Multicolor: ACE Pro vs AMS

Both printers do color via a separate 4-spool unit, and both chain up to 16 colors. The approach differs. Bambu's AMS is refined over several generations: smart purge management, reliable filament detection, mature software. The classic AMS bundled with the P1S Combo doesn't dry filament — you need desiccant packs; active drying only arrived with the newer AMS 2 Pro. We cover common AMS quirks in a separate guide.

Anycubic's ACE Pro is younger but has one trump card — built-in active drying: a PTC heater and hygrometer dry the spools inside the unit while they stay loaded and ready. In practice some owners note it heats closer to 40°C than the claimed 55°C, and oversized spools can rub the lid. ACE Pro is also prone to buffer jams (error 11518) — how to fix that is in our ACE Pro guide. If a jam reaches the hotend, see our nozzle unclogging guide.

Speed

On paper the Kobra S1 is faster: 600 mm/s versus 500 mm/s. But those are marketing numbers — acceleration is identical at 20,000 mm/s², and nobody prints above 250 mm/s for decent quality. In practice both run around 150–260 mm/s depending on material and part, and real print times are within a rounding error of each other. Don't chase peak speed here — both printers are equally fast in this class.

Noise

Noise is where the gap is real. In quiet mode the Kobra S1 sits around 44–46 dB — a barely noticeable hum. The P1S runs about 50–55 dB at working speeds: like a desktop PC under load, with sharp mechanical sounds on fast moves. A 6 dB difference reads as nearly double the loudness. If the printer lives in a living room or near a bedroom, the Kobra S1 is noticeably more comfortable.

Software and Ecosystem

Both slicers grew out of PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer, so the interface feels familiar. Bambu Studio is more polished: dozens of ready material profiles, solid cloud sync, stable camera monitoring. Anycubic Slicer Next is essentially OrcaSlicer in a fresh coat of paint — it works fine and handles multiple printers well, but it has fewer profiles and less overall polish.

The key difference is openness and community size. Bambu runs a closed ecosystem: firmware authorization and third-party software limits can be annoying, but a giant community has grown around the P1S — mods, parts, ready profiles and answers to any question are a minute away. The Kobra S1 has a smaller community, though Anycubic doesn't lock the printer down as hard. If you're also eyeing other Bambu machines, see our A1 vs P1S comparison, and for the Anycubic range, which Kobra to pick.

Price and Availability

Price is often the deciding factor. In 2026 the base P1S street price sits around $399–449, with the Combo higher; the Kobra S1 base runs roughly the same, and the Combo with ACE Pro tends to land a bit under the P1S Combo. Availability differs by region: Anycubic has a broad official retail presence, while Bambu availability and warranty vary by market. Even accounting for sales, the Kobra S1 Combo is usually the more affordable enclosed multicolor package.

Verdict: Who Should Buy Which

Get the Anycubic Kobra S1 if you value price and quiet operation; print ABS, ASA or polycarbonate often and want high temperatures out of the box; or want filament drying built right into the multicolor unit. It's the most affordable enclosed CoreXY with multicolor in its class, and for most home projects it has plenty of headroom.

Get the Bambu Lab P1S if predictability and maturity matter most: a proven AMS, finely tuned Bambu Studio profiles, a huge community and a rock-solid reliability reputation. If you're happy to pay a premium and live with a closed ecosystem for a true 'just works' experience, the P1S won't disappoint. Both are excellent and play in the same class — the choice comes down to what you value more: budget, temperatures and quiet, or ecosystem maturity.

FAQ

Sources

• Anycubic Wiki — Kobra S1 specs and components
• VoxelMatters — Kobra S1 review (speed, ACE Pro, purge waste)
• 3DWithUs — Kobra S1 Combo tests and multicolor
• Tom's Hardware — Bambu Lab P1S review
• Bambu Lab — official P1S and AMS page
• MatterManifest — P1S vs Kobra S1 spec table