Grind my DF64

Hola folks! I have been using a DF64 gen 1 for a couple years. I bought it second hand from a fellow redditor actually. It’s been mostly great…

I have had fairly consistent issues (maybe gripes is the better word) with retention. I clean it frequently and have upgraded (maybe it’s really just replaced?…) the chute and retention thingy in the chute with one from Etsy. The past couple weeks the thing has clogged up more than it’s worked as intended, which is a real bummer (let’s be honest it’s a bummer regardless but also I make my one cup at 5 am before work and by the time I’m done with work I forget that I meant to take it apart so then I get to deal with it tomorrow morning at 5 am….)

Also, we recently moved which allowed me to move my coffee space from my home office into the kitchen, which is wide open to the loft and every bedroom, meaning the noise factor is now a larger factor. It doesn’t bother me but the wife and kids don’t particularly like the grinder noise at 5 am.

So all that said I’m considering upgrading, but would need to be on a tight budget since we just bought a house and I’ve already agreed to spend all of my money before I get it… so question time…

1. Is there potentially something broken or needing calibration that could cause the new retention issue increase?

2. Is there a relatively simple upgrade I could work out to my current machine? (I say simple because I’m dumb…)

3. Is there a reasonably priced upgrade that would make a ton of sense? I was looking at the niche zero and have for a couple years. I may just pull the trigger, but my wife may kill me. So when I say reasonably priced I mean less than the zero ideally (or clearly better for around the same-ish… if I’m on the couch anyway I could go over that budget a little I suppose lol)