It took about 6 weeks from the time of ordering for the Niche to arrive, but I'm pleased with it, it's easy to use, feels well made and it's nice and quiet - the grinder in my bean-to-cup machine made a dreadful racket and had a very unpleasant, high pitched whine in addition to the cacophony of clunks and whirs made by the rest of the mechanism.
With regard to the Gaggia, I haven't found the lack of temperature control to be an issue and I don't take milk with coffee, so I don't use the steam function.
I did look at other machines, including some with an E61 group head, but I was concerned about the long warm up time, whereas the Gaggia is pretty much ready to go by the time I've weighed and ground the beans and prepared the ground coffee in the basket.
I may try the 9 bar spring mod at some point, but I'm pretty happy with the results as it is. In addition, while I enjoy coffee and I don't mind the process of using a manual grinder and machine, I don't think I'm prepared to go to the lengths some enthusiasts go to in search of the perfect cup.