The Matrix Says:

The best bet for high-quality drinking and little work is a high-end brewer with a burr grinder, scale, and great beans. There aren’t a lot of short cuts at this point, and this will take a few minutes to set up each time, but the cleanup is relatively simple, and you will often have great coffee.

Most drip machines are better for sizable batches than single cups because the first part of the water is not fully heated. This means the water that comes through first doesn’t extract very well. The smaller the batch, the larger the proportion of the total brew this is. If you get a better brewer, see if it has an “single cup” option.