I think, at the end of the day you must know what your sonic priority is. Mine for example is true in tone, no sonic fingerprint, to be able to sound like the real thing when it is on the software AND I am nor mad for SACD (most sound pretty lifeless and boring). My decision was the CDSA-SE because it is able to do what I expect and it is really special with regular CD's. II was not mad for the higher model (good as it may be) because any digital investment is burned money after some time, so I bought it 2.hand and that way it is ok. I had a lot of those expensive Players with all the usual nonsense (addition clock and so on) and when I am really honest to myself, that Players is the one of the very few in the last 15 years which does not make me cry after 20 min.
The Esoteric (and others like Accuphase....) are good from detail but I always got the impression, all these Players do more or less the same. They are exchangeably, a little bit more of 'that' here and a little bit less of 'that' there... and after 2 years no one cares about them. My choice was EMM because it has something others simply can't deliver: The Magic in voices or Performances.
But it has its limits: When the Software is average, you will hear it and the better your Preamp is, the more you will notice that. The Problem is mainly in the masterings but...that is another story.
The Esoteric (and others like Accuphase....) are good from detail but I always got the impression, all these Players do more or less the same. They are exchangeably, a little bit more of 'that' here and a little bit less of 'that' there... and after 2 years no one cares about them. My choice was EMM because it has something others simply can't deliver: The Magic in voices or Performances.
But it has its limits: When the Software is average, you will hear it and the better your Preamp is, the more you will notice that. The Problem is mainly in the masterings but...that is another story.