Oppo Vs Esoteric

For those who prefer the more expensive players mentioned, can you describe any efforts you may have taken wherein you played the same exact music (duplicate CDs) through both players at the same time through the same preamp, switching back and forth between the two, and to the best of your ability exactly what difference you have heard?  I have done this many, many times with players costing between $700 and $5,000 and have heard very negligible differences.  Never any Esoteric though for me (Sony, Oppo, Meridian, and Ayre mostly).  What I have heard (when there were differences) might represent a 5% overall difference/improvement, and it was in the area of reproduction of the space of the recording venue (sense of realism), some increase in clarity/resolution (which would contribute to the first part).  Differences were in line with cable swapping.  When a $1k player sounds incredibly close to a $5k player, I would label that a tremendous value in my book - and I'm not just talking about Oppo.  But if you have an incredibly accurate system, as with everything else in this hobby the differences might be worth the investment.  I agree with what Chayro said above in this regard.