Oppo Vs Esoteric

My Ayon Cd5s is several leagues ahead of my Oppo105D - so much so that the Oppo on SACD is far beneath Red book on Ayon. So I use my Oppo to listen to the audio tracks of DVD and Blue Ray movies only. I have no bone to pick with Oppo it has been reliable and I love their high end headphones

Thanks folks for your inputs. I am wondering if I should spend the big dollars on a unit like the Esoteric or get the Oppo for now and then spend on a outboard DAC like the Bryston or the Holo, later next year. I plan to upgrade the loudspeakers soon and have allocated a good chunk of the budget for it.

I use a seriously modified Oppo BDP 95 for 2,5 years and it was very good and satisfying, I had no issues with it, and it played everything . I then took an Esoteric K 07 for a spin, and that was the end of the Oppo, the baby Esoteric is just in a different league, and has stand alone DAC capability, this has now been in my system for over a year, and no turning back. The Oppo now resides in the separate AV system, and does a stunning job there.......

How much "better" one component is over another is totally dependent on your system, your ears and your sonic priorities.  Depending on what the listener values, there may be no advantage to buying a more expensive player.  For me, the better players offer more natural instrumental and vocal timbres and a better general illusion of realism.  But that means nothing if you don't hear it.  Frankly, the only way to really know is to demo the two players side-by-side.  Or just buy an Oppo, break it in for a few months and take it to an Esoteric dealer and compare it to something much more expensive and see if the differences mean anything to you.  Best of luck. 

I agree with most posters here,having owned several Esoteric now for 8 or 9 years and heard OPPO stock and modified...thers no comparison,none,