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Yeah it's a tricky one, I'm fairly sure I'm biased in my opinion in preferring filter, but I agree with you. Also given the fact that I so rarely actually make myself an espresso and my machine for milky drinks for my wife and in-laws, it's very possibly I'm churning out shite espresso and masking it with some decent milk!
Much like cycling I guess, it's easy to fall into the trap of "maybe if I just spend (much) more money, I'll get better"
mmccarthy-
Recently other half's employer (she works for a family) had their in-laws over. Dad of the family starts talking about how much he likes coffee and brother-in-law inadvertently called his bluff on it by getting really excited and basically strong arming him in to buying a £600 Sage fake-espresso bean-to-cup thing to replace his Nespresso machine. I laughed.
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Yes, I suspect Oatley went public at a multi billion dollar valuation because they were the first people to create a type of milk (Oatley Barista) that basically makes even shitty espresso palatable. It adds a nuttiness and creaminess, and disguises bitterness. Forgives mistakes like nothing else.
Sumo
Invent
I'd add that I reckon the average Joe coffee enthusiast, let's say someone that owns an aeropress and goes to Workshop over Costa, would find it much easier to taste the difference between an average and great filter coffee compared to an average and great espresso. For espresso it's easy to tell the difference between bad and ok but going from ok to great, I reckon not many home baristas can do that. Whereas with filter there's much more room for getting different flavours. Knock out something passable in a hurry or spend a little more time refining it to something niceably better. And the kit to do that costs like £20 including the beans while an espresso machine to make really great, consistent espresso is like >£700 just for the machine.