It's only fair that I got nitpicked in my nitpicking. :D The quality of beans is definitely a factor, but the difference in acidity from the different preparations is a big factor for me. Especially since I've developed some gastritis, having a less-acidic caffeine delivery system is important.
You can mitigate the acidity somewhat by having mocha or adding milk or creamer.
Acidity is a big bugaboo for me and I tend to take my coffee as either mocha or with two cream, one sugar.
Espresso made with poor quality coffee (bad roast, crappy beans, roasted too long ago, incorrect grind, etc) is going to be just as gross as diner drip.
Another thing to consider is: you can make drip manually, whereby you control the drip rate, total quantity, and water temperature. Not all drip is automatic.