[Renato1 (Renato)]

If you are having trouble keeping your 11x56 steady, I'm not fond of sticking binoculars on tripods and sitting behind them either. But, if you stick them on a tripod and hold the binoculars via the tripod legs, you can use the binoculars like you always do (pointing anywhere), and they are steadier because of the extra mass.

I can't really answer your question about really expensive binoculars on the sky because I have astigmatism and there's a limit to how well I can see.

But many years back I went looking for better 10x50 binoculars than what I had at a store in Melbourne. The chap handed me a $200 Nikon pair and I looked across the street at people walking. Nice enough image.
Then he handed me a $400 Meade pair - looked at the people, nicer image.
Then he handed me a $1000 pair - looked at the people, even nicer image.
Then he handed me a $2400 pair of 10X40 Leicas - looked at the people, and I automatically dodged to the side because my brain interpretted the person walking into me as real, rather than as an image.

And so I finally knew why people were paying big buck for binoculars. I did try expensive Zeiss ones in another store, but didn't get the same effect.

There is one aspect of binoculars I do not understand though. Because of my astigmatism when I look through binoculars with a 5mm or 7mm exit pupil the stars have spikes unless I stick eyeglass corrector lenses on them.

So I have a pair of 7x50 Fujinons which I don't like much because of the spikes. But I have an earlier pair of 7X50 Fuji Meibos which I do like with less spikes.
And similarly, I have a then fairly expensive pair of Nikon 10x70s which I didn't like (had to put lens correctors on them) versus a pair of Orion 9x63 which are really good without correctors.

The closest pairs in terms of image quality to those Leica 10X40s I mentioned are my 10X40 Vanguard Endeavour IV ED which I bought from a chap here, and my 8X33 Minox HG.

That said, the pair I often use here, and nearly all the time when on vacation in Europe, is my Celestron 15X70s - but I don't have much trouble hand holding them.
Regards,
Renato