you could buy a Krell CD player for 10,000$ or you could use that for a down payment on a house.

Buy a player with decent price. Stay away from something that's $100 because it's probably not durable. A Panasonic DVD player will give you excellent video quality and will send 1's and 0's for audio no better than an exotic player to your receiver. Use a decent fiber optic, if not, a good coax cable, and you're set.