Like you, I looked at the Skipjack, saw its price, and said "you gotta be kidding me." At the risk of being pilloried by my fellow A'goners, I'd suggest trying a Dynex DX-CVS4, which will cost less than $50.00 (it can be bought at Best Buy) and has a wireless remote (Logitech remotes can be programmed to work with it, as well). I use one to add extra inputs to my Krell preamp for a tuner and CD Jukebox, and it seems to work fine. If you try it and feel it causes "sonic damage" you can return it to Best Buy. If not, you've saved $1600.00 and have a wireless remote, to boot!
Incidentally, there doesn't seem to be much between the two options. I looked for other solutions, and there doesn't seem to be much out there.