You can buy a lot of great music for the price of a modest component.
Depending on what type of music you listen to, you're quite possibly listening to an effect more than the recreation of a "real" thing, and in this case, if it sounds good it probably is good.
The room is going to have a huge effect on how good things will ever sound.
A corrolary to that is that if you're not willing to modify / treat your room, you're going to be considerably more limited in the performance you can achieve.
An early question to ask is how much you value convenience vs. performance. CDs are a lot more convenient but many swear the only true performance is vinyl. A CD changer randomly playing tunes is great fun (as a transport only, of course), but many would say it's too big a sacrifice.