Has a tpa 1549 dac inside. On par or if not better than the sony es players that were doing the rounds around then. And the marantz cd5000 etc. A diamond in the rough. Looks wise not so much though.
A DAC, amp, and streamer (yes, AM/FM is streaming) all in one? Yeah that seems like a pretty good find to me.
The silver plates are good, but honestly downloading MP3's is going to save you way more money for upgrades down the line. 10 of those mirror vinyls could get you a pair of Beats, and thats what the artists use.
No. Cheap plastic junk cannot compare with a "real" hi-fi system. If that's all you can afford, you make do. It's better than nothing. But if you care about hearing everything music has to offer, you'll need something better.
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars on an exotic system. But you will need $500 or so to get you in the ball park with some small proper bookshelf speakers, and a small amplifier. If that CD player has a headphone output, it could function as a line-input source.
And this is how r/audiophile became a circle jerk