I do use a remote for foobar2k, it saves me the hassle of standing everytime i want to change my music, increase or decrease the volume. I also like the feature that the music pauses when there is an incoming or outgoing call. I can even turn off my laptop using my phone. The search function also works great, the only thing i dont like was I am not able to configure my selection by album, but you can cue all your favorite songs first on your laptop. All you need is a stable wifi connection. How cool is that? Well maybe not that cool, but I like it!
Dont know about skins that much, I would also like to hear from someone who uses them.
One more thing, Based on my experience, the shorter the usb cable I use from my laptop to my dac, the cleaner the music I get. Ultra silly claim right? Or maybe its just me and my foolish ears. So I would rather have the laptop near the dac which is 6ft away from the listening area and have it controlled via foobar2k remote. Im using the foobar2000 controller pro by sergi mola. You try using the free version first and if you like it, download the pro version for less than P100.