But yeah, MPC-HC is much better than VLC. Bleeding edge video playback (e.g., 10-bit, subtitle support, and more).
As for music players, Foobar is my player of choice, although you're going to have to be willing to do some customization if you want to get the most of out if. You can install a normal skin/theme and it'd be adequate, but I need to add a few things of my own before I'm happy.