The reason someone in 2003 would say that is we all wanted hi rez....and the only hi rez then was SACD and DVD-A.....and you then needed an SACD player as Sony would not allow digital out of the DSD signal. So, I started modding SACD players.....because that is what everyone wanted. Of course, when downloads started to happend and then streaming.....then DACs came back into vogue. Now there are a lot of integrated amps, streamers and powered speaker that have DACs built in but the DAC game is still alive and well. Look at the raves over the new cheap Holo and the Laiv DACs.
If I were looking for a solid state amp in the under $3K range than the Purifi, Orchard, NCx500 and Nilai (stock, and of course, modded) fill the bill. However, if you want to spend twice as much, then you have the AGD Tempo and tubey dude, the Atmasphere and the Coda 5.5 to consider. I would never buy one of these amps without comparing them all. They all have rave reviews but hardly any comparisons. Most amps can be purchased with a 30 day trial.....of course, you have wait times for some amps......like the Coda. Even more expensive would be the bigger AGDs. the Merrills, the hopefully about to be released Mytek, etc......and of course, you can combine a class D amp with a tube preamp or input stage to give that tube magic.