Maybe there's a slight conflict between "solid engineering" and "hi fi"..? In a recent review of a DAC, Amir was critical of its capacitor coupled output, but one way of protecting an AC output against short circuits to DC is to couple it to the outside world via a capacitor. It also protects against faults in your circuit propagating down the line into a power amplifier with DC coupling and blowing up the speakers (or worse?).
(I am not saying that that particular product used capacitors for this reason, however. The same product seemed to use a double sided PCB when it really should have been at least a four layer. The cost savings are presumably significant for a budget device, but can you then call it "solid engineering"?).
At one time Quad used to say their amps were "Unconditionally stable into any load", and they were used in professional applications as 'workhorses'. This, in itself put many hi-fi enthusiasts off the brand, and they couldn't get out of their heads the idea that the output was woolly, restrained, over-protected, dull. If you want to make an electronic circuit 'bullet-proof', it will require extra complexity that hi-fi enthusiasts will shun.
Surface mount devices are much more reliable and produce electrically superior circuits compared to through-hole leaded components, but hi-fi enthusiasts are convinced they "suck the life out of music".