Negative Feedback a deal killer?

Some of the best measuring and worst sounding amps ever made had massive amounts of negative feedback. The Japanese amps of the 70s are the best examples of this, .0001 distortion. It is not that distortion makes an amp sound good, it is what you have to do to reduce it to tiny levels that makes it sound bad. While negative feedback may reduce measured distortion its correlation with sound quality is another matter. A good amp can have no global feedback or a moderate amount. Mine has none and has a considerably higher level of distortion than the vanishing level of distortion amps of the 70s but is a far better sound amp than they were. But intelligent design is everything; we are still searching [after all these years] for either design principals or measurements which will guarantee good sound. Peter Walker , of Quad fame, said years ago that he could build an amp that would look good on every test but that would be unable to play a recognizable tune. Neither design principals nor simple measurements is really going to tell you what an amp sounds like in a given situation. If distortion were the overriding factor then no one would ever buy a tube amp, obviously there are other factors at work.

"Or should one just listen and shut up"

Wisdom defined.

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"Or should one just listen and shut up"

Wisdom defined.
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If we all followed that advice, there would be no forums on Audiogon. If only the wise did, they could only learn from the unwise :)

It would have to depend on how much positive feedback the amp has received, wouldn't it? (Sorry -- a little Audiogon sales joke there.)

I have two sets of amps that use zero feed back (Atmasphere, Electra Print), one amp that uses minimal feedback (VAC), and another amp that uses moderate feedback (Music Reference). I use and love the sound of all of them in my system.

I suppose we might also clarify whether the discussion is about global feedback, local feedback, or both. While we're on the topic, when a company markets their product as a zero feedback design what are they really referring to? It's been my understanding that this generally refers to global feedback only. I had an interesting conversation with Roger Modjeski on this once. It's a topic you don't want to get him started on unless you have the time and knowledge to keep up with him.