Actually Bombaywalla, there is such a thing as having too high a damping factor as well as too low - one is overdamped, the other underdamped. The ideal damping factor would be what is called the "critical damping factor", but allowing for a deviation of about half the value around the critical point usually won't cause much difference. I think that for most speaker systems, this "critical" point probably occurs between a DF of 10 to 100 or so (if it's a lot higher, then the speaker was an underdamped design to begin with), so most amps, even most tube amps (excepting low- or no-feedback single-ended designs), should possess a sufficiently high damping factor to control the woofer well on any speaker having a reasonable bass impedance minimum. I have always found that the overdamped bass sound that results with certain SS amps having DF's in the hundreds or thousands is less pleasant on the ears than the more moderate damping that results with amps having DF's in the <100 range. Of course, there is another benefit to an amp's having a relatively low output impedance, namely the reduction of amplitude response deviations caused by the speaker's impedance curve varying with frequency. But since amps with very low output impedances (and thus very high damping factors) typically achieve those specs through the heavy application of global negative feedback in the circuit, I feel there is still often a sonic price to be paid in terms of transient and harmonic purity when engineering for lowest output impedance as opposed to allowing for a bit of response modification, dependent on the speaker used, with a moderate negative feedback design. (Remember, all of this is a separate issue from the question of adequate current supply to meet low-impedance high-volume bass demand.) And like you say, FWIW, IMHO, YMMV, etc...
Fishcall, it is good to bear in mind that between a higher-powered and a lower-powered amp, the more powerful amp may spec out with less dynamic headroom beyond its rated RMS power limits, but still actually be capable of deliving more power on dynamic peaks precisely because those limits are much higher to begin with. On the other hand, you could look at an amp featuring a small headroom margin as being designed with a skimpy power supply for its rated output. It can all be kind of arbitrary anyhow, since manufacturers can manipulate rated power and distortion figures to be conservative or liberal, and besides those numbers aren't arrived at by playing an actual music signal into actual loudspeakers, and may not take into account the fashion in which a given amp approaches clipping. But in any case, it's most important to make sure you get an amp having adequate power reserves to more than comfortably drive your particular speakers, in your size of room, playing your types of music at your preferred volumes, and then you won't have to worry about rated headroom specs.
