Does your amp/preamp/int amp have to look good?

Yes, they need to at least look good to me. My VAC preamp and my Cary amp are exceptional in my eye, the W4S not so much. It is a clean and honest design, just not real good looking.
Current brands that don't do much for me style wise would be VTL, Atmasphere, and Soulution.

Back when I had all EAR equipment I used to just look at the rack, with the music off. It was that beautiful to me. Now they're gone. While EAR stuff sounds great, it's really overpriced, IMO. Oh well...

For me it matters only because I won't audition a piece of kit I don't like the looks of. As far as I'm concerned, my Harbeth's are the best looking speakers on the planet. I do not like fancy glossy gear. There's so much amazing gear out there that I have enough choices to avoid looks I don't like. Of course if everything looked like a Vivid B1 I'd had no choice but to make my house look like Tony Sopranos.

Beauty is in the ear of the beholder!
FWIW I'm a budget aupiophool. My listening room is away from the rest of the house in the basement. Usually an "ugly" piece of gear can be got at a good price, but it MUST sound good. I could care less about the fine "look" of a piece of gear. I listen in the dark and everything looks the same with the lights out. :-)

How it sounds is MOST important Dude.