My opinion on the topic is that there is an argument for both. To your peers, the nerdier side, the tracking, the polyphony juggling, the synthesis, is all appealing. This is the input. Perhaps it is their approval you are aiming for, but after the initial scrutiny and investigation, what does your hard work hold? There's a song, but is it enjoyable?
Its hard to know, too! You have to be quite open to criticism to even be aware of these things. Sometimes its completely silly what people like; you can put tons of effort into a masterpiece of a song, and then the track that people will actually like is the one you whipped out in 15 minutes to fill space or whatever.
I think its important to realize that your opinion as the creator of the music only goes so far. Listeners will make of it what they will, and that is something that we as artists have surprisingly little control over.