Different strokes for different folks. Personally, I love having the ability to adjust sound to fit my mood. My Mac has a 5 band EQ that I adjust as required. True, the sound that day in that studio was recorded as such to suit that engineer sitting at the controls. However, he had no idea where I'd be 5, 10, or 20 years later on a particular day, with a particular attitude, in a particular mood. So, it's fulfilling to me that I can tone down the bass or mids or highs or increase those gains to suit my mood. Heresy you say? But isn't it a personal journey to experience your own nirvana? Mr. D, your quest and acceptance of "flat" is your peace. It's just not mine in an ever changing force of moods and feelings.
I like my system flat, no tone controls, no eq..........what is your preference, and why.
A poster on another thread here has encouraged me to post this. Been an audio professional and a hobbyist for 50 tears. I had my time with eq, tone controls ( even reverb and time delay units ). I am currently at the point where I need nothing to alter the recordings I listen to, nor to compensate for room aberrations. I have spent lots of money on equipment , had equipment on loan, of all types ( pretty much a bit of everything, for the most part ) and I have tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked. I have recently tooled down to a much simpler and less expensive system, and I find I am the happiest I have ever been. Might be my amp, my passive unit, my speakers...…….yes, all of that. Yes, all of that is important, but it is the system synergy that has made me realize that changing anything with an eq or tone controls took me further from that synergy, that balance. I accept, and enjoy my recordings for what they are. Some better than others ( sq ). But, I am enjoying the brilliance of all the studio work put into them, exactly as they were intended to be listened to. This is me. I do not believe in right or wrong, better or worse, newer vs older, yada yada yada. I have believed, and have stated, particularly in this hobby, to each his own. I hear fuse differences, power cable differences, etc. Some believe I was born a bat. I am happy of my gift, not just hearing well, but through the years, teaching myself " what it is I like ", which is the key for most of us. I am not sure where this thread will go, but I put it out there, and hope folks will drop in, even though much of it might have been stated before in other threads. Thank you A'gon family, be well, and Enjoy ! MrD.