All such controls as well as balance add distortion to the signal unless they are done in the digital domain and then the chips must be of excellent quality. Sometimes the distortion is not noticeable.
Are tone controls worth a second look ?
Are tone controls still prohibited from ''high end''audio?
Seems to me that with all of the advances in electronic design, they starting to make sense again.
In my humble opinion, tone controls are not unlike adding, or substracting sonic flavor to music reproduction. Like switching interconnects or speaker cables that will affect the sound in X or Y manner.
I am not reffering to a technical comparison between tone controls and cables, but rather that their effect could be similar. When you think of it, cables have their own colors. And we pay dearly for this without the opportunity of a ''tone defeat'' button.
What do you think?