IMO, @audnacious hit the nail squarely on the head, and very succinctly, too:
"A man must have his tools to correct that which needs adjustment."
The more tools you have at your disposal, the better job you can do, regardless of the task.
Go get out your pitchforks, I’ve done a sacrilegious thing. . .
. . . I’ve added an EQ!
A Loki Max to be exact - and so far, I love it!
I believe in the purist approach for the most part, and I have a main system that that’s all about, but this system, this is my fun house system, but my room acoustics are not great in my living room. But that doesn’t mean I want crap sound in it either. The wife won’t let me treat the room, but frankly, that isn’t even the main reason I did it.
The system is basically Klipsch Forte III’s, Balanced Audio VX 3ix pre-amp, ARC balanced V35 tube amp, Bifrost 2 DAC getting sound from a Marantz ND8006 streamer. I put the EQ between the DAC and the preamp.
It’s dead quiet, and I can’t discern the difference in bypass mode either.
I figured it’s was a lot easier, and cheaper, to add this one component and get the exact sound I want versus going through a bunch of cables or changing out other equipment.
Soundstage is great, and there doesn’t paper to be any aberrations, but keep in mind this isn’t the most reveling system, another reason I wasn’t too worried about adding an EQ.
All in all, a good investment and make my music more enjoyable!