I think for many a high quality eq would make a heck of a lot more sense than the hit or miss attempts that are made with cables, tubes, etc.. Others might not need them. I suspect that more people would probably benefit from room correction, and then perhaps with that base line, eq's could be used more appropriately for individual recordings and tastes.
Should Equalizers make a comeback?
Some like warm, some like bright, some like neutral. Should hardware equalizers make a comeback? Basically aren't Marantz and Rotel amps just rolled off a tiny bit in upper end? In the recording world, you can buy a one box Focusrite mic preamp emulator that seeks to recreate the classics from the past (I'm sure it lacks in pure sound quality from the originals). Would something like this work for audiophiles?