“I also have no problem spending good money to choose a "better cable" for it's improved physical or cosmetic properties, such as better construction, less tangling, better comfort, ideal length, the appropriate connectors, and microphonics, etc.”
slight nitpick here: don’t generalize EQ’s. On the consumer side most are poorly implemented and don’t meet the audiophile standard. You really have to hunt and pay for the good ones, in my experience. Generalizing statements above about EQs is dangerous as it leads audiophiles to assume all EQ sounds bad. Right? They hear one. It sounds bad. They give up. The truth is you really get what you pay for. If you really want SOTA EQ for your SOTA stereo, you have painstakingly demo software or hardware and pay the piper. Just like any hi fi component