Behringer DEQ2496 - worth using in hi-end system?

Goatwuss...Why do you ASSUME that there will be audible "negative effects" which need to be outweighed by room correction? If your system is good enough to worry about this sort of thing the $350 cost of the DEQ2496 and mic will be a trivial expense. Buy one and listen for yourself. No one but you yourself can tell you what you will think of the "transparency". On the other hand, the benefits of room correction are well established.

Guys, just think about it, we all care enormously about getting as perfect DAC as possible, it comes to serious numbers... And you want to pass your good analog signal through good-for-the-price but ultimately not refined AD stage, and then again thorough the same kind of DA, which may sound more then acceptable, but deteriorates refinement - and refinement is all what this hobby about.

Dmitrydr...Have you tried it? Refinement is not price.

If you insist, RAM will mod your DEQ2496 to the ultimate of refinement, with output through silver wire Swiss audio transformers, for about a grand.

And what's the point of a superb system, if the room screws it all up?

Enjoying music is what the hobby is about to me. I no longer give a damn about refinement.

In fact, the more refined my system has become, the less I have enjoyed it.

That's quite a statement, Grant. Can you say a little more -- why do you suppose more refinement = less enjoyment? Come to think of it, what does refinement mean to you? It's a term I use frequently, but I wonder if we would all agree as to its meaning.