Less equals more sound quality ....and more hardware equals less sound quality.
Every wire, connector, cable, resistor, capacitor, inductor and so on - degrades sound quality.
Less is more. and the less it is in the way of parts and more those limited numbers of internal parts are of a high quality, the higher quality of sound will be obtained.
the idea of not having eq, not having tone controls, not using active circuits as additional pass through of the signal, is all about getting closer to a higher fidelity to the the original recording. To do no more damage to the signal, as much as is possible.
In that direction is audio nirvana. No new piece of equipment added in, be it analog Eq, digital room eq, anything complex..all of that is sonically degrading. It’s a total backwards move.
It’s a down slope into a black hole of circular motion into a nothing and/or less.
Less. is. more.
It is an important lesson in the direction of getting to the actual and whole "raison d’être" of the audio endeavor.
By all means, try an eq. But, if one tries moving in the direction of less is more, one might find that the whole EQ thing becomes meaningless (and worse, ie, detrimental) in one’s discovery of a greater, far more rewarding fundamental.
Every single piece of gear and every single internal component, every single speaker, every single cable.., every switch, every potentiometer, every chip, every circuit board, every metal alloy or element......all of it damages audio quality. Period. This is the heart of the known problem. Therefore---- Less really ~IS~ more.
You will not find a single knowledgeable, intelligent, and experienced audio designer - that disagrees with any part of what I’ve written here.
It’s a simple logic involving the physics of electrical function. All known aspects of conductive and non conductive materials, when integrating with electrical function, damages the signal integrity. No exceptions known to humanity.
The fight for highest fidelity is actually, in truth, a fight to reach the least amount of signal degradation or damage.
So, one can see, in the face of such simple logic ..which may not be as well known or understood as it should...that this is why audiophiles generally do not want anything to do with an EQ.
There is no solution but that of tossing complex and additive equipment out the window.
Obviously, some parts of the market dislike this simple truth ...and drag people down the wrong path. You see it play out at audio shows. The simple set up rooms vs the behemoth complex things. Who and what is right? Depends on one’s personal level of accomplishment in hearing training vs capacity for hearing vs brain power thrown at the problem.
