Sound

Ultimately you want a system that you enjoy. If equalization works for you, use it.
 

There are folks trying to build the best system possible, over the long term. I have been working on my for fifty years. There are paths that can get you off track. Equalization is one of them. It fixes issues but creates others. I have tried it several times and ultimately realized it created more problems than it solved. . Basically, I found that I needed to fix the problem directly instead of the symptom to get the most out of my components. If a component was too bright… getting a component that was not too bright got me much further along than did modifying the sound with a equalization… or whatever the problem was. 

i agree with @ghdprentice as he stated above

that said, some folks have less time resources bandwidth, and thus a well designed fairly simple unit like a loki can fix some problems

but for a proper longer time answer for a dedicated audiophile really trying to optimize his/her rig, @ghdprentice 's approach is spot on imho

To me, no equalizer will fix problems with songs or your system. I feel I have my room pretty well treated and don’t hear dips or loud frequencies( cancel or add) I have tried to keep the sound as neutral as possible, then I feel I can tell if something changed or still isn’t where it needs to be.

I also don’t listen to music simply because it is recorded "properly". Well ...most of the time.

@ghdprentice 

Years ago I had a rather pricey (for those days) equalizer referred to as a SCAN-ALYZER/EQUALIZER.  Used a microphone to analyze tone and had a thousand levers for fine tuning adjustments, left and right channels adjusted individually.   Based on my results with that unit I would completely agree with you.

Now with a whole new system, I purchased the newly introduced Schitt Lokius a few months ago.  I find it works very well for fine tuning.  This may be because I wanted to add a just touch more treble emphasis to my soft dome tweeters, versus compensate for any weakness in the electronics.  For me it is basically set and forget, same adjustment for all music, not adjusted individually for any particular song or album.

As wolf mentioned:

 No clue how they managed this but you can flip it on and off, take it out for comparison, pour hot lava on it, subject it to quantum magnetic hypersnot....whatever...and it is signalus non interuptus el mundo.

I wish I had learned to speak Spanish.

Yes, I also try to fix as many of the sound issues with room treatment and speaker placement. With phono cartridge selection, you can also tweak a bit. Tube rolling has also helped. Luckily my Tannoys have high frequency energy adjustment pads that help too. But these are just subtleties that come after the room issues have been resolved.

I'm all in for any way to adjust/equalize without another circuit involved. My system has no tone controls so the room set up is critical to me. But then, I lucked out with an old house with nice formal rectangular rooms.

One of my dreams was to own an Eichler Home. But the open architecture that's become so vogue these days really doesn't help.

Give me a pre 1940s home any day. Heavy plaster walls, l solid wood floors and formal, mostly symmetrical room shapes.

Yeah. Conclusion? Be happy with what exists in your present surroundings? It’s like” How long is a piece of string?”

or the old razor blade commercials that promised they would shave you 25% closer or their brand of blades were 25% sharper. Than what? No one knows… no one really knows the truth of sound either. 
 

Today there are no FACTS anymore, but lots of OPINION… and we don’t use KNOBS anymore to turn on the news. Just my opinion.