You are right...
I forgot that i listen ONLY to acoustic instrument...Mostly... Then i must undertand that people MAY AND CAN "play" with it to compensate some cd recording flaws...Not because their audio system exhibit flaws,...I confuse my system experience with all others... 😁
But i must say to correct you that it is impossible to experience natural Timbre sound with an overall bad tonal balance... Then timbre experience encompass for his optimal perception and ask for overall tonal balance... But because you said it and explained it to me very well , i am wrong then refusing to others the necessity to play with it to accomodate some recording flaws and not so much audio system flaw as i wrongly claimed in a too hasty manner ...😁
Myself i used E/Q only to correct tonal overall balance of my dual drivers headphone for a better timbre experience... I dont mind some flaws time to time in recording...Most of my files are classical or jazz always acoustic instrument ... I did not listen to pop , rock, heavy metal nor electronica... but i must admit that all people are not like me then i was dogmatical 😁forgetting that there are recording problems in many musical genres..
i thank you for opening my eyes and rightfully correcting me...
I wish you the best from my heart...
«Saying that you are never dogmatical is being dogmatical »--Groucho Marx🤓
@mahgister
Forgive me but I’m having difficulty locating my experience with EQ within your framework... so I must use my own framework in this case.
For me, it’s not so much about timbre as it is about overall tonal balance-- most often the highs are too forward or sometimes the lower mids are lacking clarity -- imbalances due to the, at times, frustratingly-inconsistent SQ of compact discs.
The more resolving my system becomes, the better all CDs sound but their individual differences are also more apparent. They do not sound uniformly wonderful.
While I do not keep glaringly poor-sounding CDs in my collection, there are some that only require small EQ adjustments in order to eliminate otherwise distracting flaws that inhibit, as you might say, "immersiveness". This is not typically an issue with acoustic music genres but can certainly be an issue with electric instruments.
I hope this makes sense, despite being presented within a different framework.