EQ is a tool!
It can be abused, but when required it should be used. To arbitrarily use it everywhere or nowhere is not logical.
Unfortunately, because it is such an easy tool to use, it has become a sort of
Toy to some people. Nothing wrong with that, everybody is free to do what they like to their sound to suit them.
Manufacturer's sound,
originality, etc. does not come into it. I like a warmer sound, my brother likes a brighter sound, who's to say which one is wrong or right, that argument is false.
However, to blindly apply large amounts of EQ, because a certain graph or post says so, is madness.
To begin with, the Harman curve is an approximation! derived by collecting data from a bunch of listeners and their
Preferences! It is unlike a flat frequency response of an amp or a DAC, where actual output can be accurately measured.
Seasoned headphone reviewers, do provide data regarding the seal and its effects (not the same on every headphone), positioning, etc. Meaning, even they have difficulty in reproducing a certain FR curve, accurately, for the same headphones in two consecutive days. Hell, even I couldn't do it on my modest rig (miniDSP EARS)! Move the headphones a few millimetres and the FR curve changes.
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Don't go precisely by any FR curve.
They are all approximates, by up to +/-2dB for sure. That is from 100Hz up to about 3kHz! outside that range, the deviations are much larger.
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Back to EQ,
It has pitfalls!
Music energy is not equal across audio band. Most of the energy is in the lowest octaves, BASS. from there on, it takes a nose dive.
You can see that past the first couple of hundred hertz, it is down by 20/40dB and keeps going down, depending on content
Add to that, almost all headphones have the highest distortion patterns at same frequencies.
Increase the Bass frequencies, you massively increase distortions!
But that's not all. Since bass frequencies have the largest levels in music, when converted to digital, there is not much digital headroom there, so if you use a digital EQ (almost always) you can also push it into digital clip.
So anybody who knows anything about proper EQing, knows that if you EQ up, you need to apply preamp cut.
That is not accurate!
Preamp cut becomes necessary, only if you EQ the lower frequencies, past a few hundred hertz, there is plenty of headroom to EQ up.
Preamp cut also has an issue. These days with power hungry headphones, and clean max. available-power from amps at a premium, means if you do a preamp cut of just 3dB, then your 1W lovely amp, gets limited to 0.5W amp.
Those who advocate 6dB or more bass EQ, with the same preamp cut, will need an amp four times the max. power, and at higher levels (if they even get there) have to deal with massively elevated bass distortions.
Use EQ sparingly.
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