I'll also mention that audibly transparent (neutral) is not boring and lifeless as is often claimed. Harmon has done extensive research using loudspeakers, and they found that people universally prefer speakers that are most accurate. Hey, don't you want to hear exactly what the mix engineer and producer heard as they honed the music?
--Ethan Winer
To add to what Ethan said, there are very rarely good reasons to deviate from what the artist intended. For instance, examine the word "hi-fi" attributed so frequently to expensive cans. What does it mean? Hi-fi means high fidelity to the source. Meaning, more expensive setups should naturally get you closer to what the artist intended. If people wanted coloration in their music, EQ could get them far closer to what they really want.
Which brings us to another question: what do we really want? Some people identify themselves as "bassheads". What does this even mean? Does it mean that they want accentuated bass in everything that they hear? Does this mean that they desire purely the sound - preferring bass to be more prominent than the midrange or treble in overall sound presentation - ,and not the artistry of music - sophisticated blend of articulation, lyrics, harmony, rhythm, etc. ? But one could hardly want a greater bass presence in every song that they listen to - listening to a Mozart symphony with overpowering bass instruments is not only disrespectful to the composer, performers, and recorder, but also an unpleasant musical experience.
On the other hand, it's true that headphones need a greater bass presence. Subbass is particularly hard to replicate in headphones. It's easy to hear them but difficult to feel them unless the subbass is elevated than what is considered a flat frequency response.
Despite what many people think, there is a large number of music that recording engineers painfully strive to perfect. Most people have never heard a neutral rig or have enough experiences of live performances; they blatantly refuse to give a chance to listen to what these engineers and artists intended. I think that's a real shame. Coloration of the sound should occur only after one has heard what the artist intended. In addition, coloration of sound should only be applied to particular songs/ pieces of music at a time, not exerted on one's whole music library.
But let me elaborate. Let's assume that you already listened to what the engineer intended:
Obviously there are times when the listener wants something that deviates from - or improves upon - what the artist/ engineer intended. In such scenarios, it's very well favorable to color the sound to one's subjective liking. It's absurd to assume that one should always listen to what the artist/ engineer intended; doing so would mean one believes that an artist always make the best decisions within the music, never making arbitrary or poor choices, which is largely false. Only the greatest musicians created music with the utmost deliberation.
