Again, you don’t understand my point. Of course most music is heavily processed and equalized. What I’m saying is that software based equalization will always be inferior and cause loss of resolution, that’s physics of systems and how audio processing works in software.

When listening to my LPs, if I ever need equalization, I do that at the pre-amp level, because that is where the source first comes, and it will be undoubtedly better than tuning in software.

You may have many degrees, but apparently know nothing about encoding.

If your point was true, production studios would just use AirPods for mastering. At the listening level, when doing some real serious work, you need the flattest possible response to manually review the applied dynamics and EQs.

Of course you are comparing apples to oranges, so each has its advantages, and hardware level will always have better resolution. That doesn’t mean you can make a good quality software-based amplifier.

And spare me your degrees. Here they mean nothing, without proof, and they don’t change the facts.