I’ve stated this before, here and other places, that if you are in the mindset of wanting to hear the music “as the artist intended” (which I think is a ridiculous notion in the first place), then you SHOULD be using EQ with headphones (read why here).
Now, while I am an advocate for EQ for the reasons stated in that post, I fully recognize the cons regarding the physics of EQ is that there 1) could be limitations of the driver’s excursion, which adds more distortion/breakup, and 2) there could be unwanted phase shift artifacts and interactions inside the cup due to latency in the time domain. This is why I believe EQ is far more common and accepted in speakers than in headphones. So with that said, SR1a doesn’t have a sealed cup, thus no artifact interaction issues, and from what I can tell in my own experience with them and what other owners have said, there doesn’t seem to be a driver limitation issue either. So if there ever was an ideal headphone to use EQ on and not get nervosa about it, SR1a is it. Seriously, if bass quantity is your only issue and you have the ability to use EQ, it seems silly to dismiss SR1a.