Running audio from your DAW through external hardware processing such as an outboard equalizer will introduce some latency into your signal chain, although you can generally compensate for this in your DAW.
Also, depending on your computer's processing power, the latency introduced into your signal may be negligible if the audio settings are properly configured in your DAW.
We would recommend that you consult the documentation for your DAW or contact the developer of your software for more information on this.
However, you may be interested in checking out the 'Pipeline' feature in Studio One (Studio One 3 Artist is included with the Studio 6|8 interface, as well as our StudioMagic plugin bundle), which allows hardware processors such as an outboard EQ to be inserted on audio channels in much the same way that virtual effects are inserted inside your DAW.
Pipeline automatically compensates for the latency involved in routing audio from Studio One to your audio interface and back. This is based on the reported input and output latency from your hardware interface driver.
The roundtrip latency being compensated for is displayed in milliseconds at the bottom of the Pipeline interface. There is also a manual offset control for fine tuning of the returned audio signal.
Please see the following video for more information on using Pipeline in Studio One:
More information on Studio One 3 Artist and the StudioMagic bundle can be found at the following links:
https://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one/compare-versions
https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-Magic
