Show me what technical apparatus Stradivarius used in building violins other than his ears and we might be getting somewhere on this....Acoustics is a multidimensional, inexact science, that’s why concert halls are built by masters using lots of technology AND their ears. Any half decent sound engineer will tell you the same.
Acoustic is at the exact crossroads of many sciences and your post is right on the target...
Ears are mandatory in this science and object of study and tools at the same time...
This is why acoustic is very complex and the last book i begin to read about "timbre" concepts appeal to more than a dozen fields...
Timbre Acoustics, Perception, and Cognition by Kai Siedenburg, Charalampos Saitis, Stephen McAdams, Arthur N. Popper, Richard R. Fay
Only "skeptic club" sunday scientist think otherwise...
I even read by one audiophile "professional" skeptic here that we must not trust our own ears in any time.... It is very comical and tragic also to read this amount of insanity....He think an equalizer suffice to controls a room acoustic...This is pure market conditioning... You dont construct a house with one tool.... Better many tools especially the main tool : the ears...