We are not even in our listening abilities.
For example, at low listening levels, we are dramatically less sensitive to bass than to midrange. As the volume goes up, that sensitivity gap closes.
Frequencies sound different depending on the volume level.
This is the Fletcher-Munson effect — the equal-loudness contours — and it's been measured and confirmed for the better part of a century. What it means practically is that a bass level that sounds perfectly balanced at 85 dB will sound thin at 65 dB and boomy at 95 dB. Same system, same room, same setting on the sub. What changed was how your own ears weight the low end.
The reference is your ears at the level you actually listen. Voice the system there and let the other levels sound how they sound.
Chasing a system that's perfect at 65 and 85 and 95 dB is chasing a moving target no system can hit, because our ears are the ones moving.
Set it right where you live.
Everything else is compromise.
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