I trust my ears = only way to find what subjectively resonates with me. But it doesn’t mean to only try once then draw conclusions although this may apply on some occasions.
Building trust in my ears likely stem from experience from many demos. Starting out late in our high end audio hobby, my strategy was to demo the best gear based on reviews, then try to recreate favored Sonics within my budget. Attended many audio shows and brick n mortar stores. Many had great Sonics, but very few resonated (pulled me in, hard to leave) with me.
If one is not trusting their ears, perhaps they have not demoed enough to know the playing field aka what Sonics to target.
Another possibility is that our moods greatly affects our engagement in our audio systems including boredom. I mitigate this through variety- different systems (SS/tube, analog, digital) and components (various carts, amps…)