You can measure how fast people read. It varies per person but it's not an opinion.
But this is not about readability. It's about what looks 'better', whether you prefer balance vs. having the comments closer. The real debate is about a subjective thing, and not about readability.
So you have a mathematical formula for Readability, excellent.
That would be simpler than adjusting things by 3px until they just look spectacular and zing off the page.