It seems that unless by-laws are totally specific, we haven’t got much ammunition.
Specific by-laws demanding a certain thickness or brand of insulation could be redundant in NSW, following the Court of Appeal’s ruling against by-laws banning pets.
The gist of the ruling was that by-laws can’t force residents to do anything to pre-empt a problem that might happen. You have to establish whether or not a problem exists and then deal with it using the available aspects of strata law.
That would mean anyone can put down any flooring they like, but they should be aware that if it cause a noise issue, they could be forced to change it.