How much reality do you really need?

There is no reality. It is all an illusion. You want the most believable illusion you can get or the most accurate interpretation of the artist's and engineer's  intension. The only way you can possibly know how far this goes is to hear it and it is the rare system that performs at this level. 
The money spent has less to do with this level of performance than you would think. I would also guess that most of the people here will know it when they here it. In my aging memory there have been exactly three systems that performed at this level. (that I have heard) One was based on a 4 way dynamic speaker, one on a three way ribbon speaker and the last on ESLs. It is what Harry Pearson called "the absolute sound." 
Looking for it can be an addiction. Gammaman just got a set of Magico S7's from a fellow who really needs to be in rehab. He spends ridiculous amounts of money and spits out equipment at an unbelievable rate. Nice guy to know for sure. Just stand at his front door with a catchers glove. 
I hope he finds what he is looking for. 

Real needs to be defined or the discussion is pointless. 

Mijostyn:

“There is no reality, it’s all an illusion.”

Bingo!

This is actually a valid question the OP asks. Years ago, when I had a very different system then I do now, I was listening to the Genesis  Invisible Touch disc. On one of the songs, I could clearly hear for the first time that Phil's vocal was being recorded in a studio isolation booth, and even though that may be a sign of "accurate" reproduction, I found it a little distracting, and it took away some of the magic of the song.

“Reality is overrated”, “There is no reality”, “Everything is an illusion”,
”A good system gets you halfway there”.
Obviously, any electronic recreation of reality can be an artistic picture of reality. Nothing more.
High End Audio is technically based but it is really an art.
There is an art in building a component as well as building a system.
Like a conductor playing an orchestra, the audiophile plays the system. All elements working together to create an electronic, symphonic presentation of reality.