Real or Surreal. Do you throw accuracy out the window for "better" sound?

To me, surgically dissecting each track and obsessing about instrument placement isn't enjoyment, it's an OCD vampire sucking all the enjoyment out of music and probably life in general. I listen to music for pure enjoyment. I know the way I like it to sound and I build my system to obtain that sound.  I want deep but not over bearing bass, natural mids and crisp but not harsh highs.  I realize and accept that not all recordings have those attributes to reproduce, and I'm fine with that. No amount of money spent on gear will ever make a crap recording sound like anything other than what it is. Finally, I never audition my system for others because, quite frankly, I couldn't care less what others think of my system. I built it for me to please me, and it does that quite admirably. 

I am not bothered if i analyse my soundfield at all because it was done right... It was not easy to do it , we must learn about acoustics and few other things..

I refused to listen music with unnatural sound component...I cannot it bother me too much...

I am not bothered now by ANALYSING the soundfield if i listen music because AFTER my embeddings controls and the right synergetical components picked up, i can listen the sound EFFORTLESSLY, all is at the right place in space, differentiated , and timbre...

What disturb me was CONCENTRATING ON THE MUSIC knowing in the back of my head that my sound stay bad...Then i adressed it in headphone and speakers because i disliked them all anyway right out of the box ...I optimized them... After that only music captivated me with a very good sound on ALL my recordings even the bad one sound less bad and i can listen to them...In my headphone and in my speaker...

There is no difference now between listening sound and/or music because nothing bother me in the back of my head and i am not in the obligation to concentrate on the music through a bad sound...music and sound became   ONE...

Acoustics rule... Mechanical and electrical controls and synergy matter...

There is difference between some of my recording for sure, but not as much as you describe... I listen jazz, classical and world music where bad recording is not as rare as in jazz and classical...

A good system give us all recording choices takes by the recording engineer clearly, then discovering these choices different in each case, we enjoy them and no more separate them in few good one and a majority of acceptable and few top one... my system IMPROVE all even the bad recording because it give me a fair representation and a good translation of the recording acoustic choices...Almost no recording disturb me now as so bad as unlistenable...They became interesting each one because each one present a unique set of choices......

To me, surgically dissecting each track and obsessing about instrument placement isn’t enjoyment, it’s an OCD vampire sucking all the enjoyment out of music and probably life in general. I listen to music for pure enjoyment.

I think this question is much dependent on the kind of music you like. Over my entire life I have always leaned towards heavy music, starting with rock, hard rock, prog metal and now electronic. So in my case I definitely lean real, the only way to put the correct amount of weight into this kind of music. However I also have a sizable classical collection and plenty of softer acoustic style music and in that regard, a little less real and little more surreal is acceptable. However I have gotten to a point with my house of stereo where I don't really pay anymore attention to all the specific sound effects that it produces but rather I just flow into the music without over thinking it anymore. So much more relaxing...

+1 @rcm1203 

Yes, studio recordings are frequently surreal either by intent (art) or bad engineering. What I mean by accuracy is the ability to reproduce live instruments, usually acoustic but not necessarily, in timbre, size and location.  Concerts via PA systems are not a modality you can judge a system by other than the ability to produce accurate bass and dynamics, which very few systems are capable of doing. I usually use live trio or quartet jazz recordings and string quartets. I have heard both genres many times at live concerts. Again, there are a range of recording qualities. The first thing I always listen for is the size of the piano. We do not listen to pianos with our head inside them. Unfortunately, this is frequently were they place the microphones, so you get things like the bottom keys in the left channel and the top keys in the right channel with the bass and drums in the middle. You are usually listening to pianos from the side so all the notes should be in the same place, but give you the sense of a larger instrument by not being as sharply defined like a trumpet or sax. Dave Holland Quartet recordings are a great example of how it should be done. 

"To me, surgically dissecting each track and obsessing about instrument placement isn’t enjoyment, it’s an OCD vampire sucking all the enjoyment out of music and probably life in general. I listen to music for pure enjoyment."

This person is not an audiophile. He enjoys music like the rest of us, but that is a different subject. Being an audiophile is all about building a high performance audio system. The question is what do we mean by high performance. Is it the accurate reproduction of timbre and space or just a system that sounds good to the owner.