What sort of layering are you hearing from the balcony close-stage at the BSO - my guess is none. If you are thinking instrumental separation, that's not the same as layering. This information is of very low importance.
That is a good question, Ack. The layering and depth, and separation for me is presumably enhanced by the visual effect of what I see when hearing live music, so perhaps I am just imagining the layering and depth. When I close my eyes at the symphony, when sitting up in row 7 to 15, I do sense layering and spatial information.
And, at home when listening to a choral group or something like Cantata Domino, or the Planets or Sonny Rollins, an illusion of images, depth, palpable presence, all lead to greater enjoyment for me. As Al says, we all have different triggers which help us suspend disbelief and we have different priorities. You don't seem to value the spatial information at all. That is fine. The important thing is that we get what we want out of our systems. For me, the illusion of depth and imaging and soundstaging is important because it tricks my mind into believing what I hear at home is more real, notwithstanding all the other attributes I value like tone, dynamics, presence, etc.