Stunt is one of those top 10 albums for me that defines a specific part of my musical journey. Every song, every detail memorized and known by heart. A band that was arguably at its peak exposure, but maybe/maybe not at its peak musical writing. Stunt is an album that captures the best sound of the music industry at a specific time in history: alternative in the early 2000s. It's an album that is synonymous with the word nostalgia. Might Up My Room wasn't one of their most popular songs, but to me, it's one that captures the essence of this album. The acoustic guitars are detailed and the picking is wonderfully metallic. The brushes on the snare drum are consistent and the kick has some great expression for a lighter song like this. There's not much to the drums other than some brushes, kick, and a cymbal here and there. The ting of a crash here and there is just enough sizzle to give the song the accent it needs without being too distracting or harsh. The vocals are intimate and full with the backing harmonies. It's not like I'm hearing this song for the first time again, or even hearing parts that I've never heard before. The stand-out factor to me is that I'm hearing this song in the most balanced and natural way possible. It comes across as effortless - easy listening in the most literal meaning. Yes, of course, the N8ii provides great airiness and texture, depth, and detail. It does all of that just as well as any other flagship on the market. But the thing that makes it stand out from the crowd is the accuracy, balance, and natural tone of the music. You're not just hearing it as the mix engineer intended, but each individual performance is equally unveiled and equally blended as one sound. It's hard to describe in words, but that's the whole point of nuance, isn't it?
The N8ii is consistent too across the board of music genres. BB King's guitar sounds wonderfully toasty in the DAP. You can hear the proximity of the mic to the amp almost - hearing those overdriven amp tubes deliver that quintessential blues tone that BB loves so much. The walking stand-up bass parts lie in place in the back of the mix but fill in that low register between the kick and beefy snare. It's hard to listen to his rhythm section and not rock back and forth like I'm doing at this exact moment. I hope no one comes in and thinks I'm doing a Ray Charles impression. Grunge, Rock, Classical, R&B - everything I am throwing at the N8ii sounds phenomenal. It's a sound you can only really hear to believe.
