Audeze LCD-2

If there is one word to describe the Audeze sound it would be 'intimate'. Lot of respect goes to the Audeze as it stands unique in the world of headphones with its signature sound. Perhaps the most raved about headphone within 1000$ is the planar magnetic LCD-2 . A few goods and bads of this headphone :
Negatives:
-Uncomfortably heavy. Weighing over half a kilo , the LCD series headphones are probably the heaviest in the market. This is why I listen to it only when lying down which eases the weight . As long as you sit or stand , you'll be constantly reminded of how heavy they are on your head.
-Not portable. Yes . They are too big and heavy.
- In the soundstage category the LCD2 is hugely outclassed by some others in the price range. Especially dwarfed by the legendary HD800.

Positive:  (Here is where the LCD2 is hard to beat even for the hd800)
-  Liquid Midrange . Nothing in this price range can present the midrange like the LCD2 does. Liquid is the word. Swim in it. Midrange is where the human voice is mostly defined and therefore the voices through the LCD2 sound very intimate
- Bass . Without doubt the LCD2 is the mother of all headphones at any price when it comes to bass. Bam Bam! This it not pretentious overblown bass like the Dr Dre. This is tight controlled detailed bass hitting you with real muscle while staying warm and pleasant. There is absolutely no bass bleed into the midrange which is amazing .
- Easy to drive . Being low impedence , (50ohms) , Audeze can be pretty much driven through a decent headphone amp . A higher quality converter/amp will further improve the sound.
- LCD 2 presents the song without any sibilance or harshnses unlike some competitors like the HD800.
- The sound is very smooth on the ears .
- Very natural sounding . The timbre of instruments and voices and presented without any touch of artificiality. This is where many other headphones start struggling.
- The last good thing about the LCD2 is its unique warm sound . Even with its nasty weight , the LCD2 remains favourite to many because of its very unique closer-to-life sound .

Never use the cheapest soundcards

Nowadays the built in soundcards in laptops are of surprisingly good quality . Unfortunately mine fell sideways on the bed and the sound port broke. What next? Either repair it for Rs.2000 or get a USB soundcard.
So I decided to try a cheap Rs.300 soundcard... Back home , I tested it with 2 headphones . Only to regret.
Will I ever plug it in again ? Id be hard pressed to ..  After 15 mins of listening to it on the headphones , I felt nauseaous.. Unclean, distorted audio , unpleasant to the ears ... The laptops built in card sounds a lot better !
I will never use headphones with these again nor would I recommend it to anyone .. I could still use it with small speakers. . Speakers are OK since the audio is not being fired directly into your ear canal. But the sound is still terrible.

If anyone reads this, never buy the cheap ones. Give your ears something more pleasing  and get a good one. Thinking of getting the Asus Xonar U3 once I get some cash.