3 Sad Bastards

Why does music sound better when you've had a few drinks... or does it?

In this episodes the 3 Sad Bastards get increasingly inebriated and (try to)  determine once and for all whether alcoholic consumption should be a viable upgrade option for your hifi. What does it matter how your hifi sounds better at the end of the day?

In a no-holds-barred episode, the idea of whether your hifi sounds better or not if you're tipsy, and/or if no one is listening lead the 3 Sad Bastards to meta discussion on the special theory of relativity and a quantum mechanical interpretation of the uncertainty hifi cat.

Enter at your own risk...

It's time to upgrade your system. After endless reading on the Interwebs, arguing against your desires, many months of siphoning your pay to that hidden account that you think (hope) you know who doesn't know about, and hoarding coins in your glovebox for a few years, it's finally time to get your next hifi system.

Upgrading can be fun, but now that you are ready, how do you avoid common pitfalls and rookie mistakes, and really - how do you justify it to yourself and your partner, and how not to waste your money by adding components or getting a (comprised) 2nd system - be a sad bastard and go for gold.

The 3 Sad Bastards weigh up strategies on how to get your desired outcome, such as "pounce like a panther", "appeal to design aesthetic", or "beg forgiveness than seek permission".

Hear how well that's worked for the Sad Bastards...

By any common measure, a modern hifi should not include a source device invented in 1877. But for some strange reason, grown men and women have been known to only use records and turntables, proving that being a sad bastard is not gender biased.

The 3 Sad Bastards share their shameful audio hifi secret, that sometimes, late at night, after having a few, that they have been known to put on a record or two, and somehow manage to convince each other that records are just sometimes better than digital alternatives.

I didn't believe it either.

The saddest Sad Bastard is the bastard who takes their hifi to a mates house and finds that it sounds better there than in their house.

No, Johnny, don't turf the lot! The reason is because your room is conspiring to make you sad by emphasising the bass, wrecking hell on the timing of the treble and having fun at your expense.

The 3 Sad Bastards guide you through how adjusting the signal in the digital realm can take your room out of the equation (at least enough) - you won't believe it's the same system - and give you something else to obsess about.  

You're either with us or against us, a true believer of all things analogue or digital. Nothing starts a fight at a GTG faster than the greybeard vs the hipster sitting on the sofa playing the same track on a record and from a CD.

In this episode the 3 Sad Bastards put their digital filters on and consider all things digital, from DAC's, to Streamers, to All-in-Ones, and what is the best platform for music management, and how to avoid being locked into an ecosystem when you discover that you don't own all the music you listen to anymore.

At the heart of every sad bastards hifi is the amplifier. Taking pride of place it is the shrine on which many an audio enthusiast has wasted countless brain cycles wondering if their amp is better than their mates. Class A is better than Class D, and Class AB is the best overall.

Fighting words I know, I know.

The 3 Sad Bastards attempt to convince each other and you dear listener why amplifiers matter, and how important the type of amplifier is to your general happiness and well being, mindfulness and enlightenment.

Pssst: The best amplifier is ...

You're about to hit "buy" on that listing you've been watching for the last few days... but secretly want to go to the local hifi store, sit and listen for the afternoon, and take something new back home with you. Good Bastard says "Buy the used item, you can always flog it", Bad Bastard says "Go with new, it has a warranty."  The result is a Sad Bastard, because both options are great!

The 3 Sad Bastards tell it how it is - when it makes sense to buy new, the pitfalls of used, and how to avoid the abused items that will waste your time (present podcast excluded).

The "something isn't right" itch has become a rash, and every moment of every day is spent on audio review sites to justify the idea of upgrading your hifi. But budgets are tight, and you can only change one item in your hifi! Will you blow your next two pay-packets on that new set of silver XLR cables, get that newest shiniest DAC, or just give up and throw the towel in and buy that 5.1 system you really want?

In Episode 4 of Season 1 (you know we can't resist another season), the 3 Sad Bastards share their stories of the ONLY thing you should change in your hifi when you absolutely just have to do it. Just like Frankie says. Relax and listen.

Hifi Bastards know the feeling well - when the itch to upgrade "because something isn't quite right" in the hifi system. A sad Sad Bastards is the most woeful sight ever. Sitting in the dark, thinking dark thoughts, and listening to the same audio test track over and over, whilst changing USB cables between the DAC and the Source. The 3 Sad Bastards guide you through what to do when the itch starts and how to get rid of it.

What is a good first hifi system? The 3 Sad Bastards show that they are completely out of touch with reality and then proceed to run a train through the idea of what entry level hifi should be. Each Bastard presents an argument for a complete high quality hifi system and try to present a coherent argument as to why spending money on hifi is a good idea.