Join the 3 Sad Bastards as they finish off Season 2 with a proscriptive perspective on the year that was (inside episode joke), and consider where to focus next. If you're getting that itchy feeling of what's next in your audio journey, thinking of going up the hifi ladder, or considering a change of direction, you're not alone! Wonders of wonders,…

After all the blood, sweat and tears of making a pair of DIY loudspeakers, the moment of truth is how they sound! But first you have to make sure they are not connected out of phase. The Sad Bastards find out if the pain was worth the gain, or the gain was worth the pain, and whether selling a top notch commercial loudspeaker before completing the …

Special Guest Edition! The 3 Sad Bastards are joined by Roger Sanders from Sanders Audio Systems in this first ever episode where someone has been brave enough to come on and engage in witty, respectful and engaging repartee! As a completely unconstrained episode, the 3 Sad Bastards are schooled by one of the audio industry great thinkers and innov…

Why are valves (vacuum tubes) still being used in hifi audio equipment? The 3 Sad Bastards decompose the arguments (and have a few of their own along the way) as to the intrinsic characteristics of valves and why valve audio equipment is seeing a resurgence in the market. For anyone that's wondered what all the valve fuss is about, why some audioph…

If there’s one aspect of audio hifi that divides the audio world it’s cables! If you believe that cables make a difference, are you a hifi wizard, or a cable clown? Are speaker, interconnect, USB, Ethernet and power cables the hidden secret sauce to making a hifi system go to the next level or is it just a load of snake-oil that you rub on to allev…

The allure of shiny and new goodness vs. crufty and dated oldness proves too much for the 3 Sad Bastards. In this episode they come clean that they really, really, really only consume hifi porn for the photos and videos online, and that generally hifi porn is harmless and does harm to none. If you protect your hifi browser history like the last cho…

The 3 Sad Bastards take a pair of pliers and blowtorches to the fine art of audiophile hifi reviews. Superlatives are used LIBERALLY, and this episode is without doubt the best and most awesome 3SB episode of ALL TIME. Come and join the 3 Sad Bastards deconstruct how to (not) write a hifi review, how to get paid (or in our case, not - and now never…

One of the 3 Sad Bastards has started a project to build to build a pair of loudspeakers. How hard could it be, right? Listen to the other Sad Bastards rip into SB1's naiveté, rose-coloured, wishful thinking belief that making your own loudspeakers could rival commercial quality. In Part 1, we consider the design process, from drivers, cabinets, cr…

Back by popular demand, the 3 Sad Bastards kick off Season 2 with an episode dedicate to headphones. Finally! SB3 is vindicated after years of trying to convince SB2 and SB1 that headphones are awesome. Blending their unique style of education, irritation, and pissing each other off, the 3 Sad Bastards consider whether closed or open headphones are…

Why did three audio, hifi, enthusiast audiophiles decide to create a podcast? Why should the world care, and what can other sad bastards expect as a return after 10 episodes? In this bonus podcast, recorded last, the 3 Sad Bastards come clean and reveal the real reason behind the podcast. Or you might have to wait until Season 2.…

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 epi…

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 tha…

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…

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 gu…

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 Streame…

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 convinc…

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 Ba…

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…

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 Bastard…

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 …

Where 3 Sad Bastards proved that there were no limits on what they could achieve, provided with sufficient wine.