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Static Electricity Concerns For Headphone Gear

post #1 of 13
12/12/08 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
At this time of year we experience pretty low humidity and I'm a walking electrical storm of static electricity. Does anyone know the impacts of static electricity on conventional (non-electrostatic) headphones? I get up every now and then and then come back to my chair, at which point I try to touch some metal to ground myself, but I am concerned at some point I could zap my equipment.

Has anyone had issues with this, and are there any ways to reduce a risk of a problem?
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post #2 of 13
12/12/08 at 1:32pm
Personal Audio Help

Shure think it is fine
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post #3 of 13
12/12/08 at 2:55pm
I find that my wife gives me considerable static if I don't use my headphones.
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post #4 of 13
12/12/08 at 3:14pm
Thread Starter 
I'm glad they don't seem to worry about it. I'm not worried about being zapped by my headphones, or my well being of course , but I am worried about killing some decent equipment!


Quote:
Originally Posted by Lornecherry View Post
I find that my wife gives me considerable static if I don't use my headphones.
LOL
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post #5 of 13
12/12/08 at 3:53pm
ESD can't kill headphone or your amps assuming there isn't any microelectronics in the amp.
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post #6 of 13
12/12/08 at 4:03pm
Solid state gear can be fried by static, but you don't have to worry about that unless you have it open and are working on it. Even a little ESD will cook a chip - check out the ESD safe soldering irons, mats and grounding straps for people who assemble them. Tubes are fine with static. However, they need high voltage which cooks off humans with little trouble.

Headphones and loudspeakers usually aren't harmed by a little static.
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post #7 of 13
12/12/08 at 6:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
Solid state gear can be fried by static, but you don't have to worry about that unless you have it open and are working on it. Even a little ESD will cook a chip - check out the ESD safe soldering irons, mats and grounding straps for people who assemble them. Tubes are fine with static. However, they need high voltage which cooks off humans with little trouble.

Headphones and loudspeakers usually aren't harmed by a little static.
SS gear can't get fried by mere ESD even when opened but ONLY if there isn't any ASIC, which depending on the layout/manufacturing may get fried if ESD breaks down certain poly-si layer inside ASIC.
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post #8 of 13
12/12/08 at 10:33pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the thoughts. I assume if the equipment is well grounded that any ESD on the case would be discharged to the ground because its easier for the electricity to get to ground through the case/ground connection than through the circuit boards. For this purpose, a AC connection with a ground would be beneficial, correct?
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post #9 of 13
3/2/11 at 5:04pm

(bump, sorry)

 

Firstly, my setup:

 

Laptop > USB DAC > tube amp > headphones

 

The laptop, DAC, and amp are all plugged into a single surge protector and all have grounded plugs.

 

Should I be worried if I touch an electrically conductive surface anywhere in the above setup and a static discharge occurs, which results in the laptop disconnecting the USB and the DAC being reset?

 

This has happened on several occasions and in once instance I had to unplug the DAC and plug it back in for it to resume normal operation.  (The DAC is "always-on" and does not have a simple power switch.)

 

I apologize for the bump, but my searches on Head-Fi and Google haven't led me to a definite answer.

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post #10 of 13
3/3/11 at 12:28pm


I don't know, I fried my mp3 player via static electricity. The headphones survived both times (but static electricity being delivered to your brain via aluminum body IEM's is NOT fun). I at least think it was static electricity, as i was shocked after taking a blanket off or putting a coat on. Each time this happened it shut my mp3 player down, and it had to rebuild the library each time it rebooted. Now it's dead, but had no problems previously.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post

Solid state gear can be fried by static, but you don't have to worry about that unless you have it open and are working on it. Even a little ESD will cook a chip - check out the ESD safe soldering irons, mats and grounding straps for people who assemble them. Tubes are fine with static. However, they need high voltage which cooks off humans with little trouble.

Headphones and loudspeakers usually aren't harmed by a little static.


 

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post #11 of 13
3/3/11 at 3:19pm

I get static charge shocks all the time in the winter.  They are uncomfortable, but I have never had any equipment failures or problems from it.

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post #12 of 13
3/3/11 at 3:38pm

I guess I'm just unlucky. My theory is that the static shock, via the headphone ground, partially reflashed the memory on the OS chip of my Creative Zen. This is my guess only because I've found no visibly burnt out components and the battery is still in good working order. Oh well, her battery, audio jack, and usb jack may yet live on in future projects, may she rest in peices.

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post #13 of 13
3/3/11 at 3:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsticker View Post

(bump, sorry)

 

Firstly, my setup:

 

Laptop > USB DAC > tube amp > headphones

 

The laptop, DAC, and amp are all plugged into a single surge protector and all have grounded plugs.

 

Should I be worried if I touch an electrically conductive surface anywhere in the above setup and a static discharge occurs, which results in the laptop disconnecting the USB and the DAC being reset?

 

This has happened on several occasions and in once instance I had to unplug the DAC and plug it back in for it to resume normal operation.  (The DAC is "always-on" and does not have a simple power switch.)

 

I apologize for the bump, but my searches on Head-Fi and Google haven't led me to a definite answer.



This describes a problem that I've been having for 2 months. In my music room I have a large chair and 5/10 times when I get up, my V-DAC disconnects for 2 seconds then resumes( I don't touch any of the gear). It's happened dozens of times with no ill effects that I can tell. It's a PITA. Often when I turn off my Rotel amp across the room I see a spark as I touch the switch..ZAAAP!

 

laptop> VDAC> processors> tube amp> HP ( and preamp to speaker amp)


Edited by GreatDane - 3/3/11 at 3:41pm
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