Are my Fisher DBA-02's broken?

fix em and keep them if you enjoy them. Should be an easy repair.

If you're in the Chicago area, get a plug and I'll do it for you.

I have the same problem as you, exactly. But my cables are fine! ):

apparently dba-02 dont last long. Mine are broken too.

From august last year till june this year. Warranty was already voided when i modded the jack. But the problem arised from the left one being dead due to a broken joint inside the housing. My repairer couldn't open them and he said he asked UM whether dba-02 could be reshelled but they said no. So i'm stuck with a pair of broken dba-02s. Not sure whether i wanna get them again cause of this reliability issues and the recent price hike. About SGD$250 now selling at treoo. But they were good while it lasted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomaskuhn 

Strange,

 

I went to use them today and they did not work at all.  I tested out the player, and that worked so I looked at the Fischer's again and noticed that the ground and one lad are now severed near the plug.  I have no idea what happened!  Strange stuff, perhaps my cat chewed them, but it looks clean.

 

Anyone know if I can get a new plug put on?  Is it worth it?

Is there any type of tubing / shielding that can better protect headphone cables from snagging and breaking?

What's the next pair to get?

 

They are definitely worth repairing if you love the sound signature from them, as I do. BTW, my cat is always trying to grab or bite the cable, so that could be your problem, too. She doesn't care about the black cable on my Sunrise Xcape, so it must be the black/white Fischer cable that is so interesting.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by goodvibes 

fix em and keep them if you enjoy them. Should be an easy repair.

Repairing DBA-02's with a new plug is quite easy, especially with the twisted cable, making separation of the L-R channels and ground straightforward. I damaged my original cable through my own extreme carelessness. They'd been doing fine until then after about 8 months of very heavy use before that unfortunate incident.
 

Cost of everything to repair them, including the Neutrik plug and a new soldering iron was less than $30 (my existing iron wasn't sufficiently precise for this work). If you don't have any tools, it would be slightly more to include wire strippers and maybe a pair of pliers, but Amazon has everything you'll need. The technique is not difficult. I did add some strain relief to the Neutrik using some wire insulation that was a nice fit over the Fischer cable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nawawa 

apparently dba-02 dont last long. Mine are broken too.

Except for that careless yank on the cable, which was nothing against the Fischers, my original pair still sound as good as ever after more than a year and several thousand hours of use. The second pair, shown in my avatar that were recabled from new with MEElec cables at my request, are distinctly less robust in the cable area.

I'm sure that Westone cables set the standard, and Ety cables seem pretty good, but I think your blanket "dba-02 dont last long" is misleading, if not downright false.
 

Here are two that I've used: straight and right angle. The right angle has the advantage of some built in strain relief in the connector, although I've added a piece of wire insulation to help. The "fluff" can be cut away (or it will burn away from the soldering iron).

If you didn't already know, the tip conductor is the left channel, which has green insulation in the cable; center conductor is right channel (red).