[Hifi Man]

So I was laying on my floor reading my kindle, listening to steve roach, when I was trying to reach something that was a bit out of reach. So I slid on my stomach to get it, but the static electricity fried my headphones. I thought they were busted, sound only came in through one side, unless I plugged in the 1/4th inch plug in half way, in which case it came into my headphones through mono. LONG STORY SHORT, I unplugged my dac and plugged it back in again, the sound returned to normal and was crystal clear and not fuzzy as hell anymore. 
 
What I wanna know, is what the hell is happening? Did I avoid a potentially catastrophic failure of my 600 dollar headphone and amp setup? I have sennheiser 650 headphones, with magni 2 and modi. 

 

[Mython]

I'm no engineer, but it sounds to me as though one or more sections of the amp circuitry may have been temporarily 'tripped' by high-voltage static electricity, just as you guessed, but nothing to do with the headphones.

 

[Hifi Man]

 
I'm no engineer, but it sounds to me as though one or more sections of the amp circuitry may have been temporarily 'tripped' by high-voltage static electricity, just as you guessed, but nothing to do with the headphones.

It's weird how the static electricity would travel all the way up the wire of my headphones into my amp. My headphones literally zapped my ears along with my amp, apparently.

 

[rgmffn]

I zapped my DAC with static electricity from my little finger by accident and it quit working.  I unplugged the USB cable from the DAC, plugged it back in,, nothing.  Restarted the computer,, nothing.  It's a tower so I had to pull it out a bit.. I unplugged the USB cable from the back, plugged it back in, windows re-found the device and it started working again.  Go figure.

 

[Mython]

I've definitely witnessed carpet-generated static electricity permanently frying a USB memory stick. It can be a shocking (

) amount of electricity - nowhere near as trivial as we generally like to believe it always is. Not much amperage, but a heck of a high potential voltage.

 

[JK1]

  I've definitely witnessed carpet-generated static electricity permanently frying a USB memory stick. It can be a shocking (

) amount of electricity - nowhere near as trivial as we generally like to believe it always is. Not much amperage, but a heck of a high potential voltage.

Many years ago I destroyed an alarm clock radio I liked very much due to static electricity. I touched the power switch and got a static shock. I tried unplugging and replugging in the radio over a few days, and it remained totally dead. One or more of the chips in it must have been fried. 
 
Now I know that in the winter it is a good idea to touch a metal water faucet(assuming your water pipes are metal) to drain the built up static charge before touching your beloved equipment. Before I open my pc, I touch a metal water faucet.

 

[Mr Rick]

  So I was laying on my floor reading my kindle, listening to steve roach, when I was trying to reach something that was a bit out of reach. So I slid on my stomach to get it, but the static electricity fried my headphones. I thought they were busted, sound only came in through one side, unless I plugged in the 1/4th inch plug in half way, in which case it came into my headphones through mono. LONG STORY SHORT, I unplugged my dac and plugged it back in again, the sound returned to normal and was crystal clear and not fuzzy as hell anymore. 
 
What I wanna know, is what the hell is happening? Did I avoid a potentially catastrophic failure of my 600 dollar headphone and amp setup? I have sennheiser 650 headphones, with magni 2 and modi. 

This summer here in California we had a series of very dry days. Humidity below 10%. On several occasions I reached for the volume knob on my Magni 2 and had my system shut down. ESD had shut down my Modi. Unplugging and resetting the Modi always brought things back to normal. 
 
Bottom line: Zap the Modi and it will shut down. Unplugging always brings it back without damage.
 
I notified Schiit customer service so, if this happens to someone and they contact Schiit, they are aware .