Hello,
after 2 years as a second-hand owner of a pair of hifiman arya headphones, the left-side driver has suddenly stopped working.
I was quoted 450 to replace them for a new pair with the stealth magnet (mine were V2), since I am no longer under warranty, which left me a bit disappointed with hifiman's quality. In any case, it left me wondering: is it possible to repair the driver?
Since the problem is not a bad connection with the connectors, and my multimeter shows 0 ohm across the driver terminals, my best guess is that the trace on the diaphragm has been interrupted. A bit of googling around provided some ideas, including silver paint (which I thought sounded good), and soldering a jumper wire between the traces of a nanometer thick diaphragm (which I thought was insane). Going with the silver paint option, I see a potential problem. I believe the traces to be made of aluminum, and trying to paint over said traces would prevent a good conductive contact with the paint, due to the aluminum oxide layer.
So, I was wondering, would it be possible to mix the silver paint with some chemical, e.g., a solvent such as acetone, or an acid/base, that would remove the oxide layer, without damaging the silver, aluminum traces or diaphragm material, and that would also evaporate or react such that it would disappear as the paint dried?
P.S. I am definitely going for the replacement since I don't want a 1000 euro paper-weight, although I am absolutely gutted by the amount (I even promised myself I wouldn't spend money on headphones for the next 5 years when I bought these!).
after 2 years as a second-hand owner of a pair of hifiman arya headphones, the left-side driver has suddenly stopped working.
I was quoted 450 to replace them for a new pair with the stealth magnet (mine were V2), since I am no longer under warranty, which left me a bit disappointed with hifiman's quality. In any case, it left me wondering: is it possible to repair the driver?
Since the problem is not a bad connection with the connectors, and my multimeter shows 0 ohm across the driver terminals, my best guess is that the trace on the diaphragm has been interrupted. A bit of googling around provided some ideas, including silver paint (which I thought sounded good), and soldering a jumper wire between the traces of a nanometer thick diaphragm (which I thought was insane). Going with the silver paint option, I see a potential problem. I believe the traces to be made of aluminum, and trying to paint over said traces would prevent a good conductive contact with the paint, due to the aluminum oxide layer.
So, I was wondering, would it be possible to mix the silver paint with some chemical, e.g., a solvent such as acetone, or an acid/base, that would remove the oxide layer, without damaging the silver, aluminum traces or diaphragm material, and that would also evaporate or react such that it would disappear as the paint dried?
P.S. I am definitely going for the replacement since I don't want a 1000 euro paper-weight, although I am absolutely gutted by the amount (I even promised myself I wouldn't spend money on headphones for the next 5 years when I bought these!).
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Google suggests it is a common problem with these headphones.
Cut your losses & use as a paperweight.
Why spend 450 on drivers that will fail again out of warranty.
Someone on the Headphone forum might suggest an alternative driver that would prove reliable.
Cut your losses & use as a paperweight.
Why spend 450 on drivers that will fail again out of warranty.
Someone on the Headphone forum might suggest an alternative driver that would prove reliable.
That is a short, not an open.
Aluminum Oxide is right in there with ceramics and glasses. Anything to dissolve AlOx would dissolve its own bottle, or at least nearly anything you'd want to use it with. Also if you could remove the oxide, you'd have to keep air out while you make the bond. On sturdy substrates you can scratch under an oil drop then solder through the oil; not on thin plastic.
It's a diaphragm.
Any repair (if it is even possible) would be short lived and would certainly affect the sound in a negative way.
Google suggests these headphones fail because the thin traces are vibrating as the diaphragm reproduces the sound.
How would attaching a relatively heavy and rigid link wire or conductive paint work? It would soon break off and the rigidity and mass would affect the diaphragm.
Just give up on this idea.
Use the bodies for some better drivers if you can.
Any repair (if it is even possible) would be short lived and would certainly affect the sound in a negative way.
Google suggests these headphones fail because the thin traces are vibrating as the diaphragm reproduces the sound.
How would attaching a relatively heavy and rigid link wire or conductive paint work? It would soon break off and the rigidity and mass would affect the diaphragm.
Just give up on this idea.
Use the bodies for some better drivers if you can.
Try conductive ink.
And buy Koss / Panasonic / Sony / Sennheiser, or another well reputed brand, not a small boutique place who spend more on marketing than actually making the product.
Try a Google Image search, probably made in China, and spares may be selling there in the $10 range.
And buy Koss / Panasonic / Sony / Sennheiser, or another well reputed brand, not a small boutique place who spend more on marketing than actually making the product.
Try a Google Image search, probably made in China, and spares may be selling there in the $10 range.
Allelectronics.com has three different conductive solutions, paint, ink, etc for relatively cheap.
@NareshBrd @mdpaudio yes, I meant conductive silver-based ink. But aluminum oxide is not conductive, hence why those inks would not work by themselves.
You can abrade Al Oxide but a thin layer is difficult, even if you locate the break.
If a replacement is available for 10 USD, don't bother with repairs.
If a replacement is available for 10 USD, don't bother with repairs.
A search for 'Headphone driver capsule' turns up stuff like these:
https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/headphone-spares/capsules/
https://www.artsound.gr/product/akg...s-k141mkii-k171mkii-k142hd-k240mkii-and-more/
No ties to sellers, AKG is an old name in sound systems.
https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/headphone-spares/capsules/
https://www.artsound.gr/product/akg...s-k141mkii-k171mkii-k142hd-k240mkii-and-more/
No ties to sellers, AKG is an old name in sound systems.
Common, there is no way there is a 10$ replacement driver for a 1k+ headphone that can come near to the quality of the sound I have witnessed. Those are not even planar drivers, they are dynamic.
The answer is obvious, I will go for the replacement, and sell it. That way my loss will be much lower.
This was meant to be a brainstorming thread about something that could be added to the silver ink, because I thought someone might want to use conductive ink in a repair in the future, and the detail about the oxide layer might not be ovious. I am in no way going to attempt to repair this driver.
Btw, diy'ing a completely new diaphragm might also be interesting, I know there are people who have done it, although I am not sure the same sound quality could be achieved.
The answer is obvious, I will go for the replacement, and sell it. That way my loss will be much lower.
This was meant to be a brainstorming thread about something that could be added to the silver ink, because I thought someone might want to use conductive ink in a repair in the future, and the detail about the oxide layer might not be ovious. I am in no way going to attempt to repair this driver.
Btw, diy'ing a completely new diaphragm might also be interesting, I know there are people who have done it, although I am not sure the same sound quality could be achieved.