Can Static Destroy Electronics?

Static electricity can cause the pop, but its the pop that blows the stage not the static charge per se. In other words the static charge itself doesn't reach the phono stage. Usually when stoic charges are powerful enough to notice gross pops like this they're messing up the signal pretty much all the time, just not in a way that's obvious until its gone.

Multiple different ways to reduce static charges- Zero Stat, Static Guard and other anti-static sprays (Static Guard is cheap and sold at many grocery stores as well as Amazon), ground wire to bearing/tone arm, grounding brush (a grounded carbon fiber brush that drags across just ahead of the tone arm), and various different mats. slaw I think has one that helps with this as well as being a sound quality improver.

All good things that will improve sound regardless whether or not it was static that blew out that channel. I spray Static Guard over everything on a pretty regular basis and every night when I get out my "special" recordings, for just that extra little something. My static is seldom bad enough to make obvious crackles but its often bad enough to hear improved clarity after spraying.

Should I contact Dynavector? What did I do wrong?

No, static won't do that until you get to the level of a lightening bolt. The pop was whatever blew in your phono amp.

It seems very unlikely that the exact same incident would happen to two different phono preamps, completely randomly. 
Is there anything downstream/upstream that could cause this? Could I have a grounding issue in my house wiring?

Your phono pre-amp is solid state correct? If it has a FET or JFET input (discrete or op-amp) it is possible, though unlikely that static blew out the input of the phone-pre (it would not blow out the output, but the input). It will depend on what circuitry is right at the input (capacitance, etc.) to soften the ESD. Usually on analog circuits there is enough RC to soften spikes and/or ESD protection. You are not going to know unless you send it back and even then only if they do part level analysis of the failure.


It’s sort of weird the dip switch failure. Did you verify it was shorted after removal? I would have been more inclined to think it was a short on the PCB, and yes they can grow after manufacturing. Other issue with dip switches is if the wrong type are used for the manufacturing process and/or PCB cleaning process. That can result in internal corrosion which again may not reveal till much later.

Downstream/upstream issues? ... only thing that comes to mind would be possibly a large DC offset on a coupling capacitor discharging through sensitive equipment, but that is purely speculation of course.