What is TRS and trrs?

There are three main types of audio jack connectors : TS (tip-sleeve), TRS (tip-ring-sleeve), and TRRS (tip-ring-ring-sleeve). Here's a quick beginner's guide on audio connectors for mic cables so you can choose the right one for your needs. by Alex Sporano June 01, 2022. Share.

Are TRS and TRRS compatible?

Compatibility of TRS and TRRS The same is the case with a TRRS headset which you can use with a TRS port, which can be used for the microphone, but the microphone's channel will not be active. Talking about the TRS microphones, they wouldn't be compatible with a TRRS socket because it is designed for audio input .

What is the difference between TS and TRS?

TS cables are generally used for mono, unbalanced signals. These are most commonly used with electric guitars. TRS cables can be used for mono, balanced signals as well as stereo signals . An example of a mono, balanced signal would be the line in or out from your audio interface.

What happens if you plug TRS into TRRS?

Usability. Generally speaking, it is perfectly fine to connect a TRS stereo headphone —without a microphone— to your smartphone or tablet which has a TRRS socket. the TRS aligns perfectly to the proper connectors in the outer portion of the socket .

Can you plug TRRS into TS?

Yes, you can use a TRS cable in a TS jack . The TS jack is mono so the TRS cable will transmit a mono audio signal. But still, when using a TRS cable in a TS jack, you'll only get a mono audio signal, even if the original TRS cable could transmit stereo audio.

Do cameras have TRS or TRRS?

However, most DSLR cameras have a stereo (TRS) external microphone port , so the microphone needs to be plugged into the port using the TRRS to TRS (4 to 3 pin) adapter that comes with our microphone package.

How to tell if a cable is TRS?

TRS stands for “tip/ring/sleeve,” which refers to the points of the cables that are soldered. A TRS cable will feature a ¼” or 3.5mm connector and are easily identified by having two bands near the tip . These are more commonly used for single-cable stereo signals.

How to tell if Jack is TRS or trrs?

The easiest way to identify the three of these is to count the number of black rings on the head of the cable . One ring for TS, two for TRS and three for TRRS.

Can TRS be used for speakers?

The connection between the speaker system and the audio source (computer/TV/smartphone/etc) will often use a TRS plug . That's because it's not a speaker cable — it's a stereo audio cable like the kind that wired headphones use. The separate “tip” and “ring” conductors carry left and right channels.

What is the difference between TRS and TRRS phones?

TRS connectors are used for mono audio out and an unbalanced microphone (with a shared ground). Four-conductor TRRS phone connectors add an additional audio channel for stereo output .

Is TRS the same as AUX?

Take a look at a standard Eurorack patch cable: that's a TS, or Tip Sleeve, connector. An AUX cord, however, is a common type of ⅛” TRS, or Tip Ring Sleeve, connector . You'll notice the TS plug has two separate segments on it, and an AUX cord has 3.

What happens when you plug a TRS cable into a TS jack?

However, it is essential to be aware that using TRS instead of TS has certain limitations and drawbacks that should be considered. When using a TRS cable with a TS jack, the audio signal may be unbalanced.

Can I use a TRS cable in a TS jack?

Yes, you can use a TRS cable in a TS jack . The TS jack is mono so the TRS cable will transmit a mono audio signal. But still, when using a TRS cable in a TS jack, you'll only get a mono audio signal, even if the original TRS cable could transmit stereo audio.

TS/TRS/TRRS/TRRRS: Combating the misconnection epidemic by Allan Tépper

There are at least four different varieties of 3.5 mm plugs and jacks, each with its own purpose and application. In the last 60 days, several friends have had severe problems by not understanding the differences and innocently plugged the inappropriate plug into the jack on their recording device, which caused them severe problems. Shure is even including a special adapter with some of its latest MOTIV products to combat this misconnection epidemic. In this article, I explain and show them all, so you can get your desired result and avoid falling into the trap where my friends did.

What you’ll learn in this article

What do those letters mean?
Common uses of each one
- TS
- TRS
- TRRS-a CTIA/AHJ wiring standard
- TRRRS
Some permitted and prohibited combinations
What Shure has done to combat this epidemic

What do those letters mean?

The letter T stands for Tip, and the R stands for Ring (like a ring on your finger, not like ringing the telephone).

A Telephone Exchange operator in Richardson, Texas, circa 1900. (Public domain photo. Thanks to Nathan Beach, the Richardson Public Library local history archives, and the Richardson Historical and Genealogical Society.)

Although the use of these letters to form terms like TRS, TRRS, and TRRRS goes back to the ±1/4-inch phone plug used by telephone operators in switchboards before many of our readers were born, this article mainly focuses on their use with the newer 3.5 mm plugs, with a few exceptions that you’ll see ahead. In any case, the Tip refers to the metallic tip of the plug, and the Ring refers to the metallic parts that surround the plug. When I have attempted to troubleshoot for friends on the telephone, they often answered incorrectly when counting how many conductors they have on their headphone’s plug because instead of counting the metallic sections —which are conductors, they mistakenly count the dark-colored portions —which are insulators. As you will learn ahead in more detail, a TS plug has two conductors, a TRS has three, a TRRS has four, and a TRRRS has five.

Common uses of each one

Below I will list common (but not all) uses of each one.

TS

A TS or Tip Sleeve plug has two conductors and can exist at least as 1/4″ and 3.5mm, and can be used with mono unbalanced connections, at microphone level, line level or speaker level.

TRS

TRRS—with conflicting wiring standards

A TRRS or Tip Ring Ring Sleeve plug has four conductors and is very popular with 3.5mm, and can be used with stereo unbalanced audio with video… or with stereo unbalanced audio plus a mono microphone conductor. The TRRS connector is extremely popular with smartphones and tablets, and to some degree with computers, including Chromebooks and Macs. Unfortunately, there are two conflicting standards associated with its use with stereo unbalanced audio plus a mono microphone conductor.

I know of two professional audio manufacturers who have manufactured device for use in audio/video production with smartphones and tablets. Those are the original iRig Pre (which I reviewed back in 2012) and several microphones from MXL which I’ll review soon.

The older OMTP wiring standard calls for Tip to be used for left audio, Ring 1 to be used for right audio, ring 2 to be used for microphone, and the sleeve to be used for ground. According to my research, this older OMTP standard is found in old Nokia (and also Lumia starting from the 2nd generation), old Samsung (2012 Chromebooks), old Sony Ericsson (2010 and 2011 Xperias), Sony (PlayStation Vita) and the OnePlus One I used to own before migrating to a Nexus 6 for use with Project Fi.

The newer CTIA/AHJ wiring standard reverses the last two mentioned, so it calls for Tip to be used for left audio, Ring 1 to be used for right audio, ring 2 to be used for ground, and the sleeve to be used for microphone. According to my research, this newer CTIA/AHJ wiring standard is used in products from Apple, HTC, latest Nokia, latest Samsung, Jolla, Sony (Dualshock 4), Microsoft (including Surface, Lumia, and XboxOne controller with chat adapter) and most Android phones.

Thanks to IK Multimedia for the above diagram which illustrates the newer CTIA/AHJ wiring standard, which IK Multimedia follows in some of its products that use TRRS. According to IK Multimedia:

As of today, all popular Android devices branded Samsung, LG, Motorola, Google Nexus, HTC, Huawei, Sony, Lenovo, Xiaomi and more, use this standard.
Most Mac computers from 2008-2013 are compatible with the exception of the Mac Pro line. There are issues with 2014 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models as well as late 2013 iMac models, making them not compatible.
See Also
TS vs. TRS vs. TRRS Audiokabel – kleiner Guide
Aside from the above Mac models, you can check for your Mac compatibility by selecting:
About This Mac> More Info > System Report > Audio and check that “External Microphone / iPhone headset” is appearing on the list of included features.

To that I will add that if you use an MXL microphone with TRRS with a supported Mac, in some cases you absolutely must connect a TRS stereo headphone into the TRS stereo jack which is part of the MXL microphone. Otherwise, the supported Mac will not realize that there is a mic connected. Apparently, with some of the supported Macs, it does not detect the presence of a TRRS plug, but also the impedance of the stereo headset plugged connected.

TRRRS

A TRRRS or Tip Ring Ring Ring Sleeve plug has five conductors. So far, I have seen it in a very few Sony products that allow for bidireccional stereo unbalanced.

Some permitted and prohibited combinations

Here are some permitted and prohibited combinations. This is not considered to be complete.

Permitted connection

Generally speaking, it is perfectly fine to connect a TRS stereo headphone —without a microphone— to your smartphone or tablet which has a TRRS socket. As you will see by looking at both TRRS standards, there is an overlap of standards, so the TRS aligns perfectly to the proper connectors in the outer portion of the socket. In many smartphones, the detection of a TRS automatically shuts off the internal speaker while maintaining the phones microphone active, so you can have a phone conversation on the telephone by listening to your stereo headset and still speaking into the phone.

Prohibited combinations

Do not plug the earbuds/mic with TRRS into the TRS headphone socket that is built into some MXL microphones, which have a Y-cable built into the mic cable. This will cause severe problems.
If you are using any digital audio device to record with your smartphone or tablet (i.e. via 30-pin, Lightning or USB OTG) including any of the many digital audio devices that work with Android or iOS that I have ever reviewed here in ProVideo Coalition magazine (or any future digital models), do not connect your earbuds/mic —or even a high-end Bose headset with mic— with TRRS to your smartphone or tablet while recording or otherwise using that digital audio device. You must use TRS headset only (or an adapter that makes it TRS) to monitor when you are recording from a digital source in the smartphone or tablet. Otherwise, in many cases, the presence of the TRRS plug will cause your phone or tablet to override the digital source, and instead of recording the pristine signal coming from your digital mic or converter, you will instead be recording from your earbuds with microphone.

What Shure has done to combat this epidemic

Our friends at the MOTIV team at Shure has come up with an ingenious way of combatting the error many of my friends have innocently made by plugging in their earbuds/mic —or even a high-end Bose headset with mic— with TRRS plug when they weren’t supposed to do that.

Actually, the cable adapter (shown above) that Shure is including with many new digital MOTIV devices solves two problems at once. Here I will paraphrase Shure’s explanation from the user manual:

You often require a slimmer connection to the headphone output on your recording device. The cable adapter accommodates headphones (which may or may not include a microphone, and maybe TRS or TRRS) with larger connectors and allows them to plug into the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, even through many cases.
The adapter cable will automatically disable the inline microphone that may be present on your earphones or headphones. The adapter cable ensures that the recorded sound comes solely from the Shure MOTIV device and not the microphone of your earphones or headset.

In addition to including it with some MOTIV devices, Shure also sells the adapter cable as a replacement part number 95A13511. If your only headphone is TRRS, this adapter cable would be helpful if you use any other digital audio device with your smartphone or tablet, even if it is another brand.

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TS/TRS/TRRS/TRRRS: Combating the misconnection epidemic by Allan Tépper - ProVideo Coalition (2024)