I was a dealer for D’Addario guitar strings throughout the 1980s and I’ve used them even longer. The company has a history of innovating in accessories and it’s allowed them to grow in marketshare. There’s basically NEVER been a reliable, quality, TRS-to-TRS connector made by anyone (but me) so I was anxious to give this little molded jack-connector from D’Addario a try. Will the plugs fit right? Will the connections be solid? Is it worth $9 or more?
A few years D’Addario expanded their accessory offerings into unique cable products for musicians. I have some of their modular snake system and a few of their guitar cables which have been functionally reliable. When I saw this D’Addario TRS-TRS female-connector, I had to know if the age old problem of mating two balanced-male 1/4” plugs has been solved.
USING IT
When you need a longer cable for your stereo headphones, you need an adaptor like this. With a long TRS-TRS cable and one of these adaptors, you have however long of a headphone extension cable you want using standard cables found in any pro studio. This sure beats stocking custom headphone extension cords with a molded jack on the headphone end.
When this connector arrived I ripped it out of the package and started jamming a variety of 1/4” plugs into the opposing holes. The holes are “tight” and require some force to push plugs in. Passing audio through the adaptor, there were no static or crackle sounds, the plugs seem to be held “tight” and the connections appear solid.
Only time will tell if this adaptor works with the wide variety of cable brands, it seems there are minor discrepancies in the exact specifications about shape as we move between Asian manufacturers and the USA system of inches.
GOLD PLATED - In Taiwan
Is it really gold plated connections? With the price of gold being in the mid $3,000 territory currently I wonder how much actual gold is in the plating on this connector. D’Addario has traditionally manufactured products in the USA but looking closely I found this product is designed in the USA and manufactured in Taiwan.
SHOP AROUND
The accessories market is traditionally a very lucrative area for music stores and prices vary from store to store. Be sure to check multiple sources for pricing, I found a $2 price difference on this one adaptor when comparing my two favorite sources ($9 vs $11). I found stores selling two packs (for stereo) for an even lower price per unit.
LIKES
- From big brand known for reliability, consistency
- 1/4” to 1/4” TRS connection for stereo or balanced cables
- Connections are held tight
DISLIKES
- Price seems high for molded Asian connector (which typically cost less)
- Plastic body is poor shielding
- Forms a long semi-fragile stick when used
EPILOGUE
Will it last? Will it stay reliable? Only time will tell. I wish they had placed the barrels of the plugs side by side rather than end to end, this would have allowed the whole thing to be shorter (but they did not ask me ;-). The way it is now, with a plug in each end, you are left with this long stick that is 1/2 an inch in diameter, a careless foot-step on a dark stage is going to render this adaptor dead. For now, I’m using it regularly, it is working fine and I’ll update this review if the adaptor becomes intermittent.
Thanks for reading High on Technology, Good Music To You!
©Sept 2025 by Mark King, it is NOT ok to copy or quote without written permission from the author.
Have you plugged in any audio gear today? Done any experimenting? Created anything beautiful? Good work. . . . . . . . . . . . .
