Audio Adapters, Couplers & Splitters

About audio adapters 

Audio adapter at a glance

If the connections between the player and the system do not fit, audio adapters can help. Because of the constant evolution of many interface standards, adapters are a simple solution to most connectivity issues in many areas. Another useful use of audio adapters is the extension of the required slots. If all interfaces are already occupied, there are suitable adapters for expansion.

Audio cables with jack and cinch plugs have been used in the audio sector for years. The interfaces provide for an analogueue signal transmission with a decisive advantage over digital transmission: The analogueue signal can be easily duplicated and projected, without losing in the signal strength and quality. Multiple distributors, so-called Y-adapters, are the most popular expansion modules for the audio signal.

An overview of the most common analogue audio adapters:

Multiple adapter for jack outputs:

They act as signal distributors and allow the audio source to be output to multiple receivers. A simple example is the use on a media player or a smartphone. The splitter can be used to simultaneously assign and output multiple audio outputs with the same signal.

Companies can use this adapter to play the same source in multiple headphones, TVs, and other systems.

Y-adapter and cable:

This adapter variant is often used to change a mono cinch to stereo plug. It is often required to connect a subwoofer to an amplifier. The Y-cable allows you to connect an amplifier with a mono sub-out output to a subwoofer that has two inputs.

Stereo cinch to 3.5 mm jack:

This adapter allows notebooks, smartphones and other audio sources to be connected to an amplifier or A/V receiver. Measuring equipment and high-end audio sources are not suitable, as interference signals are not suppressed sufficiently by the cinch technology and the contacts of the individual connections are not safe due to dimensional deviations. Cinch plugs are standard for consumer devices, but are not recommended for high-quality studio devices.

USB to jack:

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is known for ensuring the data transfer of different interfaces. The adapter options for USB ports are almost limitless. USB plugs will replace the jack plugs sooner or later in the consumer sector, as is already evident on current smartphones and laptops. Modern mobile phones use USB-C technology, for example. The matching adapter allows the use of commercially available output devices with jack plugs.