Such thing as a 1/4” adapter that reverses the L/R channels?
Nov 5, 2022 at 12:09 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 3

MrRom92

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Is this a thing that exists? Not against DIYing a solution, though I’d rather just buy something and not have to think about the problem anymore :)
Anyone who’s been dabbling with audio for a while probably has dozens of those little 1/4” headphone adapters laying around… I know I do. But I’m looking for one that reverses the L/R channels.

Reason: my McIntosh MC2505 has the channels reversed at the headphone output, for whatever reason. I don’t know if all the old Mac gear is like this but from what I’ve heard it’s not an uncommon issue.
I do not want to swap cables around regularly, and lack any simple way of reversing channels at the preamp.

The end result of this is that I ultimately listen on headphones less frequently, and my headphone listening is relegated to a separate (digital only) system without access to any of the other source components I typically have hooked up in this system.

If I just plug in an adapter with reversed connections to correct the issue, I’d probably want to listen a lot more often!


Alternatively, this could also just be a 1/8” male-female with a short length of wire, it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the form factor of one of those 1/4” adaptors to accomplish the same goal.
 
Last edited:
Nov 5, 2022 at 8:24 PM Post #2 of 3
Is this a thing that exists? Not against DIYing a solution, though I’d rather just buy something and not have to think about the problem anymore :)
Anyone who’s been dabbling with audio for a while probably has dozens of those little 1/4” headphone adapters laying around… I know I do. But I’m looking for one that reverses the L/R channels.

Reason: my McIntosh MC2505 has the channels reversed at the headphone output, for whatever reason. I don’t know if all the old Mac gear is like this but from what I’ve heard it’s not an uncommon issue.
I do not want to swap cables around regularly, and lack any simple way of reversing channels at the preamp.

The end result of this is that I ultimately listen on headphones less frequently, and my headphone listening is relegated to a separate (digital only) system without access to any of the other source components I typically have hooked up in this system.

If I just plug in an adapter with reversed connections to correct the issue, I’d probably want to listen a lot more often!


Alternatively, this could also just be a 1/8” male-female with a short length of wire, it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the form factor of one of those 1/4” adaptors to accomplish the same goal.
You could combine something like these two, but swap the channels:

1667693376134.png
1667693385407.png


Or these:

1667693626239.png
1667693692210.png


These particular ones are:

https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-GPR-484-Dual-RCA-Adaptor/dp/B001T8QKR4/
https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-YPR-131-TSF-Dual-Cable/dp/B000068O5B/
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-500079-BLKx2-stereo-cables/dp/B08V5LSHG3/
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-500073-BLK-0-15mx2-stereo-cables/dp/B08M4B5BRB/

Would be nice to find something with quality materials, or better yet a single piece, of course.

Also found these "TRS polarity adapters", which seem to do exactly what you want:

1667694072284.png


https://reverb.com/item/10281795-1-4-trs-stereo-polarity-reversing-adapter
https://www.ramblefx.com/polarity-adapter

1667694216054.png


https://beatbars.com/en/trs-extension-reversed.html
 
Nov 5, 2022 at 10:54 PM Post #3 of 3
Thanks a ton!! Yeah I thought about daisy chaining adapters together but I figured too many breaks in the connection couldn’t be a good thing, so I was hoping there was a single piece adaptor that had the connectors reversed. Those “polarity adapters” look absolutely perfect. Glad to know there’s a name for this… into the shopping cart it goes!
 

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