TRS (tip ring sleeve) is a balanced connection. generally tip is hot(+ve) ring is cold(-ve) and sleeve is shield(earth)- the shield carries no audio signal at all.. Worth noting however, is that some manufacturers reverse tip and ring. This system has no limitations of HF loss, no interferance (any is carried away to earth before it hits the wires carrying audio signal)) and your leads can be long as you want. TRS is same system as XLR(or Canon) plug(wiring goes 1 is shield, 2 is hot 3 is cold) it’s just a different plug.
An unbalanced connection (tip sleeve(TS) or TRS with THE ring and sleeve bridged (or for XLR 1 and 3 is bridged) is used for mics and guitars. IT has limitations in that you can get high freq loss, the shield carries audio so is subject to interferance and no leads over 3 meters long- RCA connections are also unbalanced.
*BOTH TRS AND TS ARE MONO CABLES*
A stereo plug (eg headphone) looks like a TRS but is still an unbalanced connection as it is wired tip(+ve right channel), ring(+ve left channel) or vice versa and sleeve is negative to both L&R channels and is not the same as a TRS at all..
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