The TRS male to TS female adapter solution means the RING gets connected to the TIP, since it goes from stereo to mono. So how can this work? The RING needs to go to SLEAVE, i.e. ground, not to the TIP, i.e. signal.
I have found that if I use a short extension cable (male TS to female TS), the noise goes away. Why does this work? Can it be the capacitance of the extension cable? Needs further research.