I’m in Montreal (Canada/Quebec) and frontendaudio.com is in the U.S 728 South Edisto Ave.
Columbia SC 29205.

Hi Jeff,

Been trapped in the wonderful company of other hopefuls is a very comforting feeling. As much as I enjoy the shiny sprit of the “others” I decided to get a channel line converter that will allow me to use Unbalanced Out of RME AIO.

I just hope that the package won’t arrive locked in a treasure chest that would require magical powers of Gandalf to be unlocked.

Best,
AES MAN

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When you say "available" on what level do you mean?

If even the Canadian distributor doesn't have one in stock, having to get it from the U.S. or Deutschland is, for all intents and purposes, "unavailable".

If MM doesn't have it, I could probably knit myself an AIO and breakout cable faster than one will make it to me.

One of the main reasons I'm so ticked about all this is, that none of the Canadian dealers I visited last week had a single item of RME gear.
Nothing.
Not even old demo gear on the sales floor.
I drove hell's half acre to several Long & McQuades and also Cosmo Music...

Perhaps SBT had other RME stuff in stock, I don't know.
I smartened up about carting my butt around and contacted them by phone about the AIO...which was out.

What's unnerving is this is the same circumstance I encountered years ago.

I think perhaps it's time RME save potential users some aggravation by having their Canadian dealers specifically indicate on their web sites etc, that they don't actually stock RME products, but do have the ability to special order them.

And another thing...

In agreement with the original poster, what is the logic behind supplying RME interfaces with anything other than balanced breakout cabling?
Who wants such an interface with unbalanced connections?
Any one who doesn't understand the purpose of balanced lines is going to happy as a pig in sh*t with their onboard mobo audio - they're not going to be shopping RME's.
I checked my original post - it's dated July 14 2007.
In almost 4 years, RME still has a policy of supplying an unbalanced breakout and forcing users to order the balanced breakout as an accessory.

Really, RME?
Really?!

*sigh*

QuBe.

.

Yep.

Yesterday, I e-mailed the MM sales rep, and will follow up with calls tomorrow.

But this is the systemic problem I'm trying to point out to RME...

Customers aren't supposed to have to leap frog over dealers and badger distributors to get information on product availability.

I'm having to actually do work to give RME my money.

Wtf? Not good.

I suppose this all comes down to the Canada having a supply system corresponding to it's commercial significance to RME.
Then it's all a matter of economics for RME, but also a catch-22.

QuBe.

Dear Qu Be,

I recently joined Music Marketing as the RME Product Specialist for Canada. I'm sorry to hear of your frustrating past experience when purchasing RME Products in Canada. i offer the following response.

Your HDSP 9632 issues occurred prior to Music Marketing's distribution of RME products in Canada. Distributors are only as strong as the rest of the system within they work.

Electronics equipment manufacturers saw the lead time for electronic component procurement double from 2009 to 2010. This has delayed production schedules for all manufacturers including RME and delivery schedules for all Distributors including Music Marketing. None of us benefit from having to wait longer to receive products (and payments). This is why product availability and our ability to fill back orders has been significantly delayed. This delay is basically beyond our collective control. 

Music Marketing has one HDSPe AIO balanced cable in stock at this time, and when it sells we will be in a back order situation yet again with no clear current delivery time. This is the the reality in the world of manufacturiong and distribution.

I hope this information helps you understand the facts and circumstances beyond our control which clearly has lead to your frustration. Please contact me directly at blair@musicmarketing.ca anytime for RME Support in Canada.