del316Agreed -- this makes no sense at all and seems to be a wasted opportunity.
Considering this is an 'enthusiasts'-oriented site, pretty reasonable to assume that most people on here would be capable of an online product# query to see that the real (longtime) retail price is $109 w/ FS... not $200, like the discount percentages suggest. This is almost kind of insulting.
AB01Just to be fair, Amazon's listed price is also $199 and "discounted" 45% to $109. I don't see anything wrong with showing the percentages as such. As a savvy consumer you should always be looking at the price, and not how much it is being discounted at.
I'm a little bit disappointed, I think a lot of people were hoping we'd be able to reach the $80 price point with the E9, considering the E17 went for the same price, and the amp is typically cheaper than the DAC by $20.
jonlai9Yeah, I still don't see how there's any comparison between Amazon's/J&R's/B&H's/SonicElectronix's longtime Free Shipping price and a group-buy site -- the percentage is about what you're achieving by buying them practically in-bulk. This isn't a retail site, so it makes no sense defending it that way.
And I say "longtime" specifically to point out that that's the no-sale, no-coupon market price -- has been for a really, really long time. Consistently. Yeah, Amazon calling it a discount might be "off", but Amazon certainly isn't an enthusiasts, group-buy site.
There was a long stretch several months ago where J&R was offering a $10 off $100+ coupon on a weekly basis. So, by comparison, the post-shipping savings from this "group-buy" come out to a whopping $2. There's no denying that this was a wasted opportunity.