Balazs, as you know, I do have the 312 in my system, and absolutely love it. I did enjoy the Spectron Musician 3 when I heard it 2 years ago for 3 hours in a system otherwise consisting of a slightly home-brewed CDp, HCat pre, and SP speakers. Unfortunately, I have never had the opportunity of comparing the JRDG 312 side by side with Spectron Musician 3 in the same system, so I cannot comment on specific differences.
The 501 monos and the 312 yield approximately the same authority; but the 501 monos will require a pair of PC1 devices (one per monoblock) to get closer to the nuance of the 312. . . It is worth pointing out that the 312 is a much more sophisticated design than the 501s, even though it is based around the same ICEpower 1000ASP modules. Therefore, I am not sure if 501+2xPC1 is sonically equivalent to 312. Some unconfirmed 3rd party reports indicated that the 312 still has an edge, but I have not verified the difference myself.
Continuum 500 is equivalent to a pair of 501 monoblocks, a Capri pre, a single internal PFC device equivalent to the power of 2 PC1s, and an extra bank of output capacitors not used in the 312, which are said to yield even greater authority than the 312. The performance of the C500 is said to be very good, but without having heard it side by side with the 312, I could only guess at differences. . . but guesses are not particularly valuable. DCSTEP may have had opportunities of hearing 312 and C500 side by side, and so may be much more qualified than I to comment. Guido
