Schiit Yggdrasil -- 21 bit?


Schiit says that Yggdrasil is a 21 bit DAC. But the DAC chips that they put in the device ( Analog Devices AD5791BRUZ, 2 per channel) are 20 bit with the error of plus-minus 0.5 LSB.

How can the DAC be 21 bit if the chips are 20 bit? Using two chips per channel does reduce the RMS voltage of the noise by  a square root of 2. But how can you get to 21 bit from there?

Can someone please explain.
defiantboomerang
@almarg 

Not really. This just doubles the voltage value of each bit but it keeps the same resolution in terms as of number of bits or number of unique digital values available.
@defiantboomerang  

What you propose is indeed 21 bit. 20 bits from the two DACs each and an additional one bit MSB logic chip which controls whether the two DACs are additive or only one is turned on. This is not the same as balanced where both chips are operating simultaneously and are always on. 

I would call this a hybrid DAC - in fact using this topology you could take eight 16 bit DACs and couple them together with an 8 bit logic chip to create a 24 bit DAC.


Curious what, if anything, is wrong with my suggestion to pose the question to Schiit.
Hi Shadorne,

I'm not sure that what I said in my previous post came across clearly.  It amounts to the same thing the OP said, which you've agreed provides 21 bits of resolution, but described and perhaps implemented in a different manner.

What I described is not "balanced where both chips are operating simultaneously and are always on."  And it does in fact double the "number of unique digital values available."

Please re-read my previous post and see if you don't agree.

Best regards,
-- Al
 
@shadorne 

Let me ask you a different question. Is there a publication for rational audio hobbyists? I am getting tired of subjectivist nonsense.