DENAFRIPS Terminator and Schiit Yggdrasil Evaluation and Comparison

I don’t doubt the Denafrips sounds fantastic. However technically I have a bit of trouble with the outlandish claim of 26 bits resolution. I smell a rat that may have been released by the Denafrips marketing department. (Not unlike Yggdrasil which have dubious technical claims also - usual audiophile marketing hyperbole as some would regard this)

26 bit capability requires precision of 1 in 67 million. This resolution requires a tolerance of 0.0000015%on the resistors.

The designers claim they actually use 0.005% tolerance resistors which is technically between 14 and 15 bits resolution.

The only thing that could solve this fact of physics or mathematics is if the designer is using a very large number of resistors and randomizes the selection every clock cycle. In theory you get a reduction in noise by the square root of the number of resistors.

Applying mathematics again, to get to 0.0000015% accuracy (26 bit resolution) from 0.005% tolerance on an individual resistor would require 11 million resistors.

Can anyone with more technical knowledge about the Denafrips Terminator design confirm if they are randomizing more than 11 million resistors to create an output per individual channel? Overall the design should have at least 22 million R-2R resistors for two channels in order to meet the stated resolution of 26 bits - can anyone confirm this is what they have done?

Now that Mr Spock has fully weighed in, I wish to thank you for this review.

As with all things audio, the proof is in the listening and you have captured this in your writing. Congrats!

Dave

I share the sentiments expressed above.  This is  a well written and prepared review that clearly details the differences between the 2 DACs and their individual sonic characters. The Terminator is it would seem  a superb sounding DAC. Excellent report. 
Charles 

@david_ten, thank you for your kind words about our site. Boenicke are indeed beautiful speakers, both in looks and sound. They partner Mola Mola extremely well and combined with Sablon cables and fidata source, the system is stunning. Yes, we are in the U.K. The distributor in USA for Boenicke is Audio Prana who have made some very nice YouTube videos you might want to check out. Even the small stand mount W5 throw a big open sound. The W8 is the most popular, but my favourite is the W11. And they are an absolute bargain, like the Denafrips would appear to be.