Schiit Yggdrasil -- 21 bit?

How can the DAC be 21 bit if the chips are 20 bit?

The two DAC chips on each channel are described as being used in a balanced configuration. So I would suspect that one chip handles one half of the eventual output voltage range and the other chip handles the other half. Which would mean that 20 bits of resolution is provided for each half of the output voltage range, which in turn would correspond to 21 bits of resolution relative to the entire range.

That would be the theory, at least. How well it works out in practice will depend on the overall design, of course.

Regards,
-- Al

@almarg 

Great and very clear answer. Many thanks, super helpful.

You are not against independent reviews, are you?

Of course not.

Your original question is valid, however, it hadn't really been answered (accurately or inaccurately) until after my post, when shadorne provided additional clarification and almarg offered yet another possible explanation.

@gdhal 

Sure thing. Well, I have learned a lot from some of the answers. I think that Schiit took a courageous step to use R2R chips in their DACs. They have one groovy machine there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvlW4bEjB5A


Couldn't resist!