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

Showing 7 responses by georgehifi

if turned in one direction, the dimensionality (and general sonics) sound "off," or, as others put it, "flattened," I don’t know the mechanics

There are no mechanics just AC mains theory, which needs brushing up on.
Mains in US changes it’s flow direction 60 x a second, 50 here in Au.

To be able to hear if a mains fuse "is" directional, you would have to pull it out and change it's direction  60 x's in one second and! to stay in sync with the mains doing it!!!   

Cheers George
But fuses DO work, if used correctly.

Is there a way of using a correctly rated AC mains fuse the wrong way??
Or are you saying that they are directional??

Cheers George
Really?!? Schiit said it would void the warranty if someone used a different fuse???
And rightly so, because many of these snake oil fuses are blowing, so "fusers" are going up in amperage from the original fuse rating, so if anything untoward happens and the fuse doesn't blow quick enough, the equipment could be severely damage or worse catch fire.

Cheers George    
Just as a side note the AD5791 is close to $100 and the ESS’s around 1/10th of that.
Looks like the AD5791 took over where the PCM1704 left off.
PS Loved the video interview with Moffat and Stoddard.
Cheers George
I'd love Stereophile to put on their bench a Guarneri
vs a Stradivarius.
Probably could, if they plugged in.

Cheers George  
Yeah Robert Harley is with Absolute Sound he's the reviewer that got excited about the Yaggy.
.
At least Stereophile try to backup their reviews with measurements and you can draw some kind of parallel between review and measurements (if you can understand them) most readers can’t, so they need to learn.

Where Absolute Sound is more like "audio poetry" wafting in the wind, but granted of late they are bending and have had "some" independent measurements done on just a little of what they review, would be good to see more of it.

Cheers George
Really guys, 20bit-21bit.

Does it really matter, a PCM-1704 is 24bit, and your hard pressed to hear any difference to the almost swap-able (save for the package difference) 20bit PCM-1702 and that’s 4bit difference.

Cheers George