Is it true that R2R Dacs have a particular problem dealing with very small signals and add distortion to such signals ?
If this is true will it affect overall SQ ? Has such an "issue" been dealt with in the Yggdrasil ?
Something i read and not based on any understanding i have of R2R dacs.
Since it is almost impossible to audition the Yggdrasil where i live (or any dac for that matter) i kind of have to buy based on impressions but also technical specs. (which i largely don't understand and defer to others as to whether they actually matter)
Cheers
Yes, in theory ...
Would not worry about it in practice.
I use replaygain to calculate the average level and put in into a tag on the track. This applies an offset relative to -23dbFS as a hint to the playback software. This is metadata the stream is not changed in any way.
Here are 2 examples on either end of the scale, one pop rock album and another live Jazz recording from 1962.
This is highly compressed, average level is 23-17.33 = 5.67dB on average below full scale.
Applying a music crest factor of 30dB, the lowest expected value is 35.7dB below full scale.
This is a live recording with a decent dynamic range
Average volume level is 23-7.9 = 15dB below fullscale, lowest note is about 45db below full scale.
Here is some discussion of the music crest factor
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/tech_tip_of_the_day_the_crest_factor_in_mastering1
A 24bit DAC has a dynamic range of 144dB, in practice this is 117dB on the Yggy, so the lowest note is at -117dBFS before noise etc becomes detectable.
In my music collection at least, I do not expect it to come close to that.
Suggest you check out your music collection to see how the average levels in your collection pans put.