1 stop of DR -how important it is and for what kind of photography

Each time you resample your image down twice (combine 4 pixels into 1), you increase your DR by about an extra stop in shadows. If your take a 14-bit 36-mp image and resample it down to about two and a quarter mp for your monitor, you conceptually could have 17 stops of DR from a 14-bit ADC.

Even without resampling, note that DXO Mark measures the DR of D800 at 14.4 EVs with a 14-bit ADC. The lowest signal in a digital system is not 1 (LSB), it is less (quantization noise).

All audio CDs contain 16-bit values encoded in a 1-bit stream. And all Super Audio CDs do the same with 24-bit values.

I am sure Peter 13 will tell you all about this