A method and arrangement for setting an effective resolution of an output signal in an incremental delta-sigma analog-to-digital conversion by an incremental delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter, includes feeding a difference between an input signal and a reference voltage signal formed in a feedback branch to a first integrator. Safeguarding the stability of multi-stage incremental delta-sigma analog-to-digital converters for large input signal ranges and not requiring direct damping of the input signal, such that a direct SNR impairment with regard to the ADC-inherent noise sources can be avoided, is achieved by a virtual reference voltage in the feedback branch of the incremental delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter. The reference voltage signal is adapted to a changing input signal range by a settable reference capacitance and a clock cycle number dependent thereon is set.