Dynamic range

Each stop is a doubling of light. A camera with more stops of dynamic range can hold detail in a bright window and in a face in shadow at the same time, where a narrower sensor makes you choose which one to lose. Log profiles exist to squeeze more of that range into the file, flattening contrast at the point of recording so a grade can put it back.

The number on the spec sheet is optimistic. Manufacturers measure the total range down to the point where noise swamps the signal, and the usable range, the part still clean after grading, is smaller. None of it says anything about how a camera renders colour, which is often what people mean when they prefer one camera's picture.