Is it just a matter of leaving it in the ‘Disabled’ mode or should I set the Headroom Adjustment to a particular number with mode switch enabled?
Are you using DSP?
Headroom attenuates the signal to accommodate clipping when performing DSP functions. It defaults to -3dB; 0dB means no headroom and the signal will be unaltered, but the clipping indicator will show when clipping occurs. Adjust headroom until clipping ceases.
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Depending on your setup, you might find that headroom management (with the standard -3dB setting) subtly changes the sound (for better or worse). On my system (Nucleus via USB to Nagra DAC), I turn it off for maximum clarity, but on for a more relaxing, less analytical, sound. No, I don’t know why this should be the case, and I’m perfectly relaxed about someone telling me that I must be imagining the difference.
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No, I don’t know enough about DSP to know what should be done with it.
In that case, no need to enable headroom.
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Is the headroom maximized when it’s disabled? With it set to -3dB, is the headroom being reduced?
When disabled, the signal is not attenuated. The -3dB is the default setting when headroom is enabled, i.e. it increases headroom. But you do not need to be concerned with this since you’re not using DSP.
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There is nothing to maximise it’s purely for use within DSP. No DSP it’s of non-use
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It can help with so-called “inter-sample overs” if you use Roon’s upsampler to go from 44.1kHz to a higher sampling frequency.
If you’re not using this or any other DSP then as others have said, just leave it off.
The following blog post shows that if you do upsample from 44.1, -3.5dB is a good starting value. Although the blog post makes the point that Benchmark’s DAC has headroom management, it’s valid for any DAC.
Edit Addendum: it’s entirely possible that Roon’s upsampling algorithm already accounts for this. I don’t know.
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Thanks for all the help guys, I’m just gonna leave it switched off.
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