Could you explain what you are referring to? What are the multiple types of headroom for the front end capture?
(I think we can all agree more bits are useful for DSP)
OK, yeah, headroom is really not the right word.
If you effectively erase any S/N barrier from the digital portion, you have more options within the analog domain, and within digital signal processing of those signals. Capture raw mic outputs at low levels, effectively adds headroom because the nominal signal level has been vastly lowered without fear of being close to where dither might live.
I've had clients bring me sessions in which there was no recorded level at all, no gain added with preamps, virtually no meter movement. Turn it up enough to mix and hear, listen to the dither and hash at the bottom. Sure, not a common mistake, and I've never understood how they monitored it in the first place.
32f in theory allows you to capture the crickets in the field and the jet flyover with no gain adjustment at capture. Ramp the levels in post. Yeah, not many people need that, some do, all may eventually benefit. Really calls for a different analog front end design I would guess.
It would seem forensic cleanup of noise floor artifacts might produce better results with the digital noise floor further out of the way.
A larger format camera.
etc.
early days.