is this stanza of settings irrelevant? Do they have any effect at all for me?
For future reference… The online Audirvana Help Guide information is found in the Settings pop-up windows under the icon in the top-right of the window. 
Thanks, @Agoldnear. I’ve read that section of the online help:
If you use a network bridge between your computer, your DAC and your storage devices (USB stick, HDD, NAS etc…) you can adapt the output signal format of your computer to this interface. The definable parameters are :
• Sampling frequency between 44.1kHz and 384kHz
• Additional latency added when changing sample rate between 2 files
• Maximum allowable bit depth: 24 or 32 bits
• Mute the audio output when changing the sample rate (recommended)
My question still stands: if you don’t use an audio bridge are these settings completely ignored.
These settings are integral to the signal flow to the DAC…
In your case, I suggest setting the maximum sample-rate to 192kHz, set Bit-depth maximum to 32bit and enable ‘Mute during sample rate change’… No reason to add sample rate-change latency until you encounter playback anomalies during track-to-track or format-to-format transitions.
@Agoldnear, thanks for all your advice. Might I humbly suggest that the documentation clarify that those settings matter whether or not you have a bridge device? As written it’s easy to assume that if you don’t have bridge device they don’t matter.
Generally, they don’t really matter in a simple setup if not savvy about the technical ramifications in some playback system scenarios… However, they are tools to employ when needed… It doesn’t hurt to maintain continuity throughout the transmission path…