The disclosed devices may include a driver circuit including a voltage boost circuit, a pulse modulation controller, and optionally a headroom processor. The voltage boost circuit may be configured to receive a device input voltage (such as a battery voltage) and generate a backlight drive voltage. The pulse modulation controller may be configured to provide a pulse modulation signal to the voltage boost circuit, and may include a digital circuit or an analog circuit. Example devices may include a backlight unit receiving the backlight voltage. The optional headroom processor may provide a headroom signal to the pulse modulation controller based on a headroom voltage determined from the backlight unit. Devices may further include a backlight unit including an arrangement of light-emissive elements, and may include display devices such as head-mounted devices. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.