Update: after working a bit with NETGEAR Support and some very nice people on their forums (mostly the latter), we’ve made some dramatic improvements. Just want to note that there is absolutely no problem with Roon here, this is 100% networking issues. But thought it valuable to capture this information for Roon Support when they get more questions/problems with these devices.
This pertains to the new Orbi (AX) models (wifi6).
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They do not play nice with green ethernet. If you have any switching in between your ISP modem/router and your Orbi that is running on Green Ethernet, get rid of it. Direct ethernet connection is preferred. If you must run a switch in between, and its managed, make sure green (EEE) ethernet is disabled and disable IGMP if you can.
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The CTS/RTS default setting on the new Orbi’s is incorrect. The factory value is 64, which is way too low. It should be set to 2347 for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels.
Although things had someone stabilised when I made the changes in point #1, only devices directly connected to the network via Ethernet were stable - so for example my KEF LSX zone was always available, but none of my local zones showed up (MBP, iPad, iPhone).
After changing the CTS/RTS setting and rebooting the router, local zones showed up on all devices. Note that the first time starting remotes on all devices, I had to go through the ‘less documented’ approach of telling the Roon Remote which IP to find my core on - once connected it finds it now without issue.
Only hiccup I am seeing now is that occasionally the local zone on the iPhone or iPad disappears, but a simple restart of the app clears that problem.
Hope this helps anyone with issues down the road.