I know it’s easy to blame Roon on any network issue, but actually Roon has nothing to do with it.
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Mesh increases contention. Throughtput decreases. Simulate it!
Why? Given that most mesh systems have a wireless (or wired) backhaul to talk to one another I don’t understand how contention increases.
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A mesh network has not a wired backhaul. The contention is intrinsic to CSMA/CA.
Of course, meshing is useful it there is no other way to go. I have used, and currently use mesh, but as a last resort.
if the benefits noted earlier by @Marian surpass the inconvenience related to the contention, of course that meshing is a valid design.
Just my choice, nothing more.
It does, if they’re wired together. The wifi is provided by the mesh units, but the communication between units is via ethernet.
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Better ones do, though not all Mesh systems support Ethernet backhaul
There is also dedicated wireless backhaul as well which I have found to work amazingly well
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That is not mesh for me, sorry. That is plain Wi-Fi network.
We’re derailing the thread, so my apologies to the OP, but could you explain what you mean when you say a mesh network? Clearly we’re talking about different things here, but I can’t work out where the difference lies. For example, I have three tri-band Deco M9’s in my house, two are linked via ethernet (wired backhaul) while the third utilises an independent 5GHz wifi channel for backhaul. As far as I’m concerned, this is a mesh network, but you seem to be suggesting otherwise.
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Dave
it is and you are correct
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Hi @DaveN. I apologize the OP too.
If you have “n” AP wired to a LAN, that is a plain Wi-Fi network. A Wi-Fi mesh network uses wireless backhaul, for example, your third AP. In your case, you are using an independent interface and this is correct, it’s the way to go, if possible. Sometimes, a single band AP is used for meshing and this is inefficient , but if you have not another option, you can do it, but I would avoid it.
You are right, this is not the point of this thread after all.
Best Regards @DaveN. 
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100% agree. All my streamer and Roon core ethernet connected. Never have any problem.
It is interesting though
To be fair my thread was finished for me after the first few posts had all of the information I was looking for.
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@Michael_Harris and I both utilise enterprise-grade ethernet & wi-fi solutions. Even with the best of setups, wi-fi can be flaky at times, especially with Roon. For this reason, not a single endpoint of mine is connected via wi-fi.
Running a cable is less hassle than troubleshooting a flaky wi-fi connection multiple times and much less stressful IMO (my wife may or may not entirely agree! 
)
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why should there be any stop of playback with streaming music which are very low bitrate for hardware >2007. wifi or not doesn’t matter
also there is something called buffering.
i don‘t know how much you can buffer with roon, but here is plexamp on ios
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I’ve got my core hooked via Ethernet to the router, and an Eero mesh network w 3 hubs scattered around the house. My Mytek Brooklyn Bridge endpoint connects wirelessly to one of the Eeros—sometimes not even the closest one. This configuration works flawlessly. Nearly 100% reliability, even when streaming 4K to the nearby tv and hi-res or music to the Mytek simultaneously. A simple non-wireless router to replace the Xfinity, combined with a wireless mesh network is the best $250 I spent in the last year. We’ve got like 5 Alexas, mobile phones, a wireless security system, cameras, laptops, tablets—everything works. It’s incredible.
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So many variables are not covered here, but unless your routers are very old you most likely are using 802.11ac spec Wi-Fi. With this spec, real world through put should be at least 100Mbps but typical is more like 250Mbps or you have something wrong with your Wi-fi setup. I saw the mention of 15Mbps and that is 15 years ago speed. Streaming from the internet is different but your internal server to client music streaming will not come anywhere near that bandwidth requirement.
My Comcast cable provides internet streaming with 3 year old mesh routers at 400Mbps Wi-Fi anywhere in my house and 300 Mbps to a Squeezebox 60 feet and three walls away in my garage.
The key is that there are so many variables, and remote diagnosis is hit and miss at best without an understanding of the environment etc.
What works perfectly for one then fails completely for the next person.
Should, could and might seem to be the key words when it comes to Roon endpoints and WiFi.
My Roon and WiFi works perfectly (or the 99.9% that’s possible), but we are talking here about user’s that have struggled to get WiFi working reliably with Roon and some of their endpoints.
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Your forgetting latency completely in your scenario. Latency due to crowded airtime is one of the biggest issues that WiFi and Roon suffer from not necessarily bandwidth on its own. Some devices still use old tech that uses 2.4ghz and doesn’t touch ac bandwidths, Sonos for one so they can suffer even more as 2.4 is so overcrowded in most built up areas, 5ghz not as much as it has limited range in comparison and also has more channels to help but not completely remove.
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I’ve not had any issues with WiFi but I do have Virgin Media Broadband with a base speed of 200mbps. My Roon Core is wired into the Router by Ethernet cable but then all streaming out of the Core is by WiFi. I get about 60mbps in the farthest room (my office and main listening room). Perhaps our differing experience is about Broadband speed rather than WiFi per se? What speed to you get?
The buffer is sufficient to deal with reasonable latency. API’s care about latency but a buffered stream not so much. My point was that a healthy wi-fi network is capable of supporting many as in dozens of Roon clients running off one server or it is the network that should be evaluated. The metadata Roon provides is an API of course but if you are having trouble with the music playing over wi-fi I think you should fix your wifi before assuming Roon clients need to be wired because ‘healthy’ wifi will run dozens of Roon clients.