Thank you, @daledeee1 ! Indeed, OCD and never satisfied can be potentially joy robbing so I am trying to avoid it. For the time being it will be wifi - that's a hard constraint for now. I may be trying 2 different wifi solutions, a "conventional" powerful router and a mesh system if my Netgear ends up a brick and see what works, or rather what doesn't. Had my lowly Netgear R6400v2 not "locked up" I wouldn't have started this thread...
Most recently I have spent my energy and some funds on acoustic improvements to the listening space with HUGE bang for the buck, but that's for another thread...