I knew what you meant, I was reaffirming your thesis.
I feel like a comparison between a small, medium and large net lid should be set up, grow journal style. Same strains, same nutes, same light, same room, etc.
I don't think there's exactly a clear answer yet on what's better, there are too many factors IMO. My head rationalizes it as the surface area of the net increases, the bigger the roots are before they hit the higher concentration of nutes, the better they will absorb them. More roots reaching for water/nutes should be a healthier plant, right?
On the flip side, a smaller net would mean the roots can escape to the water/nutes below faster. Seems like 7-10 days is all it takes for the roots to be shooting out of any large net anyways, so I don't know how much it would help.