HomePods drop out on Mac but not iPhone

[oakrrl]

Many folks have reported HomePods intermittently dropping out from Airplay. This is maybe a (new?) wrinkle I'm hoping folks can help me troubleshoot.

I just bought two new HomePods 2 and paired them for stereo. Great sound but intermittently one or both drop out when playing from my MBP (M1 Max 32 gb running Ventura 13.3.1).

I've looked through posting & tried troubleshooting by resetting HomePods, checking wifi signal strength, changing wifi settings by turning down from 5GGhz to 2.4GHz, turning off IPv6. None help. Restarting usually solves the problem for a while, but then it crops up again. I tried using Airfoil but same problems comes up, so I think it's an Airplay issue.

Two observations & related questions:

1) the problem seems to only occur running Apple Music from MBP - seems no problem when running from iPhone.

2) There seems to be a weird interaction/interference between selecting sound output from within Apple Music vs Control Center - sometimes turning on one seems to turn off the other, sometimes having both checked turns off everything...I can't figure this one out

I had a stereo pair of original homePods and had same problem, but I thought it was due to one of them obviously misfunctioning (the dreaded clicks and pops until it died completely a few days ago). I'd hoped new HomePods2 would solve the problem but no such luck.

Any of this stimulate any suggestions? I love the HomePods' sound but am thinking of returning them within the 2-week new purchase period if I can't resolve this.

Thanks for your help!

 

[kitKAC]

Are you actually AirPlaying from Music on your Mac to the HomePods or telling the HomePods to play directly from Apple Music?

 

[oakrrl]

thanks for your message. When I play directly from Apple Music (on my Mac) the HomePods play for a while; if I look at Control Panel it shows Sound grayed out but if I open it it shows active connection to Studio Display speakers - though no sound comes out of those speakers. Meanwhile the Apple Music volume control sometime has an effect, sometimes doesn't. (Weird).

If HomePods drop out, I've tried to play by connecting HomePods via Mac Control Panel, - this just grays out the sound control in Apple Music

 

[ColdCase]

Is the connection peer to peer or over a network?

 

[oakrrl]

ColdCase and kitKAC, thanks for your messages. After spending some time with Apple Support (more helpful than usual), I followed their suggestion to do a complete re-installation of OS Ventura. This seems to have fixed the problem (fingers crossed).
(I'd installed all software updates, but I guess some corruption crept in somewhere along the way....)