Airplay stops working after Mac wake from sleep, after Tahoe install.

I posted this awhile back with no helpful answers.

Airplay stops working after Mac wake from sleep, after Tahoe install.

Hardware: MBAir M4, 32GB, AppleTV 4K, stereo-paired 2nd-gen big Homepods, stereo-paired Homepods Mini.

Network: ethernet from router to Mac and ATV. Big Homepods are run through ATV, not the Mac, via Airplay; Mini 'pods are streaming from the Mac. They are all set to play from the Music app. The big 'pods are playing from the ATV because when I'm watching stuff on TV I want the audio coming from them.

OS: All the things are running the latest v26.x OS. All Homepods were just updated as well.

Music source: Apple Music+ custom streams from "Create station" from a song or artist.

This setup worked flawlessly on the prior macOS (Sequoia) and whatever was before tvOS 26 (18?). I put the MBAir to sleep when I go to bed or leave for the day. On wake, the Music app will resume playback but only via the MBAir speakers. To get streamed audio to play from the 'pods I have to either quit and relaunch the Music app or un-check then re-check the Airplay outputs (the Homepods) in the player.

I was hoping 26.2 would fix this but it's actually gotten worse. Airplay will occasionally just switch to the MBAir speakers in the middle of a song. That's new, and quite annoying.