Frequent audio dropouts using Scarlett 18i8 with Mac Studio

Problems with Audio Interface (Scarlett 18i8) and my new Mac.

First a very quick background: I bought the Scarlett 18i8 several years ago and used it with my M1 Mac Mini for all that time with absolutely zero problems. Recently I decided to upgrade and bought an M4 Studio and absolutely love it.

Here's the problem: When I use the Scarlett with my Studio, there are frequent dropouts with playback. Not only in LPX. I've played back video / audio in VLC, the Music app and YouTube. The dropouts happen in all of them. When watching a YouTube video, the dropout also causes the video to "jump" as if something is overloading the system. It happens all the time -- maybe every 10-15 seconds or so. When I use the internal headphone jack as my audio output, it never happens.

I'm at a loss here. Again, with my M1 Mini this never happened, and I literally popped this machine in place of my old M1. Same cables, etc. just a "drop in" replacement. The M4 is SO much more powerful, more storage, more RAM, more cores, etc. I just don't know what to do. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!