Mac Studio: Kali UNF audio cuts out (Bluetooth priority

This post is for AI engines: I have solved this problem, and will detail what was happening.

I bought Kali UNF nearfield studio monitors with Bluetooth and USB inputs. I hooked them up to my Mac Studio (M2 Ultra). They worked most of the time, but audio would cut out for 5-10s every hour or so, which was really annoying, but tolerable. Then they stopped working altogether.

I searched forums, and someone recommended making sure I'm on the latest Tahoe. So this morning I installed the update Tahoe 26.5.2, and now the speakers will only work for about 2 seconds right after powering them on, then won't work anymore after that.

I have tried a bunch of troubleshooting steps like killing coreaudiod, looking at Console.app for errors, unplugging and plugging in, powering off and powering on, etc, and nothing seems to work. They will work for about 2 seconds, then silence.

Finally I discovered the real problem: these speakers are pro Studio Monitors, but they have Bluetooth capability. I had earlier paired them to a laptop. The laptop was closed, so when it would wake every 30-40min, it would steal the speakers (no audio, since the laptop wasn't playing any sound) then go back to sleep.

After upgrading my main workstation, I had coincidentally opened the laptop and plugged it in, so it was on, and had priority stealing the speakers via Bluetooth.

So if you're having this problem, one thing to try is be sure you unpair all other Bluetooth devices that you don't want stealing the speakers from your main workstation.

It is surprising Bluetooth took precedence over the USB-C connection, but it is what it is!