Homepod airplay problems on iMac + Airpods

So I manage to fix my problem by removing the airpods on my mac via the bluetooth system preferences app. Then I reconnected airpods on my phone (they were no longer paired with my phone for some reason). Once reconnected, I could airplay to airpods from my mac, however at the same time, I no longer have the airplay problem on the homepod, everything seems to be working fine now. I've tested if over a course of a few days.

Hey brenden dv,

I did the SMC reset, but the same thing is happening.

To replicate the problems:

1. I have sound playing on my iMac, then under the speaker icon in the top toolbar I select the homepod
2. The sound switches to the homepod and plays ok
3. I take out my airpods pro and put them in my ears, the sound comes through the airpods
4. I put the airpods back, the sounds then starts playing over the iMac speakers
5. I select the Homepod in the top toolbar, the speaker icon shows the animation like it's trying to connect to the homepod but nothing happens
6. However, if I try the controls on the homepod for start/pause they do control the music, just the sound is coming through the iMac
7. The only way go get the sound back to homepod is to restart it, but then the problem repeats again once I reconnect the airpods

At the moment I'm looking to return the speaker next week as I had it for a week and have been dealing with this problem.

Re-opening this one. So the issue seems to be connected with bluetooth. If I connect any headphones or speakers via bluetooth and then want to reconnect and airplay to homepod, the homepod airplay stops working.

Note, if I restart the bluetooth service via the activity monitor, airplay on homepod starts working.