Airpods Max Disconnect From M1 Pro MacBook Pro if Nothing Playing

My Airpods Max connect to my M1 Pro MacBook Pro just fine when I put them on. However, if I'm playing music/watching a video and pause the audio/video. After about 30-60 seconds if I don't press play again my Airpods Max disconnect from my computer entirely. If I attempt to view the Airpods Max in sound or bluetooth settings, they are not present. What is required of me is to remove my Airpods Max, place them in their storage case for a minimum of 5 seconds, put them back on and they will re-connect automatically just fine. This is a new issue as I've never had this happen before on this same MacBook Pro. I am running the latest firmware on the Airpods Max and running macOS Sonoma 14.0. I am unable to upgrade beyond 14.0 (i.e. to 14.1.1) as my computer is a work computer and when I attempt to update I get a message stating that my Mac is running the latest software update allowed by my organization. For further reference....this issue does not occur on my other devices (Apple TV, iPhone, iPad Pro).