Unable to play videos in Mojave while speakers are turned off

Quite possible the strangest issue I've ever had to deal with.

​

I spent literally days troubleshooting to see if it was an iGPU issue, QuickTime issue, VLC issue. And as it turns out, my system:

- Z170XUD5TH

-6600

-RX580

-AUDIOENGINE A2+ speakers

​

If I have the speakers plugged in but turned off, quicktime returns a 101 Unknown Error. VLC opens up a file but it freezes on a frame.

​

I can reboot with speakers off, same issue.

Turn speakers on, reboot, issue goes away.

​

Has anyone ever had anything even remotely similar ?