diff --git a/src/components/player/VoicesControlBase.tsx b/src/components/player/VoicesControlBase.tsx
index b314902..f2e4a3e 100644
--- a/src/components/player/VoicesControlBase.tsx
+++ b/src/components/player/VoicesControlBase.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import {
   Listbox,
 } from '@headlessui/react';
 import { ChevronUpDownIcon, AudioWaveIcon, CheckIcon } from '@/components/icons/Icons';
-import { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from 'react';
+import { useMemo } from 'react';
 import { buildKokoroVoiceString, parseKokoroVoiceNames } from '@/lib/shared/kokoro';
 import { keepKokoroVoicesInOneLanguage } from '@/lib/shared/language';
 import { type TtsProviderType } from '@/lib/shared/tts-provider-catalog';
@@ -56,10 +56,15 @@ export function VoicesControlBase({
   const isKokoro = providerModelPolicy.isKokoroModel;
   const maxVoices = providerModelPolicy.maxVoices;
 
-  const [selectedVoices, setSelectedVoices] = useState<string[]>([]);
-
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (!(isKokoro && maxVoices > 1)) return;
+  // Selected voices are derived from the `voice` prop for display only. The
+  // control is fully controlled: it never writes back to config as a side
+  // effect, only in direct response to a user selection (see onChange below).
+  // A write-back effect here would re-fire during the availableVoices refetch
+  // churn that a voice change triggers and, under a slow/contended backend,
+  // push a transiently-collapsed selection back as the voice — resetting it to
+  // the first option.
+  const selectedVoices = useMemo(() => {
+    if (!(isKokoro && maxVoices > 1)) return [];
     let initial: string[] = [];
     if (voice && voice.includes('+')) {
       initial = parseKokoroVoiceNames(voice);
@@ -71,13 +76,8 @@ export function VoicesControlBase({
     if (initial.length > maxVoices) {
       initial = initial.slice(0, maxVoices);
     }
-    initial = keepKokoroVoicesInOneLanguage(initial);
-    setSelectedVoices(initial);
-    const combined = buildKokoroVoiceString(initial);
-    if (combined && combined !== voice) {
-      onChangeVoice(combined);
-    }
-  }, [isKokoro, maxVoices, voice, availableVoices, onChangeVoice]);
+    return keepKokoroVoicesInOneLanguage(initial);
+  }, [isKokoro, maxVoices, voice, availableVoices]);
 
   const currentVoice = useMemo(() => {
     if (isKokoro && maxVoices > 1) {
@@ -123,7 +123,6 @@ export function VoicesControlBase({
               }
             }
 
-            setSelectedVoices(next);
             const combined = buildKokoroVoiceString(next);
             if (combined) {
               onChangeVoice(combined);