The pop is gone! I replaced the balanced cables with some un-balanced cables I had in my pile and the irritating pop is gone. Once in a while I hear a very faint tick when changing Dolby Digital channels on the DirecTV receiver. This is very tolerable compared to the pop I had before that sounded like a popgun. Now I have problems with hum and buzz that the un-balanced cables pick up but if I position them just right the buzz goes away. Now I need to order some better quality cables and try to sell my balanced cables.