I have an Ares 2 and a Pontus 2. The only time I’ve had static or popping sounds was with the Ares 2 connected to a Bluesound Node N130 via USB. Using coax was fine. I then swapped out the Node for an iFi Zen Stream via USB and never had a problem after that. Using that same setup with Pontus 2 and never had an issue.
I updated the firmware on both DACs today and it was very easy. Used a MacBook Pro and had no issues. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow.
Both DACs sound a little better to my ears after the update. Was definitely worth doing.