I am having the same issue and ArenaNet have still not fixed the popping sounds and huge fps drops when loads of people are in one area doing an event. It is really bad.
The same issue happens to me. I am using a plantronics gamecom usb headset and the amount of popping is ridiculous. I also managed to hear another sound yesterday which was like a siren sound. I had to log out of the game and come back to remove the issue.
It is driving me nuts. I’ve changed the options in the audio section to see if anything would help, but sadly nothing does.
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