AirPlay 2 on HomePod: loud pop sound

Yesterday I streamed the Maccast podcast from iPad to HomePod (as hard as I try Siri refuses to understand Maccast and a few other cutesy podcast names). About two-thirds of the way through the podcast there was a very loud pop followed by silence. I thought the HomePod was dead but it seems unaffected. I ‘rewound’ and played past the same spot on the podcast, no pop sound. Can I assume this is a Bluetooth/AirPlay artifact? Should I be worried about the HomePod?