Every other operation I perform in Fedora 32 (and Ubuntu 20.04 before), I hear a popping noise from the Logitech external spekers connected to my Intel NUC. Thought it might be an electrical issue given how old these speakers are, so I bought some Creative Pebbles which get power from USB connected to the computer, and did that fix anything, NADA!! Internal issue with my NUC or something? Certainly hope not.

The first thing I would, because it's quick and easy, would be to test them with another machine, if one is available. If there is no popping, that would definitely point the finger of suspicion at the NUC and rule out the possibility of an issue with the speakers themselves.

Agree with frankbell - sounds like a grounding/EMI issue with the host system (the fact that it seems tied to 'operation I perform' is what's leading me to say that). Unfortunately this is pretty common (even fancy motherboards are not immune here - it isn't generally indicative of any 'problem' with the machine, as in it shouldn't be viewed as a harbinger of bigger problems). If you can confirm the speakers working okay plugged into something else, the 'easy' way I've found to break this up is if the computer has an optical audio output, because that makes no electrical connection between the computer and the audio system (and if it doesn't have such an output, there are USB-to-optical devices out there).