this is normal if you are doing what I just tested for you
If you deck is in "cue" mode meaning you loaded a track and it is auto cued and just sitting waiting to be played OR you played a little of the track and hit CUE to go back and it is now sitting there, Hitting a loop like "16" will also start the track in that 16 loop automatically, this is normal
if you are playing a track and simply hit "play'pause" to puase the track but DON'T hit CUE, then pressing the "16" with set the loop but not play until you actually press play
hope that helps ya