This seems to have been the case for a long time, and should apply to all versions of Corona, even the latest ones with the improved DoF features.
Image-based DOF (1024 samples):
(bokeh map used:
http://puu.sh/zQIbn.jpg)
Circle DOF (1024 samples):
These bands of noise in the first image are really tough to deal with, and seem to never go away no matter how long you render.
The even noise in the second image is of course something to be expected, and is no problem to deal with.
Even when pushed to enormous amounts of samples, the bands stay clearly visible:
Image-based DOF (10K samples)