Question ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 AM5 and PCI soundcard

[Mar---]

Hello!

I've bought a new PC and I've tried to use an external sound card. I've decided to give SoundBlaster X3 a go and it's... not good. Not good at all... Ok, it's the worst sound card I've ever had.

I have Xonar Essence ST lying around and I love this card. The only problem is that my mobo doesn't have any PCI slots. Would I be able to use this adapter in spare PCIe x16 slot (PCIex1 is being blocked by my Radeon) to connect my ST? Or would it be better to buy an STX (PCIe version of my soundcard) and connect it using a PCIex16 riser, as there is not enough space to mount it directly into the original port. Is one of those solutions clearly better or would they produce similiar results?

Also will I be restricting my graphics card in any way if I connect anything to this second PCIe x16? It's an RX 7900 XTX.

If anybody knows of any external card that can power 600 ohm DT990 headphones, can output DolbyDigital surround via toslink/coaxial AND the drivers don't suck, then that would also be a great alternative

 

[rgd1101]

get a new sound card
why it doesn't have enough space for the sound card?

 

[Mar---]

Because the only free slot is directly under the graphics card and a new sound card would block the fans.

It looks like this.

 

[rgd1101]

isn't the sound card x1? x1 riser will work too

 

[Mar---]

So it would be better to buy a pcie card (for example Xonar STX) and use a x1 riser? The pcie to pci adapter could potentialy be more problematic?

Also would I be restricting my graphics card in any way? I've read somewhere that it could be using same lanes.