This morning, Aureal announced details surrounding A3D 3.0, the next revision of the company's popular 3D sound API. A3D 3.0 builds on 2.0 by adding support for Dolby Digital playback, automatic support for streaming audio like MP3s, improved support for MP3 encoding and decoding, MP3 playback with 3D sound aural effects, and customizable HRTF settings for user-specific sound effects.
The A3D 3.0 SDK is now available to interested game developers. Aureal plans to showcase A3D 3.0, as well as a new sound card, next week in Comdex. Called the SQ3500, this new sound card will most likely be powered by a new revision of the Vortex chipset tentatively called the "Vortex3." Of course, we'll keep you informed.