A3D
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For the military aircraft, see A3D Skywarrior.
A3D (Aureal 3-Dimensional) is a technology developed by Aureal that delivers sound with a three-dimensional effect through headphones, two or even four speakers. Many modern sound cards and PC games used to support this feature, but this number has stopped growing due to Aureal's demise.
A3D differs from the various forms of discrete positional audio in that it only requires two speakers, while surround sound typically requires more than four. It is sometimes less convincing than surround sound but is intentionally better in interactive environments. For example, PC games in which sounds often move from one speaker to another favour A3D, while pre-recorded video favours surround sound.
A3D uses a low detail subset of the actual in-game 3D world data to accurately calculate sound reflections (A3D 2.0 can perform up to 60 first-order reflections). EAX 1.0, the competitor at the time, simulated the environment with an adjustable reverb -- it didn't calculate any actual reflections off of the 3D surfaces.
For all its promise, A3D was entirely displaced by EAX (a technologically inferior system) and DirectSound 3D around the beginning of the year 2001. A3D was proprietary and licensed, and EAX/DS3D were free (but not necessarily open) and therefore easier for software developers to build into their games. Creative Labs sued Aureal in 2000 and lost, using up the last of Aureal's cash reserves, and bought what was left of the company. A3D technology is rumoured to be slowly making its way into Creative Labs products in the form of EAX Advanced HD (which supposedly implements some of the 'real' A3D reflection mathematics, although the EAX/Audigy implementation is still inferior some 3 years on).
See also
External links
- Creative Soundblaster Line (http://www.soundblaster.com)
- A Gamer's Guide to 3D Sound and Reverb Engines (http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/features/articles/3DSoundEngines/3DSoundEngines.html)
- This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.