Well, if all you want to do is play stereo/mono sound and pan it, DirectSound certainly can do that!
If you want a sound to fly past you (and not just pan left to right), if you want reverb or filtering or... then you'll need DirectSound, OpenAL, FMOD or others.
If you want a sound to fly past you (and not just pan left to right), if you want reverb or filtering or... then you'll need DirectSound, OpenAL, FMOD or others.