It's quite different in that it provides groups. So you can write...
music_group = saudio_group_create(false);
And when you play a sound...
saudio_sound_play(music_group,snd_boop);
The gain of the sound is relative to the gain of the group. This is super useful if you want to let the player adjust the volume of music for example. If you wanted to adjust the gain of a sound created with audio_play_sound_at() you wouldn't be able to at the same time lower the gain of that sound to match a players volume preference.
This framework also provides ease of use functions like crossfading and looping. It makes 3D sound especially easy as well since you don't have to mess around with listener orientation. You can just set the position to your desired x, y, z.