I should also mention: It's a client error to specify AudioClientProperties.Options = AUDCLNT_STREAMOPTIONS_RAW unless the audio endpoint in question has a System.Devices.AudioDevice.RawProcessingSupported property which is set to true. The MediaCapture API also allows raw-mode streaming via the MediaCaptureInitializationSettings.AudioProcessing property. The same caveat about checking the .RawProcessingSupported property first applies. MediaCapture sample: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/Media-Capture-Sample-adf87622 WASAPI sample: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/Windows-Audio-Session-22dcab6b