Recently I migrated from Windows XP to Windows 8.1 64 bit on new hardware. On my new environment the sound I caputure from streaming audio is of very bad quality. It is lustreless, not as bright as the original sound. I use the on board sound card (Realtek with High Definition Audio Codecs software). On my old environment there was no difference in quality between the original sound and the captured sound. I wonder waht the reason is. Could it be de quality of the on board sound card> Do I need to buy an extra sound card (for instance the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio)?
Most new Windows machines come with sound effects turned on. So your first step is to open the Control Panel for Realtek (or the separate app that handles sound effects) and turn all the effects off.