Pianoteq sounds better with lower sample rate for some reason

Asio4all locks my speakers at a sample rate of 8000 for some reason and there is a noticeable difference in the type of sound being produced. It's slightly muddier but imo has much more life to it that what I hear with the windows audio. So two question:

1. Has anyone else experienced this? it seems strange that such a low rate would actually sound better, also I can hear the key release noise like this but not with windows audio.
2. Is there a way to record the audio im hearing? Exporting ignores my 8000hz sample rate and sounds like normal drivers. I've tried loading Pianoteq into ableton but ableton doesn't like my 8000hz and won't let me select ASIO.