diff --git a/src/Elasticsearch.Net/Transport/Pipeline/ResponseBuilder.cs b/src/Elasticsearch.Net/Transport/Pipeline/ResponseBuilder.cs
index 1dccde4232a..22acf195560 100644
--- a/src/Elasticsearch.Net/Transport/Pipeline/ResponseBuilder.cs
+++ b/src/Elasticsearch.Net/Transport/Pipeline/ResponseBuilder.cs
@@ -54,17 +54,17 @@ private ElasticsearchResponse<TReturn> Initialize(int? statusCode, Exception exc
 		}
 
 		private void SetBody(ElasticsearchResponse<TReturn> response, Stream stream)
-		{
+		{
+			byte[] bytes = null;
+			if (NeedsToEagerReadStream())
+			{
+				var inMemoryStream = this._requestData.MemoryStreamFactory.Create();
+				stream.CopyTo(inMemoryStream, BufferSize);
+				bytes = this.SwapStreams(ref stream, ref inMemoryStream);
+			}
+
 			if (response.Success)
 			{
-				byte[] bytes = null;
-				if (NeedsToEagerReadStream())
-				{
-					var inMemoryStream = this._requestData.MemoryStreamFactory.Create();
-					stream.CopyTo(inMemoryStream, BufferSize);
-					bytes = this.SwapStreams(ref stream, ref inMemoryStream);
-				}
-
 				if (!SetSpecialTypes(stream, response, bytes))
 				{
 					if (this._requestData.CustomConverter != null) response.Body = this._requestData.CustomConverter(response, stream) as TReturn;
@@ -76,21 +76,23 @@ private void SetBody(ElasticsearchResponse<TReturn> response, Stream stream)
 				ServerError serverError;
 				if (ServerError.TryCreate(stream, out serverError))
 					response.ServerError = serverError;
+				if (this._requestData.ConnectionSettings.DisableDirectStreaming)
+					response.ResponseBodyInBytes = bytes;
 			}
 		}
 
 		private async Task SetBodyAsync(ElasticsearchResponse<TReturn> response, Stream stream)
-		{
+		{
+			byte[] bytes = null;
+			if (NeedsToEagerReadStream())
+			{
+				var inMemoryStream = this._requestData.MemoryStreamFactory.Create();
+				await stream.CopyToAsync(inMemoryStream, BufferSize, this._requestData.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+				bytes = this.SwapStreams(ref stream, ref inMemoryStream);
+			}
+
 			if (response.Success)
 			{
-				byte[] bytes = null;
-				if (NeedsToEagerReadStream())
-				{
-					var inMemoryStream = this._requestData.MemoryStreamFactory.Create();
-					await stream.CopyToAsync(inMemoryStream, BufferSize, this._requestData.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
-					bytes = this.SwapStreams(ref stream, ref inMemoryStream);
-				}
-
 				if (!SetSpecialTypes(stream, response, bytes))
 				{
 					if (this._requestData.CustomConverter != null) response.Body = this._requestData.CustomConverter(response, stream) as TReturn;
@@ -100,6 +102,8 @@ private async Task SetBodyAsync(ElasticsearchResponse<TReturn> response, Stream
 			else if (response.HttpStatusCode != null)
 			{
 				response.ServerError = await ServerError.TryCreateAsync(stream, this._requestData.CancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+				if (this._requestData.ConnectionSettings.DisableDirectStreaming)
+					response.ResponseBodyInBytes = bytes;
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/Tests/ClientConcepts/LowLevel/DirectStreaming.cs b/src/Tests/ClientConcepts/LowLevel/DirectStreaming.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..db96343261a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Tests/ClientConcepts/LowLevel/DirectStreaming.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+using Elasticsearch.Net;
+using FluentAssertions;
+using Nest;
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Tests.Framework;
+
+namespace Tests.ClientConcepts.LowLevel
+{
+	public class DirectStreaming
+	{
+		[U]
+		public void DisableDirectStreamingOnError()
+		{
+			Action<IResponse> assert = r =>
+			{
+				r.ApiCall.Should().NotBeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.RequestBodyInBytes.Should().NotBeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.ResponseBodyInBytes.Should().NotBeNull();
+			};
+
+			var client = TestClient.GetFixedReturnClient(new { }, 404, s => s.DisableDirectStreaming());
+			var response = client.Search<object>(s => s);
+			assert(response);
+			response = client.SearchAsync<object>(s => s).Result;
+			assert(response);
+		}
+
+		[U]
+		public void EnableDirectStreamingOnError()
+		{
+			Action<IResponse> assert = r =>
+			{
+				r.ApiCall.Should().NotBeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.RequestBodyInBytes.Should().BeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.ResponseBodyInBytes.Should().BeNull();
+			};
+
+			var client = TestClient.GetFixedReturnClient(new { }, 404);
+			var response = client.Search<object>(s => s);
+			assert(response);
+			response = client.SearchAsync<object>(s => s).Result;
+			assert(response);
+		}
+
+		[U]
+		public void DisableDirectStreamingOnSuccess()
+		{
+			Action<IResponse> assert = r =>
+			{
+				r.ApiCall.Should().NotBeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.RequestBodyInBytes.Should().NotBeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.ResponseBodyInBytes.Should().NotBeNull();
+			};
+
+			var client = TestClient.GetFixedReturnClient(new { }, 200, s => s.DisableDirectStreaming());
+			var response = client.Search<object>(s => s);
+			assert(response);
+			response = client.SearchAsync<object>(s => s).Result;
+			assert(response);
+		}
+
+		[U]
+		public void EnableDirectStreamingOnSuccess()
+		{
+			Action<IResponse> assert = r =>
+			{
+				r.ApiCall.Should().NotBeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.RequestBodyInBytes.Should().BeNull();
+				r.ApiCall.ResponseBodyInBytes.Should().BeNull();
+			};
+
+			var client = TestClient.GetFixedReturnClient(new { });
+			var response = client.Search<object>(s => s);
+			assert(response);
+			response = client.SearchAsync<object>(s => s).Result;
+			assert(response);
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/Tests/Framework/TestClient.cs b/src/Tests/Framework/TestClient.cs
index 70d06251bcf..97da680ea0e 100644
--- a/src/Tests/Framework/TestClient.cs
+++ b/src/Tests/Framework/TestClient.cs
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@ public static IConnection CreateConnection(ConnectionSettings settings = null, b
 				? ((IConnection)new HttpConnection())
 				: new InMemoryConnection();
 
-		public static IElasticClient GetFixedReturnClient(object responseJson)
+		public static IElasticClient GetFixedReturnClient(
+			object responseJson, int statusCode = 200, Func<ConnectionSettings, ConnectionSettings> modifySettings = null)
 		{
 			var serializer = new JsonNetSerializer(new ConnectionSettings());
 			byte[] fixedResult;
@@ -85,9 +86,10 @@ public static IElasticClient GetFixedReturnClient(object responseJson)
 				serializer.Serialize(responseJson, ms);
 				fixedResult = ms.ToArray();
 			}
-			var connection = new InMemoryConnection(fixedResult);
+			var connection = new InMemoryConnection(fixedResult, statusCode);
 			var connectionPool = new SingleNodeConnectionPool(new Uri("http://localhost:9200"));
-			var settings = new ConnectionSettings(connectionPool, connection);
+			var defaultSettings = new ConnectionSettings(connectionPool, connection);
+			var settings = (modifySettings != null) ? modifySettings(defaultSettings) : defaultSettings;
 			return new ElasticClient(settings);
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/Tests/tests.yaml b/src/Tests/tests.yaml
index cb0f500286c..0bf5e1a4827 100644
--- a/src/Tests/tests.yaml
+++ b/src/Tests/tests.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # mode either u (unit test), i (integration test) or m (mixed mode)
-mode: i
+mode: u
 # the elasticsearch version that should be started
 elasticsearch_version: 2.0.1
 # whether we want to forcefully reseed on the node, if you are starting the tests with a node already running