Yes, that’s certainly an option, and one that I used to use. However, all receivers will do further processing on the incoming digital multi ch signal before it gets to the speakers and you have no control over what it does. I didn’t want that; instead, I wanted the original recording’s sound to be reproduced as faithfully as possible. That’s why I decided to use the Exasound e38 DAC and an analog 5.1 connection to a Marantz receiver that has a direct line from the analog inputs to the speakers (no processing). Unfortunately, very few receivers provide analog inputs anymore.