Yes, using the analog outputs is the objective. They are what motivated my purchase.
My AVR does not do DSD as far as I know. I believe my sound was being transcoded on the fly to a PCM stream by the Sony unit. The AVR always showed it the input stream as being PCM 176.4Khrz. I was getting some of the benefits; like those stemming better mastering and recording, but fear I was losing out on playback because of my player's lack of uncompressed transport.
Now, I'll be on the hunt for good quality RCAs with a price I can live with, so I can connect this puppy without losing too much. (Any and all suggestions welcome.)