HDCD & Digital Pre-amps

I just acquired a Sony TA-E9000ES preamp to make a combined music/HT system. It is an all-digital preamp, no analog bypass. All analog signals are digitized. Sony doesn't currently support HDCD. I have an Audio Alchemy front end (DTI/DDE3/I2S)that does HDCD and CD Sound thru analog outputs very well. If I run the digital out from the Audio Alchemy into the Sony digital in do I still get benefits of HDCD sound or is it extra boxes, extra cables? Theoretically I belive it's better to keep everything digital than to use the analog out of the Audio Alchemy into an analog in on the Sony and have the Sony do A/D conversion (since it's an all digital processor) and then D/A conversion. A friend of mine intoned that HDCD is only available from a players analog outputs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.