Digital AV Pre-amp

This might be sort of a newbie question, but I'm sort of a newbie to high end AV so here goes:

Is there such a thing as an AV pre-pro that operates completely in the digital domain? From what I understand (which may be incorrect), digital inputs on most processors convert to analog at some point for the audio out for either music or cinema.

I'd like to see the reverse - digital inputs and everything is handled digitally. For non digital sources you'd have analog inputs that immediately convert to digital. Digital audio switching between sources with digital outs you could then run to external dacs for however many channels you need, and those run to your amps.

Are there units that can do this?