There's always a workaround out there so bemoaning the ...
And...just tried it. The answer is no, PDF is not a work-around. Ligatures drop out, old-style figures are replaced, etc., etc. It takes OpenType feature support to actually support incoming OpenType features from a PDF.

And rather than diss a valid Dear Xara wish, why not try to find a work-around that actually works and post it?