I found a Pioneer CLD-V2400 and a LD-V4400 for sale locally, and I have considered picking one up to use as a CD transport with an external DAC. My question is, do either of these players have digital audio out?

User's manuals can be found at these two links:
CLD-V2400: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/service/support/article/0,,2076_4253_47096,00.html
LD-V4400: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/service/support/article/0,,2076_4253_47081,00.html

I can't figure out if selecting digital or analog audio actually changes the output, or just changes which audio track the laser reads from the disk. The jacks on both are labeled 1/L and 2/R. That makes me think they serve as digital jacks 1 & 2 or analog jacks for left and right depending on the mode. The manual says nothing like that though. Basically I'm confused. If they have digital out, I would like to try one as a transport. I hear LD players work well for CD transports because they are overbuilt for the purpose. I have doubts the outdated on-board D/A converters will sound as good as a modern DVD player if a direct analog signal is used though.

Thanks in advance.

Laserdisc was a standard that was around for a relatively long time. My oldest player is from 1984 and my newest disc is from 1999. The standard changed a bit over the years. The first discs had analog audio to go along with the analog video. When CD’s came about, they began to release Laserdiscs with an additional PCM audio track that you could use instead of the Analog tracks (if your player supported it). That is likely what is being referred to if it has a digital/analog switch.

Most of the players that are capable of handling the digital PCM audio tracks will have a digital output but not all of them.

Now here is where things become confusing. Many Laserdisc players have an “AC3 RF Output”. Many of the later discs contained a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, and it was output via this jack. By that time however, PCM digital audio had become the standard on laserdiscs while the old analog tracks tended to be used for stuff like directors commentary. For the Dolby Digital discs they take one of the analog channels (other is used often as a mono commentary track) and encode Dolby Digital into an analog format. You would need a separate “AC-3 RF Demodulator” to convert that into a regular digital Dolby Digital audio stream. Point is, it’s not a digital output.

I have two Panasonic players, one from 1990 and one from 1993 that both have Digital outputs but my newest player, a Mitsubishi branded Pioneer manufactured player that was made in 1996 does not; go figure. I’ve had exceptional luck with laserdisc players. Every single one that I’ve bought (about 7 so far) has worked perfectly when I brought it home, and I have yet to have a single one fail.