I only heard the early Nite II VD and owned the ELrod Sig 3 for a long time. Never found the Elrod "bright", never. The Nite II was thin sounding but very clear sounding. I preferred the Elrod Sig 3 to many power cords on my Pass Labs X-250 power amp and my buddys Graaf 5050 tube amp. The Elrod had a very seductive mid-range character, sweet highs and very good bass.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.