I stuck with the niche ones for the better part of a year, and the honest result was that the profile prompt mattered slightly most. Despite the fact that people disagree here, the step that matters most is to give it a full week before judging: it costs nothing to try.
Though people disagree here, the step that matters most is to move to a proper conversation quickly: it filters out the time wasters fast. When you have limited time in the evenings, the niche ones tend to feel slightly worse than they are, which explains a lot of the complaints here.
My advice would be to avoid opening with a compliment and then write a profile that gives someone something to reply to, which explains a lot of the complaints here.