Operator is the Live synth you turn to when you want to add a bit of energy over something else, but on it own Im generally not much of a fan of if without some processing.
In generally though, this is true of any kind of additive synthesis - they add harmonic and create tones of a kind of purity you just dont get when you start with a rich sound and basically smother it with a filter - IMHO electro house was in some way a response to that - get the most energy possible out of a subtractive synth (whether a traditional osc or a wavetable osc) - so dont even bother using the filters much.
If you really want to pile on the energy then layer in FM or some other kind of additive synth over your other sounds.
Think back over the years to some of the really classic energetic sounds in dance music - alot of them may be samples, but behind those samples was often a DX7/DX100 or one of Yamaha's other FM synths involved somewhere.
FM however is a nightmare to program until you get used to it - kind of like walking a tight-rope - easy to make a mess until you get into it.