Even black on white can be awful with disastrous calibration... white on #4A525A is almost white on black. It looks good on any of my screens and I don't even have that good calibration.

there is nothing "almost" about it, #4A525A is ~35 on a 100 lightness scale away from black, "almost" would be 5% or something

It’s still within contrast accessibility guidelines. I find it much more pleasing on the eyes than full black on white, which causes a lot of eyestrain on an emissive display like a monitor.

Minimum accessibility requirement doesn't define high quality and full black on white isn't the only alternative, so no need to limit your comparison to it