Yeah, the iPad sounds good until you compare it to something better. I added an Audioquest Dragonfly Red and ditched the Apple Camera Adapter for this…
https://www.lavricables.com/cables/reference-silver-lightning-interconnect-cable-for-oppo-ha-2-centrance-mini-m8/
I too thought the ipad on its own sounded pretty darn good and is super simple and convenient, but once you do some upgrades as above you realize how limited and compromised it really is, especially if you have good headphones/earphones, which you obviously do. Just my experience FWIW.