I have my KA3 and did some side by side testing with the apple dongle, I didint really feel that there was much sound quality difference when testing them side by side on the 3.5mm jack, but using KA3 through the 4.4mm balanced there definitely is an improvement.

Specifically on Led Zeppelin's black dog (celebration day), at around 30 seconds going forward, the apple dongle has no weight or punch when the low guitar and drums start hitting. On the KA3 balanced however I definitely feel actual tactile rumble and depth.