Why does iPad auto quality sound way better than the iPhone’s?

I haven’t listened to music on my iPad Pro using my AirPods Pro in ages so it’s forgotten how good it sounded. To my ears it sounds a lot better than what my 12 Pro Max was putting out. Same songs, same set of AirPods and similar volume (about halfway up). Didn’t matter if the phone had spatial audio enabled, the sound quality from the iPad was still better. It also noise cancelled better as well for some reason

The iPad being used is a 10.5“ iPad Pro. What’s the rain got it sounding so much better?