I find the lightening to headphones/mic input usefull and convienient for testing audio gear , the remote volume allows me set the signal levels , play/pause works too .
I havent had a chance to try the 2.99 euro aftermarket lightening to line out 3.5mm plug yet ,
the specs of the apple device are fairly good , be interesting to see how the Chinese knock off fares ,
Apple also have a combined input/output AD/DAC to lightening , when it senses a signal on the wire it switches to input automatically .
I was also able to make my own test tones in Reaper with R channel phase flipped to make a balanced signal from the L/R single ended outputs .
The Faber suite looks very nice indeed , but Im trying to avoid any form of signup to appstore ,
I've also dissabled practically every service on the phone ,
Its just media player , camera and the abillity to record audio Im after , sadly the Rode I-XY needs its own app to be recognised . Dissabling a lot of tasks and services definately helps battery life though .