Cheap panels usually have a bluish or cold tone which gives it a sort of "pop". Most people think that it's a good thing, and don't realise its very unnatural and that it causes eye strain when reading for long periods of time.
On the other hand, when people see a professionally calibrated monitor for the first time, the first thing they think of is that it looks dull or yellow or lacks the 'wow' factor. This is what happens when manufactures know that the bluish screens that give it a 'pop' sell better than more accurate 'yellow' screens.
The retina ipad screens often has extremely accurate representation (yes I know there is a lot of defective panels out there), so OP might just have a very good panel which takes time getting used to after looking at a thousand cold screens which look "white"
Having said that, I haven't seen his ipad, it's quite possible that's it's just not a very good screen.
