Sound quality left in a tambourine (7)
I believe the answer is:
timbrel
'a tambourine' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'sound quality left' is the wordplay.
'sound quality' becomes 'timbre' (I've seen this before).
'left' becomes 'L' (common abbreviation).
'timbre'+'l'='TIMBREL'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for timbrel that I've seen before include "Hand drum" , "old instrument" , "Biblical percussion instrument" .)